Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

El atlas de ceniza by Blake Butler

3 reviews

fresh_guy's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Grief, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Bullying, Abandonment, Animal death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism and Cursing

kitten_nuisance's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

This book was doing a thing.  As I began reading it, comp authors that came to mind included Cormac McCarthy, Kristi Demeester, Brian Evenson, William Faulkner. . . however, I just didn't feel like this book arrived anywhere.  Sometimes a book is just vibes, and that can be fine, but maybe this book was just not vibes for me in particular.  I felt like it became repetitive (on top of vague, which is not a good combination here), and didn't become anything greater than its many descriptions of rot and ruin.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Animal death

fluidstatic's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Sprawling alliterative streams of madness, filth, pestilence, surreality, and inexplicable numbness. Plagues of gravel, ink, smoke, blood, mold, glass, endless grinning sun that drinks the sea. I can only describe this book of almost-stories as an onslaught. Grabs you on the first page, hypnotizes you with florishes of alliteration and subtle meter. It then drags you along, as you grow increasingly numb to the hideous grime of its imagery, to a complete lack of satisfying conclusion. This thing reads like David Lynch directing an A24 art house film about the death of humanity; not just the population, but the concept. Cruel, murky, gritty. Eventually you just want it to stop, but you can't put it down - like being emotionally exhausted by a 24 hour news cycle, but it's delivered by the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and no matter how numb you are to the violence and rot and emptiness, they're the only thing on TV. Truly an exercise in florid, unrelentingly bleak imagery as blunt instrument. Not a fun read, but certainly a vivid and unique experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Murder, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Torture, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Terminal illness