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

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor, Janina Matthewson

11 reviews

hippievamp's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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gilroi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ultimately, this horror / dystopia / alt history severely pulls its punches with regard to the ending. It's barely spooky, barely horrific, and so light on the dystopian and alt-historical detail that the whole thing feels unsatisfying. The use of end notes to render unreliability and worldbuilding is pretty interesting, however.

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danielnski's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The story itself is excellent, but the way the book layers in a historiographical element really adds to the mystery of the core plot and the unreliable narration. While I don't know if all the plot points are the most relevant, I couldn't put this book down and I can't shake the book and how brilliant it is.

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dryriver's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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? Yes

4.25

I enjoyed this dystopian, post-apocalyptic read. It felt like a true memoir and had a hazy, melancholic feel that added to the clouded truth within the storyline.
Dr. Mariam Gregory was born into the collapse of society during the early 1900s, leading to her immediate family's death and hyperindependence. She eventually learned a method of meditation, called the "watercolor quiet" which she further developed as a quasi-psychologist. This is occasionally interrupted by the "editors" of her memoir, who claim it is riddled with inaccuracies. This book's framing makes it feel dark and questionable, especially as Mariam discovers what has been done with her work.
While I like the realistic feel of Mariam's recollection, this also makes the storyline feel piecey at times and muddles any clear themes. I wish that the authors pursued some of the large concepts more independently rather than frequently switching the moral focus. I love that they created such intense moral conflicts, but many of these areas felt underdeveloped. Again, maybe this is the result of having a believable personal narrative, but I was left wishing for a bit more.
Overall I think this is an intriguing novel for those who love post-apocalyptic and morally questionable themes.

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quinnjuliac's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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spacecars's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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? It's complicated

4.0

The premise of this book is so fascinating! This is a speculative dystopian fiction where a manuscript written by a prominent figure was discovered and published into this book by this publisher'; the author is a doctor who was instrumental to the rebuilding of the world after a decades-long war, and in this 'memoir' she details her life and how she became who she is today.

The book includes interludes written by the publisher, who wants to support free speech by publishing this and availing it to a limited number of discerning readers, as well as footnotes for the research and verifications they did on the revelations in the manuscript while they were putting this memoir together.

The pace is a little slow and the ending was a little too abrupt, but the idea of an unreliable narrator is extremely interesting. I went in feeling sad for the author, and in the midst of it I started questioning whether she's telling the truth since the footnotes indicate otherwise, but then at the end I realise that I can't trust both the author and the publisher because they each have their own agendas.

The idea of accuracy and reliability at play is very unique, and I thoroughly enjoyed this writing style. I don’t even read speculative/dystopian fiction (never my first choice), but I’m glad I picked this up after reading the synopsis as this was really good!

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