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librarymouse's review
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Surrealism and self-reflection reform as magic in this novel. It is disgusting, devoted, and drenched in adoration and bodily fluids.
I could read this novel a dozen more times and still have trouble categorizing it. It is angsty, lyrical, and shows the process of decontaminating oneself of the harshly imposed shame Christianity often ascribed to difference while avoiding the pitfalls of textual shame - the avoidance or curation of language. Hval writes this novel viscerally, with bodies, their parts, their fluids, and the conceptualization and actualization of sins being given true names and tangible descriptors. The struggle between the individual and externally oppressive religion is relatably detailed, and through that lens, this novel has the same impact when consumed as stained glass church windows divorced from their context.
So many readers who came of age on the internet were first introduced to the concept of a queer tenderness or queerness treated like literary fiction rather than something inherently pornographic, through the realm of fanfiction or short stories written to Tumblr prompts, as was very common in the 2010s. Rather than pulling me out of the story, despite how tenuous my grasp on the continuity of this book was, the narrator intermittently addressing the reader directly as "you" harkens back to that very specific reader insert fanfiction feeling, and the love expressed by the narrator for the reader creates that gorgeous, fluid, and velvety sense of adoration. This is an effect that I remember keenly feeling and craving at the young age of the girl in the puberty portrait that is so often brought up in this novel. I don't know that I can claim this specific tone to be authorial intent, but the mood created for the reader by the form and language of this book, with specific focus on the intersection between naturalism and internet subcultures, intertwines beautifully with the content.
I really don't know if I can recommend this novel to others. It is a lot, but it is also gorgeous.
I could read this novel a dozen more times and still have trouble categorizing it. It is angsty, lyrical, and shows the process of decontaminating oneself of the harshly imposed shame Christianity often ascribed to difference while avoiding the pitfalls of textual shame - the avoidance or curation of language. Hval writes this novel viscerally, with bodies, their parts, their fluids, and the conceptualization and actualization of sins being given true names and tangible descriptors. The struggle between the individual and externally oppressive religion is relatably detailed, and through that lens, this novel has the same impact when consumed as stained glass church windows divorced from their context.
So many readers who came of age on the internet were first introduced to the concept of a queer tenderness or queerness treated like literary fiction rather than something inherently pornographic, through the realm of fanfiction or short stories written to Tumblr prompts, as was very common in the 2010s. Rather than pulling me out of the story, despite how tenuous my grasp on the continuity of this book was, the narrator intermittently addressing the reader directly as "you" harkens back to that very specific reader insert fanfiction feeling, and the love expressed by the narrator for the reader creates that gorgeous, fluid, and velvety sense of adoration. This is an effect that I remember keenly feeling and craving at the young age of the girl in the puberty portrait that is so often brought up in this novel. I don't know that I can claim this specific tone to be authorial intent, but the mood created for the reader by the form and language of this book, with specific focus on the intersection between naturalism and internet subcultures, intertwines beautifully with the content.
I really don't know if I can recommend this novel to others. It is a lot, but it is also gorgeous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Excrement, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Cursing, Body horror, Abortion, Animal death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Sexual content
Moderate: Xenophobia, War, and Bullying
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Antisemitism
cyruspapyrus's review
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Excrement, and Body horror
_windupbird's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- 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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement and Body horror
zoloft_lesbian's review
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
there are some aspects of this book that I liked, but overall it was overdone and convoluted, the author repeating the same ideas over and over with slightly different phrasing. female hate is a wonderful element, but this book truly missed the mark
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Excrement
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Excrement, and Body horror
Moderate: Racism, Self harm, and Homophobia
Minor: Colonisation
junothan's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Excrement, Blood, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Body horror, and Cursing
hannahlouise_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I thought I would like this book a lot more than I did, but I also feel like you're not supposed to like it? The framing of the narrative and the stream of consciousness style was executed well but extremely hard to follow, convoluted and in places impossible to understand, but again, I feel like thats kind of the point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Gore, Drug use, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Bullying, Body horror, Blood, Alcohol, and Death
jakobvongunten's review against another edition
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Suicide
prendergast's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
This past weekend, I stepped inside a library for the first time since 2019, and I beelined straight for this book, which I’ve been eager to check out ever since I saw Verso Books post about it last year on Instagram.
It! was! wild! Hval writes feverishly of teenage misanthropy and black metal blasphemy, of magic and the internet, and of the boundaries (and possibilities) inherent in language and art. I’m familiar with Verso as a publisher of radical nonfiction, and was surprised and intrigued to see a novel pop up on their feed, but this reads less like stream-of-consciousness fiction and more like a brackish, murky stream of images, each flickering out of a forgotten music video, each vibing on the same thudding beat but not strictly tied together through shape or substance. Somehow, despite the insistent, intrepid darkness of the narrator’s worldview, and the depths of gross-out detail throughout, I finished this book feeling inspired. What cosmic, connective worlds can we build, if our artmaking refuses to be limited by form or expectation?
“I don’t desire total freedom, or total misanthropy. Do you get that? I desire magic, the same alchemical reaction that transforms hatred to a new or strange form of love. That might be why I’m writing this to you. I need someone to write to, someone else, someone who isn’t here and who I’m pulled toward. This yearning for you is a yearning for the unknown, the unwritten; the impossible place.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Excrement, and Gore
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