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lucy_brb's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
brigits's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
sooj's review
3.0
I didn't grow up in a small Midwest town but I spent my formative couple of years there and the atmosphere in the book is so eerily accurate that it sucked me right into the story.
The one thing that you realize (especially if you were a city slicker, always surrounded by people and cars and buildings) is that you are so small compared to the vast nothingness of a sleepy Midwestern town. You're puny compared to the endless cornfields, just a blip compared to the dark night sky that swallows everything up after all the stores close. You see stars and the milky way and begin to feel existential at the face of the living, breathing nature surrounding you everywhere. You're so alone, even if you're surrounded by other people. There's a sense of surrender when you're living there.
The first few chapters really brought that nostalgia back for me. Biking around to nowhere, smelling the summer night creeping closer, feeling the air change when a big storm is about to come. I was never bored but nothing exciting was going on, I was so aware of my senses and existence but nobody else was there to acknowledge it. I could just disappear off the face of the earth and it could take a while before someone noticed.
The blurb on the book mentioned Stephen King + David Lynch but I was getting more of ... Murakami? Like, I don't read a lot but it gave me a similar impression of that kind of magical realism that doesn't like to get pigeonholed into a specific category like fantasy, horror, or what have you. We don't always live in a logical world and sometimes things happen that seem weird and impossible and we don't always know how we're gonna act.
Speaking of the Twin Peaks, I personally think that once the killer was revealed on Twin Peaks (due to the network, not because Lynch/ Frost wanted to) it lost its intrigue. It's not about who did it, it's about the examination of the oppressive atmosphere and the undercurrents of carnage caused by the cycle of violence/abuse. Everybody knows who did it deep down, we don't need to pinpoint who exactly did it. And that dread and stifling knowledge keeps the morbid curiosity going (at least for me).
And I think that's why the last part of the book felt a bit off too me. It built up to a great climax and then the denouement was just. I dunno. seeing the "cycle" spelled out on the page just threw me off a bit, not to mention the fact that every other woman I know would drink the oil right away as soon as they had it in their hands, no matter how repulsive it may be lol.
I love disturbing and surreal things, I love horror movies, cannibalism as a metaphor for love, body horror, grotesque transfiguration through love etc etc. and genuinely loved the description of the tornadoes in the beginning. Like:
"the tornado was actually devouring you, all your friends were shouting at you to run, run, run, and you really had to run, you had to run hard away from the tornado to overcome its sucking pull—until you broke free, running and stumbling, and then you were back in your friends’ arms, gasping, shaking, your body exhausted" <- that's pure sex btw
But the last few chapters were just nauseating and a bit too uncomfortable. maybe too close to home. spelled out too clearly. I feel like I identified a lot with the character too, the way she's dissociating half of the novel and having anxiety dreams lmfao but like. man. I just couldn't get behind her yelling at Cuthbert to drive to the tornado killer when she literally had the jar in her hands!! drink it mate!!
The one thing that you realize (especially if you were a city slicker, always surrounded by people and cars and buildings) is that you are so small compared to the vast nothingness of a sleepy Midwestern town. You're puny compared to the endless cornfields, just a blip compared to the dark night sky that swallows everything up after all the stores close. You see stars and the milky way and begin to feel existential at the face of the living, breathing nature surrounding you everywhere. You're so alone, even if you're surrounded by other people. There's a sense of surrender when you're living there.
The first few chapters really brought that nostalgia back for me. Biking around to nowhere, smelling the summer night creeping closer, feeling the air change when a big storm is about to come. I was never bored but nothing exciting was going on, I was so aware of my senses and existence but nobody else was there to acknowledge it. I could just disappear off the face of the earth and it could take a while before someone noticed.
The blurb on the book mentioned Stephen King + David Lynch but I was getting more of ... Murakami? Like, I don't read a lot but it gave me a similar impression of that kind of magical realism that doesn't like to get pigeonholed into a specific category like fantasy, horror, or what have you. We don't always live in a logical world and sometimes things happen that seem weird and impossible and we don't always know how we're gonna act.
Speaking of the Twin Peaks, I personally think that once the killer was revealed on Twin Peaks (due to the network, not because Lynch/ Frost wanted to) it lost its intrigue. It's not about who did it, it's about the examination of the oppressive atmosphere and the undercurrents of carnage caused by the cycle of violence/abuse. Everybody knows who did it deep down, we don't need to pinpoint who exactly did it. And that dread and stifling knowledge keeps the morbid curiosity going (at least for me).
And I think that's why the last part of the book felt a bit off too me. It built up to a great climax and then the denouement was just. I dunno. seeing the "cycle" spelled out on the page just threw me off a bit, not to mention the fact that every other woman I know would drink the oil right away as soon as they had it in their hands, no matter how repulsive it may be lol.
I love disturbing and surreal things, I love horror movies, cannibalism as a metaphor for love, body horror, grotesque transfiguration through love etc etc. and genuinely loved the description of the tornadoes in the beginning. Like:
"the tornado was actually devouring you, all your friends were shouting at you to run, run, run, and you really had to run, you had to run hard away from the tornado to overcome its sucking pull—until you broke free, running and stumbling, and then you were back in your friends’ arms, gasping, shaking, your body exhausted" <- that's pure sex btw
But the last few chapters were just nauseating and a bit too uncomfortable. maybe too close to home. spelled out too clearly. I feel like I identified a lot with the character too, the way she's dissociating half of the novel and having anxiety dreams lmfao but like. man. I just couldn't get behind her yelling at Cuthbert to drive to the tornado killer when she literally had the jar in her hands!! drink it mate!!
rizziii's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
readingpicnic's review
I’m sad because I was so into this at the beginning, but the writing got so bad and the story was so drawn out, and I didn’t care how it ended at that point.
a_novel_craving's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Murder, Kidnapping, Confinement, Pedophilia, Abortion, Death, Gore, Car accident, Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence
rgallo's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
theablibrary's review
3.0
This book was twisted and filled with gore but I loved every minute of it! I’ve never read a story quite like this before!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!