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howlinglibraries's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I was sold on the premise of The Bone Cutters as soon as I first heard of it, and had looked forward to reading it for quite a while, but unfortunately, it was more of a letdown than anything else. The premise sounds so twisted and dark that I expected a much darker and more violent story, but the bulk of this brief novella focuses on mundane exchanges between the main character and a specific side character, and the plot felt lost along the way.
The main character is difficult to get a solid read on because there is a lot of self-contradiction in how she views her mental illness (and how others view it) vs. how it actually plays out, and I'm not certain about how I feel regarding the mental illness representation in general here. There's a lot of internalized misogyny and slut-shaming (including a statement that "no rape victim can possibly have rape fantasies", despite that being a very common and widely acknowledged response to SA trauma), and I also don't remember the last book I read that featured this much body-shaming and fatphobia (with most of it coming from the main character). All of this combined made the main character impossible to root for because she was just so awful that I wanted out of her head as soon as possible.
While the base plotline is cool, it simply wasn't executed well enough to redeem this story from any of my major issues with it.
The main character is difficult to get a solid read on because there is a lot of self-contradiction in how she views her mental illness (and how others view it) vs. how it actually plays out, and I'm not certain about how I feel regarding the mental illness representation in general here. There's a lot of internalized misogyny and slut-shaming (including a statement that "no rape victim can possibly have rape fantasies", despite that being a very common and widely acknowledged response to SA trauma), and I also don't remember the last book I read that featured this much body-shaming and fatphobia (with most of it coming from the main character). All of this combined made the main character impossible to root for because she was just so awful that I wanted out of her head as soon as possible.
While the base plotline is cool, it simply wasn't executed well enough to redeem this story from any of my major issues with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Suicide, Misogyny, Violence, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Rape
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