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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
Dark and disturbing but a gripping read. At one point I decided that I was going to pick a Stephen King book next for some light reading. Make sure you're in a positive headspace when you read this.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I never leave reviews but wtf was this book. This was laughably bad. I DNFed when Hannah was turned into a human swastika.
Unnerving and haunting. Yes if you’re looking for a truly unique and brutal LGBT horror. No if you’re easily triggered by transphobia because wow this was a hard read at times. 3.5/5 ⭐️s
I finished Tell Me I'm Worthless at 3am feeling sickened and hopeless, but that was the point. A haunted house story where the house is England and the insidious force haunting it is fascism, this novel felt so real despite its supernatural elements, one of the most 'state of the nation' novels I've read in a long time.
Witty (the trans protagonist is haunted by a poster of the 80s most disappointing now a fascist pop star), clever, and very dark, if you can stomach it (there's some graphic rape and mutilation scenes) this is a powerful addition to the queer gothic genre, inspired by Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson, as well the violent transphobia currently pervading England.
How seductive it is to turn on each other to feel safe, yet none of us will really be safe under fascism. Will England wake up, or will we just carry on down this horrifying road?
Witty (the trans protagonist is haunted by a poster of the 80s most disappointing now a fascist pop star), clever, and very dark, if you can stomach it (there's some graphic rape and mutilation scenes) this is a powerful addition to the queer gothic genre, inspired by Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson, as well the violent transphobia currently pervading England.
How seductive it is to turn on each other to feel safe, yet none of us will really be safe under fascism. Will England wake up, or will we just carry on down this horrifying road?
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't know what to say about this book. I really wanted to like it. Maybe I'm too dumb for it and I didn't get all of it. It felt forced and pretentious at times. It felt weird and too gross at others.
are we not all haunted houses haunting each other, in this big wide haunted house we all live in? or, "you think you just fell out of a coconut tree? you exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you"
this story is full of graphic violence and rabid streams-of-consciousness. i get that these are the most visceral ways to show how a society built on oppression instills in its people a capacity for hatred and bigotry, but it could get so heavy-handed.
i prefer a subtler touch (like [b:Lapvona|59693959|Lapvona|Ottessa Moshfegh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1637763820l/59693959._SY75_.jpg|90580155] and Contrapoints to whom i will ALWAYS owe my clearheadedness), but maybe that's because i'm a child of tumblr. maybe the ham-fistedness is for those who didn't grow up an sjw. so many people live in apathy and ignorance, so some do need to be grabbed by the chin and given a big whack. i get it
ANYWAY! i still appreciate that big whack sometimes to keep me from sliding into apathy (i am pushing 30… and the world keeps wringing me dry)... but it didn't tell me anything i didn't already know, and the writing wasn't aesthetically pleasurable either. and the inelegance!
this story is full of graphic violence and rabid streams-of-consciousness. i get that these are the most visceral ways to show how a society built on oppression instills in its people a capacity for hatred and bigotry, but it could get so heavy-handed.
i prefer a subtler touch (like [b:Lapvona|59693959|Lapvona|Ottessa Moshfegh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1637763820l/59693959._SY75_.jpg|90580155] and Contrapoints to whom i will ALWAYS owe my clearheadedness), but maybe that's because i'm a child of tumblr. maybe the ham-fistedness is for those who didn't grow up an sjw. so many people live in apathy and ignorance, so some do need to be grabbed by the chin and given a big whack. i get it
ANYWAY! i still appreciate that big whack sometimes to keep me from sliding into apathy (i am pushing 30… and the world keeps wringing me dry)... but it didn't tell me anything i didn't already know, and the writing wasn't aesthetically pleasurable either. and the inelegance!
Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
God. I don't really know where to start with this book? In the hands of a far less capable author, it would have been a mess. Too many ideas, tied together poorly. But something about Rumfitt's style and understanding of what she wanted to say made it all work like a gorgeously constructed machine. While it's less supernatural horror in some places, and more a discussion of very real lived horrors, the tie between the supernatural and the real is executed brilliantly. Fascism as a haunted house that the characters must live in and survive produces a really stunning overarching structure for an incredibly potent bit of storytelling.
I also adored all of the nods and riffs on classic haunted house stories in this -- the way they were used felt less like re-iterating the ideas of previous stories and more like nods to the audience to show that the author both knows the genre she's working with, and is excited to take it down new routes.
Genuinely, I am going to be thinking about this book So Much over the next few days.
God. I don't really know where to start with this book? In the hands of a far less capable author, it would have been a mess. Too many ideas, tied together poorly. But something about Rumfitt's style and understanding of what she wanted to say made it all work like a gorgeously constructed machine. While it's less supernatural horror in some places, and more a discussion of very real lived horrors, the tie between the supernatural and the real is executed brilliantly. Fascism as a haunted house that the characters must live in and survive produces a really stunning overarching structure for an incredibly potent bit of storytelling.
I also adored all of the nods and riffs on classic haunted house stories in this -- the way they were used felt less like re-iterating the ideas of previous stories and more like nods to the audience to show that the author both knows the genre she's working with, and is excited to take it down new routes.
Genuinely, I am going to be thinking about this book So Much over the next few days.
“Sometimes, at the end of everything, the only option you have is to make it worse.”
“The House watched the three girls, and a thin line of water dripped from the ceiling. If it had been raining that night, it could have just been rain. But it wasn’t. It was dry outside. The House was salivating.”
“The House watched the three girls, and a thin line of water dripped from the ceiling. If it had been raining that night, it could have just been rain. But it wasn’t. It was dry outside. The House was salivating.”
I'm confused by this book. I appreciated some of the discourses on the rise of facism, decline of feminism, the control of terfs in the media... But the horror-house-middle-part of the book lost me. It had some good merits but I don't think I understood some of the deeper imagery and motifs. Eek!