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readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
tense
fast-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? Yes
2.5
The ideas are vastly better then the execution especially prose wise but it’s honestly a lot of fun and very refreshing read it also very crude and explicit in both what it’s using a thin veil of scifi to talk about while being pretty explicit about gender and gender and sexuality as performance.
I felt like there was a conversation about lookism in South Korea that’s incredibly intense but really hard to get if you’re a foreigner (even if you’re familiar with desirability politics) that never fully felt really used well but that and the conversation about cameras and unseen cameras taking photos that was definitely a references to spy camera sexual violence in South Korea and Japan felt kinda refreshing to be the core point of the book or just sat and explained versus a part of the life the alien was going through.
I felt like there was a conversation about lookism in South Korea that’s incredibly intense but really hard to get if you’re a foreigner (even if you’re familiar with desirability politics) that never fully felt really used well but that and the conversation about cameras and unseen cameras taking photos that was definitely a references to spy camera sexual violence in South Korea and Japan felt kinda refreshing to be the core point of the book or just sat and explained versus a part of the life the alien was going through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Excrement, Body shaming, Gore, Vomit, Body horror, Cannibalism, Violence, and Abandonment
quirkykayleetam's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This is not a book for most people.
It is violent and sexual and strange, inviting you to listen to a people-eating alien tell you their most intimate thoughts and actions while hiding and surviving on planet earth.
The experience should be alienating--and sometimes it is. Sometimes you have to reckon with the fact that you're talking to someone with 3 legs and almost 30 genitals who is unapologetic about who they are. But I also found myself connecting so closely with the narrator. They embodied so much of my fear and anger as an invisibly disabled person trying to live in a world where my physical body will always hold me down.
The end of this novella is sudden. It made me think and think and rethink.
This book shows you the monstrous in yourself and how you have been a monster to others. If you can handle the content, this is one I highly recommend.
It is violent and sexual and strange, inviting you to listen to a people-eating alien tell you their most intimate thoughts and actions while hiding and surviving on planet earth.
The experience should be alienating--and sometimes it is. Sometimes you have to reckon with the fact that you're talking to someone with 3 legs and almost 30 genitals who is unapologetic about who they are. But I also found myself connecting so closely with the narrator. They embodied so much of my fear and anger as an invisibly disabled person trying to live in a world where my physical body will always hold me down.
The end of this novella is sudden. It made me think and think and rethink.
This book shows you the monstrous in yourself and how you have been a monster to others. If you can handle the content, this is one I highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, Dysphoria, Violence, Body horror, and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Stalking, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
bee_likes_books's review
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Stalking, Sexual content, and Cannibalism
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