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emzireads's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Infidelity, Gore, and Alcohol
oliverigotti's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
pretty good, but the characters felt a little off to me, i don’t know what it was. i feel like they just got in their own ways a bit too much, if that’s even a valid criticism. this book did accurately describe how terrible florida is.
huge word of warning, this book is super gory, not for those with weak stomachs
Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Gore, Animal death, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Sexual content
ecn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The ending also seemed extremely abrupt. Too much was trying to be resolved in a matter of DAYS and the characters glossed over so much and so much was implied that it seemed impossible and unrealistic for them to be how things would unfold.
This book had so much promise but ended up falling so flat. I wanted more for and of every character but wasn’t given a fraction (felt very indicative of how they were treated I’m sure - maybe it’s stylistic).
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Death, and Alcohol
ghulsona's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Also, I think the buildup to the resolution was excellent and really good, but the way the resolution was actually executed felt kind of rushed and did not feel like it was earned (even though it should have!), so I was a bit bummed out from that.
Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Gore
Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Blood
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy
hannakutlu's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, and Gore
kyrad4983's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Minor: Vomit
As many other reviews have mentioned - this book is not for the faint of heart. I felt nauseated, dreadful, disgusted - while the taxidermy scenes were difficult to stomach at times it was the raw chicken cooking scenes that broke me. I wanted to scream “WASH YOUR FUCKING HANDS OH MY GOD” Babes - everyone in this narrative is getting salmonella. The text oozes with grime, artfully mirroring the nasty coils of grief entangling this family. However, in the book’s attempts to raise the stakes on the gross, it runs out of steam handling the implications of said actions.kinomatica's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Outing, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer
himboluvr's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
kry_yang's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I've been sitting here for a hot second, trying to formulate my thoughts on this book.
I knew of Kristen Arnett from her short stories, and I was really drawn to the flamingo on the cover of this novel, so I thought, hey why not give this book a try.
Going into this novel with absolutely no idea what to expect, the whole *vibe* of this book really shook me to the core. I honestly love reading messy, gore-y, beautifully-horrific prose, and this book just gave me so much of that. This isn't an easy read (also lots of NSFW warnings for the graphic sex scenes)--there's so much deeply disturbing, gag-inducing imagery about cutting, ripping, bleeding, burning, and anything else "gross" that you can possibly imagine.
But somehow all of that disgusting imagery was... so beautiful. There's not a lot that *happens* per se in the book--it's one of those stories where not a lot happens, but the characters meditate a lot on their past/future--yet for some reason, I felt incredibly drawn towards this book. Once I got with the whole "taxidermy as a metaphor for everything that's going on in the rest of the story" vibe, I enjoyed this book immensely, and finished it quite quickly. Something about Arnett's style drew me in, and kept me hooked the entire time.
Mostly Dead Things is about grief, sex, family, and loss, packaged in lyrical descriptions of the strange and disturbing. A slow-paced read, but one that breaks your heart, makes you gag, and leaves you feeling like you just traveled to the swamps of Florida and back. Would not recommend this book to the faint of heart, but if you want to immerse yourself in a bizarre world for a couple hours, then you would love (and hate) this novel.
What an emotional rollercoaster. Maybe one of the strangest novels I've read, and I definitely have a love-hate relationship with the characters. But oh my god Arnett's style is absolutely to die for. This book scrambled my brain in a good way (I think?) so I'm not even sure how to give this a rating out of 5.
Graphic: Sexual content, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, and Grief
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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Suicide, and Animal death
Moderate: Sexual content