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dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved it!
It is so scary just to be in the kid's mind!
I am so glad I got to read this book, it has been by far one of my favorite horror books I've ever read.
First, let's talk about the main character: Frank. OMG, he is scary! He is a kid and young adult, and a psycho in the same mind. The beliefs he holds in his head and the obsession he has with every single aspect of his life just scared me so much.
I was more scared to be in his mind that to read what was going on around him.
It scared me so much the line that took the story, from making us disgusted with this kid to actually understanding him. It was such a great story, I have never enjoyed that much being in the villain's mind.
Then his brother...OMG he is also scary! Every telephone call they have I will just get super scared. I was so tense until they hung up. The way the brother spoke made him sound even more unstable than Frank, and all we knew was that he was coming our way.
The only complaint I will have would be that the book kind of makes us think that the story will be about the encounter between Frank and his brother Eric. So during the entire book, I was waiting for these scenes to happen, and the resolution to this feels kind of rushed and super short. I was expecting more from this plotline.
But it was also interesting to get such an immersive sight of the protagonist's life. As I said before, it was impressive how we started hating him and then we understood.
I wasn't expecting such a good plot twist. I thought the story was going to go in another direction, but WOW. It really changed my perspective toward the main character and made me question if someone could really get that evil for the same reason as he did.
It was a great book. My mind was completely blown away. I give it 5 stars easily.
It is so scary just to be in the kid's mind!
I am so glad I got to read this book, it has been by far one of my favorite horror books I've ever read.
First, let's talk about the main character: Frank. OMG, he is scary! He is a kid and young adult, and a psycho in the same mind. The beliefs he holds in his head and the obsession he has with every single aspect of his life just scared me so much.
I was more scared to be in his mind that to read what was going on around him.
It scared me so much the line that took the story, from making us disgusted with this kid to actually understanding him. It was such a great story, I have never enjoyed that much being in the villain's mind.
Then his brother...OMG he is also scary! Every telephone call they have I will just get super scared. I was so tense until they hung up. The way the brother spoke made him sound even more unstable than Frank, and all we knew was that he was coming our way.
The only complaint I will have would be that the book kind of makes us think that the story will be about the encounter between Frank and his brother Eric. So during the entire book, I was waiting for these scenes to happen, and the resolution to this feels kind of rushed and super short. I was expecting more from this plotline.
But it was also interesting to get such an immersive sight of the protagonist's life. As I said before, it was impressive how we started hating him and then we understood.
I wasn't expecting such a good plot twist. I thought the story was going to go in another direction, but WOW. It really changed my perspective toward the main character and made me question if someone could really get that evil for the same reason as he did.
It was a great book. My mind was completely blown away. I give it 5 stars easily.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder
This book might not be the best for people that would not feel comfortable understanding certain reasons why someone could certain violent acts.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The twist at the end was so unexpected, I really liked it. I wish the ending showed more of Eric as I felt that his arrival was very built up but wasn’t quite fulfilled.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Xenophobia
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A bizarre, disturbing story; yet, uncanny in that I was compelled to keep reading. For a first novel it's just incredible.
Book CW: Animal cruelty--not super graphic but nonetheless descriptive enough to cause potential distress or discomfort. Had I known this prior to reading, I likely never would have read it; but I did, and I'll get over it.
Book CW: Animal cruelty--not super graphic but nonetheless descriptive enough to cause potential distress or discomfort. Had I known this prior to reading, I likely never would have read it; but I did, and I'll get over it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first person voice is remarkable, even as Frank is utterly psychopathic he's also strangely sympathetic, and the prose is disarmingly lovely. I had a great time with this novel, it was blackly funny and vivid and horrible and handled it's themes deftly and cleverly. I found myself a little frustrated by the last few pages, which felt a little too explanatory for my taste (like 'this book is ending soon, let me tell you what it was really about just in case you haven't worked that out for yourself yet') but on the whole this was immensely enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Murder
Minor: Racism, Suicide
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolute trash. Why did my school have to torture me with one??
The book is just about animal abuse and torture and a main character who casually tells us about how he also murdered his cousins and doesn't feel bad about any of this.
I don't see how any of this is a metaphor for growing up or something and don't understand how this horrible book got so many awards.
The book is just about animal abuse and torture and a main character who casually tells us about how he also murdered his cousins and doesn't feel bad about any of this.
I don't see how any of this is a metaphor for growing up or something and don't understand how this horrible book got so many awards.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Torture, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Dysphoria
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Bizarre and violent with unreliable narrator
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty