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readingsofaslinky's review
funny
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? It's complicated
4.75
Holy bodily hell!! This book is not in fact like squid games unless you are imaging a giant gender less squid playing games with humanity. Yeah, that’s not what you thought, huh? I’d say this gave me more Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl meets Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground meets Kang and Kodos from the Simpsons. Weird, queer, explicit, and thought provoking; I’m glad I was recommended to read this!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Dysphoria, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Body shaming, Excrement, and Sexual content
Minor: Fatphobia
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
octopus_smith's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Sexual content
foolishyetdangerousbooks's review
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Cannibalism, Body horror, Hate crime, Murder, Blood, Death, and Excrement
mimosaeyes's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A book about an alien hungry for human flesh and sex, who despises humans yet yearns to belong, is something that can be so personal, actually.
I had high hopes when I read the blurb, and they have been met and surpassed. This is body horror-ific speculative fiction that obliquely yet so effectively probes themes like queerness and disability. It's written in first person from the alien's point of view, and when they talk about being stared at in public or struggling with stairs or being afraid of discovery, it reads strikingly like a closeted or disabled person trying to get around and live their life.
Until the alien goes and graphically kills one of their casual hookups. Those scenes are actually a lot of fun to read. The unique voice of the alien puts you on their side right from the outset (and the confiding tone culminates wonderfully in the ending). There is a sense of strong physicality and unique images in the narration, which is complemented well by the black-and-white illustrations and the weirdly spaced words when the alien is in its natural form. Kudos to the translator, whose note at the end about adapting orthographic differences from the Korean is enlightening and really shows her love for the project.
I'm so glad I picked up this book! It's right up my alley and will stay with me for a while.
I had high hopes when I read the blurb, and they have been met and surpassed. This is body horror-ific speculative fiction that obliquely yet so effectively probes themes like queerness and disability. It's written in first person from the alien's point of view, and when they talk about being stared at in public or struggling with stairs or being afraid of discovery, it reads strikingly like a closeted or disabled person trying to get around and live their life.
Until the alien goes and graphically kills one of their casual hookups. Those scenes are actually a lot of fun to read. The unique voice of the alien puts you on their side right from the outset (and the confiding tone culminates wonderfully in the ending). There is a sense of strong physicality and unique images in the narration, which is complemented well by the black-and-white illustrations and the weirdly spaced words when the alien is in its natural form. Kudos to the translator, whose note at the end about adapting orthographic differences from the Korean is enlightening and really shows her love for the project.
I'm so glad I picked up this book! It's right up my alley and will stay with me for a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, and Violence
scifi_rat's review
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Body horror
Moderate: Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Cursing
Minor: Blood and Cannibalism
applesodaperson's review
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This book came highly recommended, and yeah it lived up to the hype. It was such an interesting commentary of society within such a weird framework. I loved the part talking about gender assumptions. And I also loved the part about how people judge those that don't walk the same as them, which was such a good commentary about ableism, accessibility, and the way society treats those with disabilities. I also highly highly recommend listening to this book in an audiobook form. The narrator did such a good job and really makes it feel like an alien is saying all the things in the book.
Listened to on Libby.
Listened to on Libby.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Murder, and Sexual content
Moderate: Hate crime
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
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
buying this in print both because it was lovely and because my ereader did not do the art justice!
wow! what can i say. such a fresh premise, the narrative voice was so refreshing, i don’t think I’ve ever read a book anything like this. if you have, PLEASE recommend! favorite book this year i think
unapologetically queer and making very interesting points about who this world is designed for both physically and in a more abstract sense. definitely graphic and gory but that takes a surprising backseat to the emotions of the main char. idk this book was just great and a lovely opener for Halloween month.
wow! what can i say. such a fresh premise, the narrative voice was so refreshing, i don’t think I’ve ever read a book anything like this. if you have, PLEASE recommend! favorite book this year i think
unapologetically queer and making very interesting points about who this world is designed for both physically and in a more abstract sense. definitely graphic and gory but that takes a surprising backseat to the emotions of the main char. idk this book was just great and a lovely opener for Halloween month.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Cannibalism, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Death, Ableism, Cursing, Excrement, Transphobia, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism
danielles_reads's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- 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
I wondered how it was even possible to divide something with so many visible variants into just two groups [men and women]. But humans keep bringing up their criteria and judge me by it. In the subway, in the street, in restaurants, in shopping malls, in parks . . . their expressions and words that question my humanity irrespective of where I am made me tear myself apart and rebuild myself piece by piece. I’ve invested close to ten years of my time figuring out what exactly their criteria are. My conclusion is that there are no such criteria.
This book is sooo weird lol. I knew it would be weird going in, but somehow it ended up being even weirder than I thought. There is a huge focus on sex, with explicit sexual content combined with blood and gore in a way that I’m sure will turn off a lot of readers. There are also a few fatphobic descriptions that felt entirely unnecessary to the story.
I’m always a fan of stories about aliens observing humanity from the point of view of an outsider, so I liked this book from that standpoint. It had a lot to say about humanity’s rules and expectations for how people should act, especially in terms of gender roles, and how isolating that can be.
This book doesn’t have much of a plot, and is mostly just the day-to-day life of the main character. It did start feeling a little repetitive in the second half (so many complaints about stairs lol), but then the book ended. The ending was pretty sudden and kind of bittersweet, but I think it worked well for the story.
The real highlight of the book is the character’s extremely sardonic way of speaking directly to the reader. This really differentiates the book from other alien characters, and is strengthened even more by the audiobook narrator, who did a fantastic job bringing this strange character to life. There were also some cool sound effects that enabled the listener to feel as disoriented as the MC does. The ebook also made tons of interesting stylistic choices to convey the alien’s shifting mindset, so I was glad I had a copy of it along with the audio.
There is not much world building in this book, which I think was fine for the story the author wanted to tell. We got a tiny bit of the alien’s backstory, but the story mostly leaned into the weird aspects of the alien’s physical body and lifestyle on Earth. Really this book feels more like horror than science fiction.
Overall, I think Dolki Min wrote a very unique story, and Victoria Caudle’s translation was very effective. I’d definitely be interested in reading more from them.
To tell the truth, having someone not reply and treat me as a nonentity is a teeth-chatteringly frightening experience. There are so many people who ignore someone as naturally as eating. […] Answering human leeches like her is almost like a reflex for me, probably because the violence of going unanswered has cut me to my core.
Honestly, relatable
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia