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biblizo's review
- 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: Death of parent, Grief, and Suicide
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
charlieeee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Suicide, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cancer, Vomit, and Pregnancy
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
leah_alexandra's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, and Suicide
kp_writ's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Chronic illness
Minor: Abortion, Child abuse, and Pedophilia
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
📚 Jessa-Lynn is a hard to root for protagonist but you find yourself doing so anyway, or at least I did. We love a messy gay.
📚 The taxidermy passages are not for the faint of heart, but ultimately I did find them fascinating, and began to understand the meditative quality the work could take on for Jessa-Lynn.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
skyesreads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Grief, and Suicide
theoldestbennetsister's review
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Grief, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcoholism and Terminal illness