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riahwamby's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
sarahsnacks's review against another edition
This reads like a robot wrote it and is so repetitive I couldn’t get through it.
miniatureghosts's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
This is most likely the weirdest book I’ve ever read and it was too much for me. I didn’t enjoy most of the short stories and I couldn’t catch the meaning behind most of them. It seems like this collection is just weird for weirds sake or for the sake of shock value. This isn’t inherently a bad thing but I think I need more of an obvious significance behind the weirdness to “justify” it. However, it’s possible that there was a meaning behind the gross events that just went over my head.
The stories themselves were well-written and definitely achieved their goal of being disgusting. They also linked together tonally and in terms of theme (queer gender identity, sexuality that deviates from social norms, strained interpersonal relationships etc.). It’s a coherent and cohesive collection.
Overall, I hated this but also think it’s a well-done short story collection. There’s definitely a niche audience that would love this.
Extra content warning: graphic bestiality
The stories themselves were well-written and definitely achieved their goal of being disgusting. They also linked together tonally and in terms of theme (queer gender identity, sexuality that deviates from social norms, strained interpersonal relationships etc.). It’s a coherent and cohesive collection.
Overall, I hated this but also think it’s a well-done short story collection. There’s definitely a niche audience that would love this.
Extra content warning: graphic bestiality
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Incest, and Excrement
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Sexual assault
maceye23's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed around half of these. A lot of them were just too gross for me to enjoy, which is atypical for me. I really didn't want to read that much graphic beastiality. I feel like I'm a pretty open and sex positive person, but this was too much for me to enjoy. Maybe the point was to not enjoy the book. I'm sure there was probably a deeper meaning to these stories, but I didn't want to spend enough time dwelling on it to figure it out. I thought this would be my cup of tea but I was wrong.
znnys's review against another edition
4.0
I really appreciated how weird and visceral these stories were. It's always interesting to identify common threads in an author's work - in these stories, Milks explores identity and love and "twin"ness a lot, transformation and being trans, and the intersection between sex and repulsion.
Absolute favorite was Germ Camp, I loved it and wished it had been longer. It best illustrates the aforementioned sex/repulsion concept. It has this confinement, both physically and sexually, this simultaneous fear and desire for sex, flirting with the precipice of perversion but unable to cross that boundary. I also feel like Milks really effectively portrayed the love and tension between the siblings, as well as the narrator's difficulty in fully grasping their brother's perspective as a disabled person. I know the last story is meant to be a companion piece to Slug but it actually feels more in line with Germ Camp, in the "perverse" desire for something you know may genuinely kill you.
Other ones I found really thought-provoking were Strands, My Father and I Were Bent Groundward, and the titular Slug. I liked the formatting of Kill Margeurite and TWINS, both having kind of this nostalgic video game/Choose-Your-Own-Adventure inspiration, though thematically they were a bit underwhelming.
Trauma-Rama felt in the same vein as Kill Margeurite and TWINS, evoking that kitschy preteen girl nostalgia with underlying seriousness beneath, but I liked it much better than the other two and found it much more impactful and interesting. That one and Germ Camp were, to me, the strongest pieces in the collection.
Some of them just didn't land for me, though, and felt kind of pretentious. And too aware of how "shocking" they were. Wild Animals and Swamp Cycle felt that way to me. I felt like Wild Animals in particular more or less had the same kind of meaning that Slug did but illustrated it less effectively. Others I didn't outright dislike but I felt kind of indifferent to, Like Tomato Heart.
Overall a worthwhile read with some great pieces, though not all of them landed for me.
Absolute favorite was Germ Camp, I loved it and wished it had been longer. It best illustrates the aforementioned sex/repulsion concept. It has this confinement, both physically and sexually, this simultaneous fear and desire for sex, flirting with the precipice of perversion but unable to cross that boundary. I also feel like Milks really effectively portrayed the love and tension between the siblings, as well as the narrator's difficulty in fully grasping their brother's perspective as a disabled person. I know the last story is meant to be a companion piece to Slug but it actually feels more in line with Germ Camp, in the "perverse" desire for something you know may genuinely kill you.
Other ones I found really thought-provoking were Strands, My Father and I Were Bent Groundward, and the titular Slug. I liked the formatting of Kill Margeurite and TWINS, both having kind of this nostalgic video game/Choose-Your-Own-Adventure inspiration, though thematically they were a bit underwhelming.
Trauma-Rama felt in the same vein as Kill Margeurite and TWINS, evoking that kitschy preteen girl nostalgia with underlying seriousness beneath, but I liked it much better than the other two and found it much more impactful and interesting. That one and Germ Camp were, to me, the strongest pieces in the collection.
Some of them just didn't land for me, though, and felt kind of pretentious. And too aware of how "shocking" they were. Wild Animals and Swamp Cycle felt that way to me. I felt like Wild Animals in particular more or less had the same kind of meaning that Slug did but illustrated it less effectively. Others I didn't outright dislike but I felt kind of indifferent to, Like Tomato Heart.
Overall a worthwhile read with some great pieces, though not all of them landed for me.
mfrost's review against another edition
4.0
such a strange strange book. some stories were stronger than others but overall — unsettlingly and oddly enjoyable!
garbanzobean's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
brenna_law's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
elisereading's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.75
why there’s no “gross” to choose for the mood?
my faves are (in no particular order): Kill Marguerite, Tomato Heart, Earl and Ed, Take Us to Your LDR.
the most atrocious ones are Slug and Swamp Cycle.
my faves are (in no particular order): Kill Marguerite, Tomato Heart, Earl and Ed, Take Us to Your LDR.
the most atrocious ones are Slug and Swamp Cycle.