Reviews

Dermaphoria by

fromtheyellowchair's review against another edition

5.0

This book absolutely blew my mind. I'd already read The Contortionists Handbook so I was familiar with Clevenger's style but I still was still really surprised by this book. The plot itself is interesting but the language is what hooked me- its somehow beautiful and gritty at the same time. The first and last lines have really stuck with me.
I did have some trouble remembering who was who within the story, but I guess that only makes sense since its told from the point of an amnesiac.

ivandrueda's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

1.0

helpfulsnowman's review against another edition

5.0

I bumped this one up a star on a second reading to prepare my (sad, weak, and pathetic) body for Mother Howl!

I think I know why this wasn't a full 5 stars for me the first time around: there's an extended portion where it's difficult to parse exactly what's going on, but I think if you hang with it and then pay attention at the end, things clear up nicely, and it justifies the journey.

I'm practically allergic to this kind of thing in books, but Clevenger is now on the list of authors who get a full pass from me. This is a legitimate, laminated pass that I will send him in the mail, if he'd like.

The only other thing I have to say about this is that Craig Clevenger has my favorite Goodreads bio of all time:

"Author of books frequently borrowed but seldom returned."

kuroneko86's review against another edition

4.0

Un po' come Memento ma sotto acidi.

Mi è piaciuto un sacco😍

hanne842's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Drug abuse

meet_me_in_cognito's review against another edition

3.0

Like Palahniuk meets Phillip K. Dick. Mixed feelings.

turtlelion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

Very weird and cool. At some points confusing but nothing that can’t be cleared up by a second reading of the passage. I will be thinking about the underground drug world a lot more because of it.

kpkulski's review against another edition

5.0

Sometimes I read a book and it's the story that stands out, or even the characters, but in Dermaphoria it is the author who stands out and Clevenger is right there on every page. His observations are so damn sharp. I never wanted to read quickly over a sentence in case I missed a brilliant tidbit. For me, this book isn't just about the character, or about what is or is not real, it was about how we all formulate our ideas of reality and then act accordingly and how much power the people around us have in influencing that idea of reality.
This is a gritty and personally enriching work that doesn't pull any punches.

mfichtel's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

chrisjm's review against another edition

2.0

I really wanted to like this book especially since I enjoyed [book: The Contortionist's Handbook]. [author: Craig Clevenger] has an interesting voice, but I feel like he didn't reach his potential with this one. The story was too simplistic for the language he was using. I found the entire read hard to navigate but then when I think back, I'm amazed that so little actually happened. I'll keep reading Clevenger's works and just hope that this was just a typical sophomoric effort that was trying to hard to live up to the freshman hype.