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laurenmcnamara's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Death, Blood, Miscarriage, and Child death
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent and Suicidal thoughts
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Drug use
Minor: Cannibalism
naturemamareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Fatphobia, Grief, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Infertility
readgramrepeat's review against another edition
3.75
I’m still trying to process my thoughts on all the stories, but none were a miss for me. Milk, blood, and heat are a theme in the collection with stories about children, motherhood, blood pacts, death, and love in Florida.
It’s funny that Lauren Groff, author of Florida, has a blurb on the cover because I was thinking I liked this collection more than her collection about The Sunshine State.
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Miscarriage
gtea_reader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Sexual violence and Miscarriage
invaderlinz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thank you to Libro.fm for this copy!
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Grief, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence
surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Grief, and Death of parent
hellalibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I took my time with this. I would read a story and then have to sit with it because I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. And I wanted it to rain.
I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes that have stayed with me, because honestly, I still can’t form the words to describe this collection. It’s all feelings.
“She is a vampire queen. She is newly thirteen, hollowed out and filled back up with venom and dust-cloud dreams.”
“From here, her mother looks young - could be any of the girls, making sure the face she’s wearing is the one the world wants - and at this thought, Frankie suddenly breaks through, not just a mother, but a whole person.”
“You learn to be who you are, or you die as someone else. It’s simple.”
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, and Suicide
drawmeabookreview's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Cancer and Death
deedireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
TL;DR REVIEW:
Milk Blood Heat is an absolutely fantastic short story collection, sharp and riveting. You should definitely read (or listen to) it.
For you if: You enjoy short stories, or you’re thinking of trying short stories and want to start with something excellent.
FULL REVIEW:
First, thank you to Grove Atlantic and HighBridge Audio for granting me advanced digital and audio copies of this book on NetGalley. I’m a big fan of switching back and forth between print and audio, and also listening along while I read the words. This short story collection is freakin excellent, and the audio production and voice acting was also so, so good.
Milk Blood Heat is everything the title promises it to be: sharp, searing, visceral, and human. It’s hard for me not to compare this to Danielle Evans’s The Office of Historical Corrections, because I read them very close to one another. While of course they’re not the same, I do think that if you liked one, you’ll like the other — both collections are just incredibly written and deal with some overlapping themes.
I think my favorite stories were “Milk Blood Heat” (obviously), about two preteen girls who develop a friendship out of a mutual feeling of drowning in the world; “The Loss of Heaven,” about a man who derives his worth from providing while his wife is dying from cancer; “Snow,” about a bartender whose perspective on marriage is tested by a unique patron; and “Necessary Bodies,” about a woman who is newly pregnant but not sure she wants to keep it in a world like ours.
You won’t regret reading this one!
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual assault