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rnorthie's review
4.0
Check content warnings!
Graphic: Drug abuse
Moderate: Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Death, Pregnancy, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Child death, Blood, Car accident, and Abandonment
Minor: Sexual assault
mercerhanau'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
2.75
It’s a reflective set of stories, looking at slices of life from the narrator as a child, teenager, and mid/late 20s, looking back from later in life. Lots of drinking and suffering from drug addition, wanting to get clean. Depressing, occasionally funny, a LOT of scenes with varying degrees of nausea, dry heaving, and vomit. Unpleasant. But there are also scenes of tenderness that help flesh out the characters.
The title (and a couple references to zombies) encouraged me to look for what could be “horror” or the supernatural in stories that otherwise feel like a fictionalized memoir. Animal presences serve as metaphors that connect interpersonal struggles to the natural world in all its power, chaos, and… stenches.
More thoughts on real-life "horror": SPOILERS / Content Warnings
Feels like an important story to tell. Nuanced representation of a deeply interconnected Native community and family. The writing style and characters didn’t resonate with me, and that’s okay! I definitely see why other people love the book.
Cf. / Reminded me of themes in…
- Wellness, by Natan Hill:
- The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones:
- Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare, by Megan Kamalei Kakimoto:
- This Thing Between Us, by Gus Moreno:
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Vomit
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Dementia, Miscarriage, and Car accident
Minor: Pregnancy, Medical content, Sexual assault, Animal death, Infertility, and Racial slurs
anahisa'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
4.5
A reading experience that made me feel both haunted + hunted! Love how Talty subverts horror tropes in these stories. I’m finding myself at a loss for words because it’s such an incredibly raw narrative it feels wrong to talk about in passing. While I highly recommend picking this one up, advise the trigger warnings!!
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Rape, Violence, Vomit, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Child death, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Infertility, and Sexual assault
huckleberryrk'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
3.25
Graphic: Infertility, Child death, Mental illness, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Sexual assault
tigger89's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Once I figured out what was going on, the non-chronological storytelling choice was genius. It takes a bit of puzzling out, but the reading experience is greatly enhanced by having to figure out where you are in time, what are the characters up to, wait a minute Paige isn't here because why? What happened!? You'll find out after several more stories, when the narrative finally gets around to it. It sounds frustrating, but due to the brevity of the stories(and the collection as a whole - it clocks in under 300 pages) it didn't bother me, because I knew I'd find out soon.
The characters featured in these stories are vividly real, but deeply flawed, individuals who make bad choices, repeatedly. Regardless, I found myself caring for them, even as I was so incredibly frustrated with their actions. This might not be everyone's cup of tea, so be aware going in that these characters are made of flaws, and it's not necessarily something that ever gets set right.
It's interesting to me that, after reading some other people's thoughts, I saw that wasn't the only one who was mistaken about the content of this collection when I picked it up. I believe it's a combination of the cover design, the title, and the way the stories were teased on the back cover, but it's funny to me that there's such a misconception that this collection features horror stories. It doesn't. On numerous occasions you may (or should) briefly be horrified, but the focus of these stories is not to evoke any kind of sustained horror. Rather, it's slice of life about family, poverty, trauma, loss, and ultimately, choosing to live.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Dementia, Child death, Addiction, Alcohol, Vomit, Drug use, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide attempt, and Child abuse
Moderate: Infertility and Pregnancy
Minor: Car accident and Blood
mcc004'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: Alcoholism, Drug use, Grief, Dementia, Drug abuse, Death, Child death, Miscarriage, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Infertility, and Addiction
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pregnancy
hannahlee's review
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Colonisation, Drug use, Infertility, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Dementia, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
Moderate: Vomit, Violence, and Sexual assault
tessatalksbooks's review against another edition
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Dementia, Infertility, and Miscarriage
taylorjayne's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Addiction, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Car accident
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Terminal illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical content, Dementia, Classism, Blood, Cursing, and Animal death