Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - You Feel It Just Below the Ribs

Terrifying and fascinating, and kept me guessing if it was an unreliable narrator, an unreliable annotator, both, or neither. I love this style of fake history/memoir with multiple people contributing. I choose to believe that

the publisher/annotator's constant reinforcement that this is fake and made up and of COURSE defamatory and NO ONE should believe this is in fact a complete CYA and they in fact agree in many places with the narrator.

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jayisreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

For fans of the podcast, Within the Wires, this book is for you. There’s so much more worldbuilding that will satisfy your needs to have more of this universe. A side note: I haven’t listened to the audiobook, but that that might be worth checking out to continue the audio drama experience— You technically don’t have to know anything about the podcast to enjoy this book, though more on this towards the end.

YFIJBTR is thought-provoking with the way it poses philosophical questions that border on the existential. More interestingly, though, is the way this story is narrated not by one but two narrators. And it’s here that you get into the heart of what this book is asking you to decide: How do you determine who to believe?

The book is an autobiography of our protagonist, Dr. Miriam Gregory, who guides the reader through her life and what’s happening in the increasingly dystopian world she lives in. Curiously, this autobiography has footnotes and interludes that counter much of what Dr. Gregory is writing, going so far as to accuse her of falsifying information or showing blatant ignorance. As the autobiography continues, this meta-narrator in the footnotes gets increasingly hostile towards Dr. Gregory, putting the reader in a position of working out whether they should believe the footnotes (which have been providing seemingly factual information), or Dr. Gregory’s account, who was present at these events.

I will say that I thought the pacing was a little wonky. It started off slow, found a good pace towards the middle, but then felt a little too fast towards the end. I think this might be especially off-putting for those who aren’t familiar with the podcast universe, just because more and more concepts were introduced towards the end that weren’t fully explained. Again, you can technically read this book without any knowledge of the WtW universe, but I can easily see why those unfamiliar with the podcast may find this book somewhat frustrating.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I approached the book having listened to the podcast. The book is still worth checking out, especially for its approach to storytelling, but I do caution those unfamiliar with the podcast that it might be a little harder to fully enjoy it.

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divinityinfinity's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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samankins's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I think this book is going to require multiple reads to really put a neat bow on. I found the relationship between the narrative and the “publisher” to be the most fascinating aspect of the novel. The manuscript publisher claims to be

a black market, free speech advocate against the new Society and yet it gets particularly defensive, even sardonic, when Miri speaks out against laws the Society has put into place.

The revisionist history was fascinating and while I’m much more inclined to believe Miri, it may ultimately come down to a strange and melancholy example of history being written by the victors.

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nulliusmomenti's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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