Reviews

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

soleade's review against another edition

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I could not bring myself to be interested in it. I wanted to keep listening to it cuz it’s sapphic but it’s not worth it for me. At least for now. 

saranies's review against another edition

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4.0

This took me a while to read because the characters are in so much pain. It is a beautifully told story of a family who owns a taxidermy business, with flashbacks and love triangles.

5678901234's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

laurenad123's review

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

4.75

netflix_and_lil's review against another edition

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4.0

CW: Suicide, addiction, abuse, animal cruelty, and just so much sadness.

I picked up Mostly Dead Things from the library because I liked the cover and the title. I had no idea what I was in for when I actually cracked the spine. Based on the first chapter, I was expecting a domestic dark comedy in the spirit of [b:How to Build a Girl|20525628|How to Build a Girl (How to Build a Girl, #1)|Caitlin Moran|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1410131752l/20525628._SY75_.jpg|37105995] or [b:Being Black 'n Chicken, and Chips|46265838|Being Black 'n Chicken, and Chips|Matt Okine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560309969l/46265838._SY75_.jpg|71263828], because I felt like it was the only genre that would accommodate its absurd characters and promised plotlines. It would be sad, sure, but I'd be laughing through the tears.

I was not prepared for just how sad it could get.

Jessa-Lynn Morton is a young woman at her breaking point, trying not to run the family taxidermy business into the ground after her father's traumatic death, while dealing with the vastly different coping mechanisms of her family. Her mother begins to construct increasingly provocative, explicit artworks that seem intended to destroy her husbands legacy while her brother withdraws. All while sifting through her distorted memories of her best friend, Brynn; her brother's runaway wife, mother of his children and the only woman Jessa has ever been in love with.

I've forgotten how rare it is to go into books blind these days. I'm trying to keep this in mind while rating it, because my first instinct was to rate down because it was so miserable. But I was never promised a funny book. I assumed that it was going to be one thing and it turned out to be another; judged a book by its cover, so to speak. I just wasn't quite prepared for how other it was going to be.

This book is sad. It is a Sad Book about Sad People treating each other terribly and making poor decisions because they are Sad. Mostly Dead People is gruesome in it's depictions of grief. This, combined with it's visceral descriptions of taxidermy, makes for an occasionally stomach churning read. Animal lover beware; this book may not be for you. It doesn't linger too long in depravity by definitely dips you in long enough that you start to adapt to it.

Mostly Dead Things switches between Then and Now, a common enough format but not one that I was overly excited by. The effect of switching between the two left both perspectives feeling choppy. While I enjoyed each memory, I disliked Brynn so fervently that I hated having to hear Jessa lament about her across timelines. However, the past did contain possibly the most horrific and skin crawling thing I have read to date. Two words; fire ants.

I felt like this was less a story about plot and it suffered for constantly alluding to having one. The blurb built up Jessa's 'unlawful behaviour' as if it was going to be a major storyline, but it was a B plot at best, a lone chapter of content at worst.

So, four stars... yeah. The characters were such highlights. They're the sort that have taken up residence in my mind rent-free. The thing is, I can understand the people who dislike this book because of them; they are difficult to love. Each one seems plucked from the extras pool in Shameless. They are selfish, they don't talk and they don't listen, they are cruel and participate in legally and morally questionable activities. Jessa is an alcoholic who mourns a years-long affair with her brother's wife, before shacking up with another woman. Her mother cares little for her children's discomforts and actively works to destroy their image of their dead father. Milo is a neglectful father. Lolee and Bastian are actually psychopathic. Even Jessa's father, deceased, committed suicide in such a way that he knew he would be discovered by his daughter. And yet you ache for them, and you thank the authors for small mercies when they are occasionally kind to one another. Their private externalisations of their grief start to seem rational in the heightened world they live in; or maybe it was Stockholm Syndrome. Either way, I was rooting for a happy ending.

And true to the tone of the story, the ending wasn't. In the traditional sense. Instead, it provided a small moment of levity that I felt was honest to the wild ups-and-downs of grieving. While it might not be the story of recovery that people have come to expect with grief in media, it is powerful exploration of trauma, resilience and an unflinching look at humanity when pushed to breaking and I appreciated its candour.

brandyy's review against another edition

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1.0

It's a no for me. I wanted it to be weirder than it was, but it sat in an uncomfortable middle ground between grotesque and delightfully weird. For a long while it was an odd piece of modern art that I walked around silently, trying to understand or to feel something other than confusion. Once the initial intrigue wore off and the can't-look-away novelty gave way to gratuitous repetition, I actually stopped reading. Made it to 51.6%.

If character-driven books are your jam, this might be more your style than mine. I'm not particularly interested in rehashing one characters same two wounds over and over without at least a little plot.

howsnazzy's review against another edition

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challenging medium-paced

4.25

lilpoul's review against another edition

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4.0

The writing was excellent, but it did take me some time to get into it. I enjoyed it, despite the interesting and a bit weird storyline.

crazyhamsterhikes's review against another edition

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3.0

Was definitely an odd book, but I couldnt NOT finish it! I didnt find as much humor in it as I hoped, but was still entertaining

jozlynnez's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75