Reviews

Deliver Me by Elle Nash

Only show reviews with written explanations

jessielikestoread's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

1.5 stars rounded up, I guess?

This is by far the most disturbing and dark book I've ever read. At the beginning it teeters the line between depicting the harsh reality of poverty and trauma and being gratuitous, but then it just quickly devolves into trauma porn. I don't normally give trigger warnings, but this book gives DESCRIPTIVE and horrifyingly grotesque descriptions of the following: animal abuse and mutilation (several times), murder, torture, pedophilia, birth trauma, child abuse and neglect, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, sadism, disgusting bodily fluids, and religious trauma . I cannot recommend this in good faith - it was just way too dark for me, and that's coming from someone who reads typically gross books.

At the heart of this is a sympathetic narrator named Dee Dee who has grown up in the Pentecostal church with an abusive mother; her story is one of abandonment, attachment, and jealousy as she tries to steer her life into a direction that breaks the cycle of religious trauma and intergenerational trauma. She views motherhood as the pinnacle of success and despite her dead end job in a slaughterhouse and her abusive dead beat boyfriend, she is willing to do anything to achieve it.

There's some good social commentary in here about misogyny and the use of religion to control women (particularly in the Southern US where this is set). It touches on classism and parenthood in ways that are interesting, and Dee Dee is self aware enough to recognize these so it makes her journey satisfying to some extent. I would compare it to Earthlings, Paradise Rot, McGlue, or Eileen in terms of themes.

With that said - the book would have been equally effective without the insane amount of violence and gore? It really detracted from my enjoyment and by the 50% mark, it just gets worse and worse. The ending was super predictable, and there was several typos (i.e., "world" being used instead of "word") and inconsistencies (i.e., a character being nameless and then randomly being referred to by their name with no context) that I really think this needs a second pass through editing. I've never seen an ARC feel so unfinished? There's also several scenes that make 0 sense - like trespassing in a hospital without any staff being alarmed, or a slaughterhouse being completely unlocked and accessible to the public after hours?

Overall, the writing in this is fine. The title is a clever play on both religious deliverance and the delivery of a baby - but it REALLY needs a second pass through editing, and I think much clearer marketing that this is intensely gory and disturbing. Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC in an exchange for an honest review.