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lezzieborden's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I regret that I can’t give more than 5 to this one. Exactly the kind of weird puzzle story I love, and I’ve never seen an Agatha Christie-style mystery start advocating for prison abolition before, which was refreshing. Felt like I was playing a late 1980s point-and-click detective game in the best way possible, like I was participating in the solve even though I obviously was just reading a book.
Despite the 1920s English setting, there’s a lot in this book that reminds me of Twin Peaks. Not necessarily the plot (beyond “There’s a murder and the guy meant to solve it doesn’t have a normal relationship to time & reality”), but in the tone & weirdness. Reading the reviews of people who hated this book confirm that for me. If you don’t hate being confused sometimes when the main character doesn’t have all the answers, you’ll like it.
Despite the 1920s English setting, there’s a lot in this book that reminds me of Twin Peaks. Not necessarily the plot (beyond “There’s a murder and the guy meant to solve it doesn’t have a normal relationship to time & reality”), but in the tone & weirdness. Reading the reviews of people who hated this book confirm that for me. If you don’t hate being confused sometimes when the main character doesn’t have all the answers, you’ll like it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Sexual violence
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Rape, and Sexual assault
mariekejee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
so I liked basically 70% of this book a lot. I'll start with that part. First of all, I think the concept of this book is so clever and, although it can be confusing at times, I thought it was very fun as well. I think it was also written well, although I do have some problems with the ending. I'll get to that later.
I loved the mysteries! I'm generally not a fan of thrillers, but this one kept me hooked and I enjoyed it quite a lot. That is not to say that it was super thriller-y, but there were definitely parts of the book that felt very suspenseful. I loved the chapters where the narrator inhabited the body of the cop - although partly because of how nice it was to read about a character with actual friends.
I also liked how the narrator changed in each body, although it could've been incorporated more into the voice or tone of the narrator.
So to the things I don't like: the ending, and the fatphobia. I'll start with the fatphobia: I understand the reasons why the writer wrote a (fat) character with mobility issues, and I have absolutely no problems with writers including fat characters. In fact, I welcome it! But the way this was written was honestly disgusting.
Ravencourt is a very fat man, and suffers from mobility issues because of it. Throughout his chapters, the narrator wants to let us know roughly every page how hard this is for him, how much he hates it, how disgusting he feels. I understand that part of the awful comments are supposed to be internalised shame/fatphobia from the character itself, but there is a lot of it, and some of it really cannot be attributed to Ravencourt himself.
" 'I hear you crying,' I say, attempting to push a sympathetic smile onto my face. It's a difficult thing to achieve with somebody else's mouth, especially when there's so much flesh to move around."
And this is a relatively tame quote, at that. Not only does the narrator keep making fat jokes, or comments on how hard it is to be in a fat body with mobility issues, or how this is possibly the worst thing to happen to him; throughout Ravencourts chapters, the other people at Blackheath all seem to need to include the word "fat" as a slur when mentioning him, betraying just how "important" of a character trait (or flaw, rather) it seems to be.
Ravencourt is basically every fat stereotype in one, except that he is smart and vain. I really wish the writer had written a fat character without mocking him to the extent he does. He doesn't have to be a nice, or good, or decent character - most are not - just not the lazy fatphobic stereotype that he is.
Another gripe with the book is the ending. Up until chapter 55, I loved it. There were plotholes that needed adressing, and they were all adressed in the end, but it really left me a bit hollow. I thought I would feel at least satisfied when the murder was resolved, but I really felt shitty afterwards. For the most part I was able to follow along with the narrator and figure some things out for myself, but the final reveal felt really sudden.
This is basically just a long, ranty list explaining I didn't enjoy the ending. Although it might just be preference on my part.
So why give it 3.5 stars? It deals with some interesting themes, the concept is really cool and it kept me entertained throughout most of it. If it weren't for the fatphobia and the ending that left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth, it would've been a five stars read for sure.
I loved the mysteries! I'm generally not a fan of thrillers, but this one kept me hooked and I enjoyed it quite a lot. That is not to say that it was super thriller-y, but there were definitely parts of the book that felt very suspenseful. I loved the chapters where the narrator inhabited the body of the cop - although partly because of how nice it was to read about a character with actual friends.
I also liked how the narrator changed in each body, although it could've been incorporated more into the voice or tone of the narrator.
So to the things I don't like: the ending, and the fatphobia. I'll start with the fatphobia: I understand the reasons why the writer wrote a (fat) character with mobility issues, and I have absolutely no problems with writers including fat characters. In fact, I welcome it! But the way this was written was honestly disgusting.
Ravencourt is a very fat man, and suffers from mobility issues because of it. Throughout his chapters, the narrator wants to let us know roughly every page how hard this is for him, how much he hates it, how disgusting he feels. I understand that part of the awful comments are supposed to be internalised shame/fatphobia from the character itself, but there is a lot of it, and some of it really cannot be attributed to Ravencourt himself.
" 'I hear you crying,' I say, attempting to push a sympathetic smile onto my face. It's a difficult thing to achieve with somebody else's mouth, especially when there's so much flesh to move around."
And this is a relatively tame quote, at that. Not only does the narrator keep making fat jokes, or comments on how hard it is to be in a fat body with mobility issues, or how this is possibly the worst thing to happen to him; throughout Ravencourts chapters, the other people at Blackheath all seem to need to include the word "fat" as a slur when mentioning him, betraying just how "important" of a character trait (or flaw, rather) it seems to be.
Ravencourt is basically every fat stereotype in one, except that he is smart and vain. I really wish the writer had written a fat character without mocking him to the extent he does. He doesn't have to be a nice, or good, or decent character - most are not - just not the lazy fatphobic stereotype that he is.
Another gripe with the book is the ending. Up until chapter 55, I loved it. There were plotholes that needed adressing, and they were all adressed in the end, but it really left me a bit hollow. I thought I would feel at least satisfied when the murder was resolved, but I really felt shitty afterwards. For the most part I was able to follow along with the narrator and figure some things out for myself, but the final reveal felt really sudden.
This is basically just a long, ranty list explaining I didn't enjoy the ending. Although it might just be preference on my part.
So why give it 3.5 stars? It deals with some interesting themes, the concept is really cool and it kept me entertained throughout most of it. If it weren't for the fatphobia and the ending that left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth, it would've been a five stars read for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Fatphobia, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Drug use, Rape, and Sexual violence
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