Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Gone to See the River Man

I can see what the author was going for in many aspects, but Gone To See The River Man honestly fell quite flat for me. The pacing of this book leaves a lot to be desired. I feel the "woods" section of the book went on for entirely too long, with a few genuinely interesting sections once they're in the river. I really wish more of the book had been in the vein of those few scenes. So much of this book is just them walking through the woods, then some decently implemented flashback chapters, then right at the end a few pages with the river man and a few pages after.

My main issues with this book go into heavy spoiler territory so here goes:

Her abuse of her brother to juxtapose her with Edmund was interesting, but the writing felt more like it was there to put it in the extreme category, not actually reflect on how their crimes and opinions on them connect them to eachother. There are ways to write unlikable main characters who do horrific things without remorse and have them be interesting, but she just isn't gripping enough. Her ableism is impossible to ignore (especially when you realize its directly her fault) and her weird jealousy just makes her annoying to read. It could have been an interesting commentary on abuse and how that affects a family, but that requires a level of tact and depth this novel ultimately lacks.

There is also some troubling ideas of love in here that I'm having a hard time believing is the character's opinion and not just the author's. Her vehemently denying any interest in Edmund felt genuine up to the point she suddenly heel turns towards the end, states she's head over heels for him and... means she'd obey him blindly? To the poijt of willingly being murdered? Having this be the influence of the river man or even just have this be a shift over time would be far preferable to how it was actually done.

Spoiler free Tldr: some interesting ideas thrown in around a terrible main character, heavy pacing issues, and heavy ideological issues not actually expanded upon enough to be seen as useful or insightful.

Content Warnings

marc3lin3's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

horrifying.
i had to take SO many breaks throughout this book.

the fact that lori feels no remorse and convinced herself shes the victim repulses me. abby didnt deserve to die (twice, no less). im not saying she deserved to die by edmund, but she deserved some type of death. killed her sister twice, had a victim complex, extreme obsession with killers, groomed/coerced/and raped her younger brother. not to mention shes continuously selfish and thinks edmund wont ~~kill her~~ treat her like shit.

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jant8's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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zea_d_writing's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I cannot recommend this book to anyone. Check trigger warnings and definitely do your research before deciding whether or not to read this book.

I went into this knowing it was an extreme horror novel: which means I knew that its sole purpose was to be horrific, vile, disgusting, sick, revolting, shocking purely to be shocking, and potentially even offensive. I knew it would likely delve into taboo topics, as these kinds of books often do.

And I wasn’t wrong.

This book wasn’t actually as graphic as I expected. Don’t get me wrong…there are absolutely very graphic, very disturbing, sickening scenes and themes depicted in this book. It just wasn’t as over the top as I expected given what I had heard about this book.
And I actually found the lore of this book really interesting and thought the storytelling itself was very effective.

But this book is absolutely disgusting, sick, and offensive.
I hated Lori, the main character. She’s vile in every way conceivable. Which is exactly how you’re supposed to feel about her - especially by the end.

This book features pretty severe racism and the fetishization of Asian women. It uses slurs (g slur) and describes very graphic violence and SA towards these groups. There is also severe blatant ableism (both in how the disabled character is depicted and how the other characters treat, talk to, and talk about the disabled character. The r slur is used more than once…as well as other derogatory terms.
The book features graphic incest and SA, murder, torture, dismemberment, violence and abuse, eating disorders, and a whole host of other triggers warnings.

Its dark. Its graphic. Its offensive. Its sick. I found the story itself weirdly interesting despite how twisted it was and the lore and worldbuilding were actually very intriguing.

I’m giving this three stars because it did what it intended to do and at no point was anything written within treated like it was supposed to be anywhere near normal or moral or okay. Its an extreme horror novel and everything and everyone within was entirely fucked up.

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