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So, obviously this is kind of a gross book. That aside, I did have trouble getting into it for like the first 2/3rds. This wasn't because of the gross stuff...it was more because I thought it was so stupid. People don't work like this, logic doesn't work like this, the world doesn't work like this. I got hung up on wondering whether Chuck P actually believed this is how things are.
This was exasperated by the fact that there are like 16 main characters, and I found their voices and personalities pretty indistinguishable. It felt like Chuck P was using these puppets to make the same stupid points over and over.
But the last 1/3rd of the book, imo, made his kafka-adjacent logic more obviously purposeful. It helped that the themes of haunting, storytelling, and performance were spelled out for dumdums like me. I loved the ending of this book.
That being said, even though I was tempted to rate this 4 stars, I went with 3.75 because I am fresh off this novel and worried that l was being biased by a spectacular ending tacked onto a so-so book.
Also I hated the poetry. Gd, did I hate the poetry.
This isn't a boring book, by any means. I just found it frustrating in the beginning. I did think the
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy
Also if you have a trigger it is in this book. I don’t think Storygraph has enough triggers in their CW section to cover them all and even if they did
Graphic: Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Excrement, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Eating disorder
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Cannibalism, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Rape, Murder, Pregnancy
Minor: Animal death, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment