Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell

2 reviews

ggcd1981's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

Ao falar de Stolen Tongues primeiro quero dizer minha abordagem sobre a polêmica do livro, um autor branco usando elementos e personagens da cultura Indígena Norte-Americana. O autor ao fim do livro escreveu um texto explicando suas razões. Algumas pessoas aceitaram a explicação, outras não. Um dos pontos que me parecem foco da discussão é o uso de estereótipos, a figura do nativo americano místico e sábio que serve como guia. Procurei reviews de pessoas nativo americanas sobre o livro, mas infelizmente não encontrei. Assim minha opinião é baseada apenas na minha experiência de leitura como uma Sul-Americana. Eu não senti que a narrativa realmente coloca os três personagens Indígenas como alguma forma de “Guias espirituais”. Os dois protagonistas brancos sim procuraram os personagens Indígenas buscando respostas, mas logo ficou claro que estes personagens não tinham todas essas respostas e o livro mostra que a ausência desse conhecimento se deu em grande parte devido a ação da sociedade branca. Isso não significa que esses personagens não são usados como suporte, o autor os colocam então para desempenhar o papel de amigos e apoio emocional para os protagonistas. Além disso das 5 vítimas da criatura que persegue os protagonistas 3 foram nativos americanos. Então apesar de não ter visto os personagens indígenas como estereótipos ainda assim acredito que o autor poderia ter feito melhor no tratamento desses personagens. Deixo a ressalva que para qualquer pessoa em dúvida se lê esse livro busque ler reviews de Nativo Americanos, eu não as encontrei, mas elas devem existir. Como não me sinto capaz para julgar propriamente essa questão meu rating expressa apenas minha opinião do livro como história de terror e nada mais. Como uma obra de terror Stolen Tongues foi bastante eficiente na minha opinião, mas vamos começar pelos personagens. O autor dá seu próprio nome ao protagonista, Felix Blackwell, não sei quanto do autor há no personagem, mas este último ama muito sua noiva, é corajoso e determinado a salva-la do mal que a aflige. A fraqueza do protagonista é a emetofobia (ou fobia de vômito) que vem a ser uma desvantagem ao lidar com a sua debilitada noiva e a entidade que os assombra. É da perspectiva de Felix que acompanhamos o desenrolar da história. Faye é a noiva de Felix, ela sofre de um distúrbio do sono, e é devido a isso que muitas das cenas mais assustadoras acontecem. A personagem em si não é muito interessante, mostra pouca iniciativa para resolver seu próprio problema e em determinados momentos é irritantemente teimosa e resistente a opiniões. Há outros personagens que contribuem de alguma forma para a história sendo os principais deles: Tíwé e Nathan, respectivamente pai e filho nativo americanos que moram na região de Pale Peak, montanha na qual o problema de Felix e Faye começa.

Tanto Tíwé quanto Nathan querem ajudar o casal, falam da figura do “impostor” que existe em sua cultura, mas o conhecimento mais profundo sobre a entidade e como lidar com ela foi perdido. Tíwé e Nathan se tornam amigos de Felix e é neles que Felix busca força e solidariedade. Numa escolha infeliz do autor Tíwé e Nathan são ambos mortos pelo “Impostor”, Nathan de forma particularmente cruel; Angela, também nativo americana, ela é cética e tem uma abordagem mais acadêmica, ela busca observar o fenômeno de perto para tirar conclusões; Greg e Lynn, os pais de Faye, que dão início a tudo permitindo que a filha e Felix vão até a cabine em Pale Peak sem contar suas próprias experiências lá e as histórias que sabem a respeito do local. Lynn em especial é frustrante pois durante o livro guarda muitos segredos o tempo todo mesmo sabendo que isso está prejudicando Faye e Felix. 

A atmosfera do livro foi excelente e realmente assustadora, tanto nos momentos de isolamento na cabana em Pale Peak quanto nos episódios noturnos de Faye na casa do casal a quilômetros de distância da montanha. O clima de tensão e medo constante foi intenso no livro. A escrita também foi ótima, a descrição dos eventos do distúrbio de sono e possessão de Faye foram bastante arrepiantes, assim como os acontecimentos nas estadias na cabine em Pale Peak. Na primeira estadia o casal teve o primeiro contato com as várias vozes do “Impostor” e na segunda Felix retorna só para buscar o anel de noivado de Faye que havia sido levado pela entidade. Mas onde a escrita mais brilhou foi o prólogo, a passagem mais assustadora do livro. O pássaro Carrot realmente marcou sua presença na obra. O autor não usa gore, mas tem o dom de descrever situações atmosféricas e perturbadoras. O enredo é muito interessante, um casal vai passar um feriado numa cabine na montanha sem saber que algo antigo, uma criatura ou entidade, se interessa pelos sonhos da mulher, Faye, e é se utilizando do distúrbio de sono da mesma que ele passa a perseguir e aterrorizar o casal. Considerei uma história bastante original e intrigante. A obra me manteve presa até o final curiosa se havia solução para o casal, pois em muitos momentos a situação pareceu bastante desesperada. Devo colocar uma ressalva que a conclusão foi um tanto decepcionante, pois após tanto sofrimento e mortes Faye encerrou a situação literalmente mandando o Impostor ir embora. A lógica da obra é coerente a maior parte do tempo só que em diversos momentos é necessário suspender a descrença porque Felix não age como uma pessoa que tem amor a sua própria vida. Repetidamente o protagonista se expõe a criatura de forma desnecessária, saindo da casa para checar barulhos, dormindo com a janela aberta, etc. O livro teve problemas, 3 de 5 mortes foram de personagens nativo americanos, a principal personagem feminina apresentou pouca iniciativa e grande teimosia e a solução do problema foi simples e decepcionante. Contudo como livro de terror ele foi, na maior parte do tempo, bastante eficiente com cenas marcantes e atmosfera arrepiante. A obra me entreteve do começo até o fim e com base nisso dou a nota 4.5 estrelas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Vomit, and Stalking

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gore, and Child death

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Suicide, and Gun violence

madarauchiha's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.25

 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜  my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️

 

The pacing is horrible. The author doesn't know when the edit shit out, and where to move the plot forward. Boring. Repetitive. Fake out climax way too many times. Misogynist flat female character. Incredibly racist towards indigenous characters. Classist about 'lower class' blue collar workers. The mystery of the monster concluded poorly. Conclusion of the most afflicted / possessed / haunted character's arc was embarrassing and frustratingly flippant. The prose is juvenile and middle grade levels. The tension, horror, creepiness was nonexistent. This should have stayed on reddit, bro. 

▪ I’ll cut you a discount on today’s rate, since I can’t get this stuff out. If you want I can drop by on the weekend and fix this wall up for ya, nice and proper. Hunnerd bucks.”

 

This is how blue collar characters are depicted btw. They talk low class and schtupid??? Really? 

▪ “The body was mutilated,” Nathan stammered. “Someone took his skin and hair…took his teeth.” He broke down and cried. I did too.

 

This is one of the three named indigenous character. He's the

Magic Shaman, and he gets brutally murdered off screen.

 

▪ To my relief, it was Nathan. I immediately babbled a salutation and a few questions, which he ignored. His voice came through grave and low, and he said, “Felix, let me speak to the one who followed you home.” I looked to Faye, who sat on the floor next to me in a pair of yoga pants, pulling books out of a box. “Uhh…It’s for you, I think.” Faye put the phone to her ear and said “Hello?” and then listened quietly for about a minute. I could hear Nathan speaking, but could not make out anything he said. Suddenly, a volcano of black puke exploded from Faye’s mouth. It sprayed across the carpet in a cone before her, and sent me nearly jumping out of my skin. She doubled over onto the floor like a ragdoll, coughing and sputtering. I leaped to my feet, panicking and asking if she was alright. I picked up the phone and screamed at Nathan, demanding to know what he had said to her. 

“I know how to purge a drain clog,” he said, chuckling.  

After spending like 30 +chapters and a whole lot of time with the mc trying to figure out what the ghost monster is and how to defeat it, this is what stops the ghost monster. What a cheap culmination of nearly 2 hours and 30 chapters. 

▪ Walking into my home and seeing Faye light up nearly stopped my heart. An ineffable mixture of joy and sorrow overwhelmed me, and we wrapped each other up in a long hug – after which I endured a volley of angry slaps and kisses. I understood. She was furious that I’d spent so much time trying to take control of the situation, that I had treated her like a child and disregarded her feelings in my crusade to rescue her.

 

So after reading her like a useless mentally ill moron this all the character development being possessed or whatever Like listen, when she was

possessed / stalked by the ghost monster, she was very adamant and annoyed at the MC for trying to boss her around, get her medical attention, investigate the ghost monster, etc.

And now this happens, after all that. It feels like a regression in her character. 

▪ “Just a bit of sage. I change it out every so often. Might not ward off the devil, but it’ll protect you from the smell of your bad cooking.” “You really crack yourself up, eh?” I shot back. Tíwé’s ill-concealed snickers broke to open laughter.

 

It was illegal for native americans to use sage in their religious practice until 1978. Do you really think an actual indigenous person would be this flippant about. Sigh. Why am i even typing this out. The author doesnt give a fuck. 

▪ “Colorado has been home to many groups,” he began. “The Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Pueblo, and Anasazi people have all called it home at one point or another. There are many more who came and left. War and famine and weather always shifted people around, but the big movements came when the Gold Rush spread here. Thousands and thousands of Natives were displaced – or killed. Mining operations forced people out of their ancestral homelands.

 

I don't think indigenous people of North America would describe their own genocide and colonization so vaguely but ok. What do I know? Only that I'd call what the Spanish did to us in the Philippines as genocidal atrocities and rape and colonization. 

▪ “My people gave him the name At’an-A’anotogkua,” he said quietly. “The term refers to water, and how it is formless until it fills a vessel. Angela wasn’t wrong when she called him the ‘hollow one,’ because there is no direct translation, really. Maybe it is more accurate to call him ‘the Impostor,’ because this being fills himself with the life force of his prey.”

 

They made a brief big deal about not naming the monsters and then just.... Say the name. ok. What's consistency? Who the fuck knows! 

▪ “My father’s crazy, by the way,” Nathan added. “Te’anoi nakhan,” Tíwé said, tapping his head. “Too much snowboarding and Red Bull. Rots his brains.” This time, we all laughed.

 

Ah so there is the source of the author's research. That racist 'Crazy Talk the indian man' joke from the simpsons. 

▪ “She bore you with her academic spiels?” he laughed. “Some things you cannot learn from books!” I’m actually an academic myself,” I admitted. Tíwé’s expression changed. “My apologies,” he said. “They come out here for their research trips all the time, organized by the universities. We can tell they mean well, but they sometimes treat us like…like…” “Lab rats,” Nathan interjected, carrying mugs of tea into the room. He sat down next to his father and studied me. “I was thinking of Jane Goodall, living among the chimps!” Tíwé said, cracking up. “Angela mentioned that, uh, Natives are sometimes hesitant to share information with outsiders,” I said, trying to remember her exact words. “It’s true,” Tíwé replied. “At least for my people. We aren’t so cavalier in sharing our history. It’s a very personal thing. You can’t just tell the stories like a history teacher in a classroom. The setting matters. The audience matters. How you tell the story, and where you tell it – why you tell it – it all matters! The wisdom of our fathers was spoken for generations, not written down and revised and published. Not sold and archived. The Europeans thought we were backward for this! And the anthropologists who visit us, they call this ‘oral tradition.’ I guess it’s fitting.”

 

Deep tired sigh, gritted teeth. If you enjoyed this book I both hate you and am embarassed for you. What's in your brain cavity? Dust bunnies? Rotting celery? 

▪ Otherworldly terror fueled me, and the image of psychotic cannibals jabbering with their tongues hanging out of their mouths swirled in my mind. I flew inside and slammed the door shut, holding back tears. There in the stillness, I listened to the screams of the wind and the hellish beings that chattered over it. The light vanished. Darkness conquered the landscape and imprisoned me in the cabin.

 

This is specifically about the Native monster man creature that's haunting these white people btw. And this is how the author through the mc is describing indigenous people. 

▪ I’d seen the home videos. Little Faye was adorable and curious. A kid like that would certainly hold a conversation with a stranger, maybe even one from another dimension, if he interested her enough. Whoever it was that called out to her from those woods, he was delighted that she spoke back. Perhaps he became fascinated with her, or something he thought she knew, and had been digging through her mind for years trying to unearth it. Faye’s strong personality might have prevented him from fooling her while she was awake, but while asleep, she is as gentle as a lamb, and naïve. Almost like a child.

 

One of the many irritating ways the one main woman character is depicted. She's useless, guileless, used to bring up racy sex stuff, she has zero personality outside of the male mc character. If there wasnt sparse descriptions of curly hair and WASPness, I'd call her a sexy lamp. 

▪ I tried not to scoff at the exchange. It was still light enough outside that the analytical part of my brain hadn’t surrendered yet. “Okay, okay,” I interjected, “let’s just say this thing is real. What do we do now? How do we get rid of it?”

 

So the mc has gone through almost a month of hauntings, explicit hauntings involving his fiance, and hes still playing dumb. especially when he called in the magical native character to resolve the haunting. The author knows a lot of tropes and not a damn clue how to execute any of them, much less in an interesting manner. 

▪ Na’hepa,” she said. “It can mean friend, or sister, depending on how you use it.”

 

What language is this. How did the author include this but not the name of the Nation much less reservation that the the indigenous characters are from? 

▪ “It’s been years since I’ve practiced,” she replied. “After my mom passed, I came out to California. Some members of my family are still upset with my decision, so I never had anyone to speak it with.”

 

So the indigenous woman just what? abandoned her entire culture? That's not unheard if and of course irl people can do whatever they want. but the author had proven themselves to be racist and this is a fictional character who cannot make her own decisions. 

▪ “When we were kids, we lived next to each other on the reservation. His grandfather was a tribal elder, and he gave lessons on our people’s language to me and my mother. There’s a big effort to preserve Native languages now, you know.”

 

WHAT RESERVATION. WHERE? SAY THE NAME, THE STATE IT IS IN. You know you can just search for native reservations on the internet, right? this isn't hidden knowledge. 

▪ Angela arrived at our home by late afternoon, and was just as warm and friendly as Tíwé. Her hair was straight and black with a sprinkling of gray. It framed a lean face with two green eyes, just like Faye’s. Although my fiancée can be reserved around new people, she instantly took a liking to our guest, and within minutes they were complimenting each other’s hair.  

The way the author writes women characters is so... weird and sexist. What are do girls like??? Say compliments to each ??? ??? profit! 

The other thing that's grating is how shallow it is. Oh, it touches on some things but there's never concrete detail. Yes there's a medical evaluation scene but it's haphazardly thrown in and thrown away. for how long this book is, its too scared to exist in places the author isnt familiar in. I think this book could have done better with some research and showing, not telling. 

I think what is grating about this is that there is a decent plot here. It does greatly need refining and removing of the weird racist parts. The author is self aware enough to acknowledge magical native americans is a shitty trope. But doesn't go far enough, and it feels like the author is purposefully or unintentionally skirting the base issue of that trope. I think this is partly in fault of it's origin. That this is a creepypasta from read it, and it shows. 

In the author notes, Blackwell makes a big deal wringing his hands over how to portray Native characters and all the tropes and stereotypes associated with them, and how he wanted to do right by them. But at the end we still have all the white(?) characters alive and the two main indigenous characters brutally murdered by the indigenous monster ghost. So like, what was all that hand wringing for? Did you learn anything from the indigenous professor you name dropped like a shield against criticism? It sure as fuck doesn't look like it. 

Content warnings. 

minor ableism towards people who use drugs, gore, suicide, medical content, 

medium child death, colonization, death, drug use, genocide, gore, stillbirths, suicide ideation, vomit 

major anti indigenous racism and racial slurs, body horror, magical native stereotypes, medical content, police, psychosis, stalking?, violence 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Body horror, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism, Gore, Suicide, and Medical content