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zoejfrank's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
harshharmony's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I don’t think I can ever recommend this book to someone, but I do wish I had someone to say “what the fuck?!” to regarding this book.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship
madelinequinnee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I personally wouldn’t describe it as ‘feminist horror’ like i’ve seen it described by other reviewers. Maeve is absolutely not a feminist character, she’s actually quite actively misogynistic at times and SAs a lot of her victims, so I think it’s very misleading to describe this book that way.
But apart from the misleading descriptions, i did enjoy this book. It was pretty campy at times, and very gory, and even though i think more could have been done with the gore and actual horror scenes, this is a pretty solid story.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
orizenda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Excrement
hauntedantiqueshop's review
- 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
3.5
Oddly enough, I did kind of like it though. Not the gross shit but the overall story I suppose. The ending made me a little sad for Maeve but I didn’t really expect a happy ending for her. Definitely not a book for everyone, I don’t think there’s anyone I would ever recommend it to. But I am interested in reading something from this author again!
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Really weird sex stuff. Like uncomfortably weird sex stuff.gretaslittlelibrary's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
“Men have always been permitted in fiction and in life to simply be what they are, no matter how dark or terrifying that might be. But with a woman, we expect an answer, a reason.”
The more I sit and think on this book, the more I enjoy it. Maeve cleaved her way into my brain and won’t leave. I crave more Maeve (someone please pick up the rights to a movie, it would crush as a movie) or CJ please give us a sequel, or a prequel about grandma??
This book was raunchy, gory, entertaining, and horrific. However, it was also so much more. The above quote really resignated with me and was a pretty major focus of the book. It was nice to see a FMC just be terrible. I saw some reviews that say she actually wasn’t and that her trauma from her grandma showing her what she did when she first got to LA. But I didn’t get that from the book, in fact Leede writes it so we know that Maeve was terrible before she got there, it’s part of what helped her bond with her grandma. It was nice to just feel her rage, annoyance, confusion, and sense of loss. There’s also a ton of other things you can look into this book for such as psycho-sexual nature and misanthropes, but I don’t feel the need, or want, to dive farther into it right now. It was a fun and dark read and I just want to enjoy it and continue to think about it. Maybe I’ll reread and dive deeper into the themes at a later dated.
Relating to the raunchiness, goriness, and horrificness: I know a lot of people talk about the eggs, but for me it was the teeth. I don’t like teeth things to begin with so that almost threw me off this book, but I’m so glad I powered through. I do wish there was a little more of the gore and horror in the beginning of the book, prior to the pool table scene, but I get why (I think) the author didn’t do it it. It let us get to know Maeve and then let us witness Maeve’s world turn when Gideon entered the picture.
A few other things I loved about it: the twist ending, the Halloween incorporation, and the descriptiveness of places around LA (as someone whose never been, I felt like I was there with Maeve).
My biggest dislikes: The ending felt a little rushed and ended with no resolution. Teeth things! And the Johnny Depp/Bartender scenes, if anyone’s read this and can explain the reasoning for these other than it’s a place Maeve calls her own, please let me know!
Please check trigger warnings before reading, some big ones I can think of is body horror, sexual assault, descriptions of violent murder and torture, mutilation, etc.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
iambigsmelly's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
That being said it is a book that makes you want to keep going. Every "what the fuck" moment makes you want the next one. Just like our killer Maeve it taps into a primal obsession.
It's odd, disgusting, but intriguing, possibly projecting?
I give it 4.5-5 in terms of how it's written, fast paced, and in your face. Poetic but not too cliché that it's boring. But it takes a bit hit cause IMO I hate this trope in "body horror". It's 2 dimensional. Instead of putting things in places that don't belong, why not make places become something that don't belong?
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment
rachelunabridged's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
tbh, i had a hard time getting into this one at first because the beginning was just kinda meh. once it got good and started though, i found myself morbidly curious about how it was going to play out. i don't read a lot of extreme horror so i had a few "well that's enough of this book for today :)" moments. it's definitely not for the faint of heart.
i've been going back and forth about it for a few days now and settled on 3 stars, dropped from a possible 4. for one thing, this book heavily depends on the reader being familiar with american psycho (which i've never read, but know the broad strokes of), and i'm just not very impressed when an author uses a better known work as a springboard for their own. anything can serve as inspiration, but i felt like it was overplayed in this particular book.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing and Drug use
Minor: Cannibalism
fadeddpages's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
belletree's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail