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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
lizzie24601's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Alcohol, Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Dementia, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Blood, Racial slurs, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Dementia, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Violence, and Racial slurs
Minor: Child death
brooketreads's review
- 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
5.0
I wasn’t sure about this book at first. It just didn’t feel like my typical read, and was truly not expecting to like it. But, it completely surprised me. Such great writing from Morgan Talty. I felt immersed in the story. I had expected this to be a horror (based on the title 😆), but it ended up being less fantasy/scifi horror, more real life horror. This book was literally gutting me all the way through like with the MC’s grandma having dementia… I wasn’t sure how this book was going to end, but I would have never guessed what happened. I gasped, I cried. Read this.
Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation.
Graphic: Death, Dementia, Child death, and Murder
caidyn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, and Dementia
lilias's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
I am also reading haunting or horror books this month and thought this was a horror book because of the title. It’s not! I mean, yes it deals with the horrors of marginalization, poverty, and addiction, but it wouldn’t be found in the horror section.
I found myself smiling at moments and cringing at others. Talty’s characters are very human, sometimes unbearably so. Family, friendship, and love are themes that move them along with and against each other. This book broke my heart and at the same time satisfied my urge to want to read something beautifully Maine.
Graphic: Racism, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Child death
Moderate: Sexual violence, Cursing, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Pregnancy, Dementia, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Death, and Alcohol
carlaah1984'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
4.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Dementia, and Pregnancy
kvokolek's review
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, and Child death
Moderate: Dementia and Sexual violence
Minor: Colonisation and Pregnancy
erinmcav's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Dementia, Child death, Sexual assault, and Miscarriage
biblizo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Dementia
Moderate: Child death