Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

26 reviews

lost_luna's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

5.0

This book has broken me repeatedly 
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mmccombs's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

4.0

Just completely bleak from the beginning. Every terrible thing that can happen to a person happens in this book and it was pretty brutal to read. I didn’t love Betty but was inspired to read this one because the writing was just stunning. On the Savage Side was no different, and despite the deep sorrow of the book I felt that the writing elevated it and kept me going. I kind of wish that the river pov was used throughout the novel rather than being packed in the beginning, and I did find the twist at the end to be kind of cheesy. Something about the characters didn’t feel super authentic, but I also can’t really speak to the level addiction, poverty, and abuse that influenced these characters’ actions and style of speaking/thinking. I think the last chapter really captured the essence of this novel and made me go “oh, this is what she was going for!” and brought everything together. Ultimately, this felt like a much more together novel than Betty, though I still wished for a bit more cohesiveness at the end.
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ablondebooknerd's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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diannasbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This book was a very hard read for me. It’s very dark and there are so many triggers. Please be aware before you dive into it. That said, this book was so beautiful! Arc and her twin sister go through so much! I just wanted to hug them and make it all better! The way the girls handled their traumas and abuse was just so beautiful, yet sad. 

It did take me awhile to read this because of the themes. The author did a very good job writing this. I will think about this story for a very long time. I really want to read more from them. I didn’t see the twist in the book, and the ending was beautiful.
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pomoevareads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Not for the faint of heart, On the Savage Side, Tiffany McDaniel’s upcoming book is affecting and important.

Loosely based on the Chillicothe Six, an unsolved case of missing and murdered women in Chillicothe, Ohio, this book is narrated by Arcade Doggs, who goes by Arc. Arc and her twin sister Daffodil (Daffy) spend their earliest years with their grandmother who gives them all the love they need that their parents can’t give them because of poverty and addiction. When Adelyn and Flood Doggs convince Mamaw that they are sober and ready to show their daughters a wonderful life, the girls go to live with them. But addiction is a mean thing. It is not long before the girls are being raised in an environment of sadness, addiction and sex work. A police officer who comes to the house at one point makes a comment on his way out to his partner that in a few years they will be returning to arrest these young girls for the same things their parents have been doing. Talk about being set up for failure…

The story moves between time periods and focusses its lens on the girls. When we come back to see the young women in early adulthood, they are living the same tragic life that their mother and their aunt live. Going to the river with their friends is a past time, sitting in an old half buried car, getting high. The women call themselves the Chillicothe Queens. Each of the women in this story have a very distinctive character and we see their most human side. They deal with bad johns, family, children and pregnancy in addition to having hope, creativity and strength of character. 

When a woman is found floating in the river, a new era in this small Appalachian town has begun. Soon one of the group disappears and turns up in the river and the group fears for their safety from the River Man. Reports to police are not taken seriously. Police comment on the risky lifestyles that the women lead as reasons to not assume they are missing. 

This is not a whodunit, although there will be many suspects. This story is to show that the women who have gone missing or found murdered were human beings. They were mothers, sisters, and daughters. 

I would recommend this book for people that understand hurt, enjoy Appalachian stories, true crime stories, detailed characters, great writing, and have good self-care practices as this one could be triggering for many. 

Thank you to @netgalley and @aaknopf for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. On the Savage Side comes out February 14, 2023. 
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shelby1994's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 
Thank you to the team at Alfred A. Knopf for this ARC - out 14 February! 
(pls check the TW for the book at the end!!)
In her latest book, Tiffany McDaniel has returned to Appalachia, where everything smells like death. The paper mills, the used needles, and the stiff girls being pulled from the river. Inspired by the true unsolved mystery of the Chilliconthe murders, McDaniels digs into the relationships forged within generations of addition and between the forgotten women who go missing every day. 

First the good - ‘Betty’ was a masterclass in lyrical writing, and this is more of the same.  Every sentence is a poem, and every paragraph a hymn to the natural world. Water babies - this one is for you. McDaniels obviously cares deeply about the story she’s trying to tell, and there is never once any “icky”, exploitative feeling that comes from a lot of the true-crime shows, books, and podcasts that we get. 

Where this one didn’t work for me in comparison to ‘Betty,’ or in comparison to other books that center addiction, is the same reason why I’m sure so many people will love this. This book feels like series of poems and lyrics in search of characters that never fully materialize for me. Daffy and Arc spend their lives crocheting beautiful alternate realities to the hell they live in. Delusions and stories are what keep them tied to the rocks pulling them under, but they’re also the things with wings. Unfortunately, when half of a story feels like a daydream, it’s easy for the reader to lose focus too. 

Read If You:
– Have a healthy fear of spiders 
– Love “My Dying Spirit” by Greyson Chance 
– Want more Appalachian Gothic on your bookshelf 

 TW: Addiction, Child abuse, rape, animal cruelty
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