Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

86 reviews

throwback682's review

dark sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

[For reference, I’m a white allistic queer cis woman with ADHD]

“I just finished reading a horrifying violent disgusting wonderful beautiful book,” I texted my friend immediately.

Horror/fantasy/historical fiction, set in Victorian England, with a protagonist we would call bi or pan, transgender, and autistic (and who is subjected to what we’d call ABA “therapy”). I love the protagonist so very much.

This book is not for the faint of heart. The author gives a non exhaustive list of triggers in the introduction, and acknowledges that this book isn’t for everyone, reassuring would-be readers that it’s okay to walk away.

For me personally, it was very much worth it. I hesitate to say too much for fear of spoilers but I just loved this book so much. I guess some of my favorite things were

That the protagonist

refuses to internalize oppressive messaging about autism

.

The

queer relationships

including one

T4T relationship

.

And [big spoilers] that the

bad guys AND their enablers/apologists get their just desserts

and

the protagonist and some other LGBTQ+ characters

get to have a happy ending

(although obviously trauma is a thing).

The depictions of

autistic

behaviors like

hand flapping. Even though therapists tried to train/torture it out of the protagonist, he speaks about it positively and does it when he can

. There’s also another

autistic

who is

nonverbal

. There’s also a scene where

the autistic protagonist asks another character to squeeze him as tightly as she can, and that his brother used to do this for him as well

.

Basically I feel like this book shows the almost unfathomable ugliness of the world and the hatred and oppression of queer, trans, and neurodivergent people, but it also

depicts queer and trans love, autistic self love and self acceptance, solidarity, strength, etc. I found it very inspiring.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Abandonment, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Torture, Transphobia, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Body horror, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

“Letter from the Author One of the cruel injustices of the world is that survival hurts sometimes. Open-heart surgery, for example, looks a lot like murder. Amputation before the advent of proper anesthesia was just a bone saw and a rag to bite. On that note, I will make this clear: The Spirit Bares Its Teeth contains transphobia, ableism, graphic violence, sexual assault, discussions of forced pregnancy and miscarriage, mentions of suicidal ideation, and extensive medical gore. But I will also make it clear that this book is not a necessary procedure. You don’t have to endure it. You can get off the operating table and walk away at any time. I won’t blame you. For those still reading—do you have a rag to bite?—I want to make note of some context. Ghosts and mediums and alternate histories aside, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was inspired by Victorian England’s sordid history of labeling certain people “ill” or “other” to justify cruelty against them. Threats of violence enforced strict social norms, often targeting women, queer and disabled people, and other marginalized folks. I have included another note about these realities at the end of the book, including some that this book does not cover. True history is often much more heartbreaking than any horror novel can depict. So, if nothing else, I hope this story means something to you. I hope the scalpel is kind to you. I hope your sutures heal clean. You deserve that much; we all do. Yours, Andrew” For me, it’s hard to say what’s harder to stomach - the blood and gore, or the attitudes towards queer and trans, neurodivergent, and other marginalized people.

leaflit's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so gruesome but so good.

Content Warnings

brittybcl's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

welgan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

I new I was going into a story that was raw and punched you to you guts, and I was ready for it ; I wanted to feel this righteous anger about the horrors who happened, about what they say of the horrors that still are. It delivered - it was raw, and hard, but not as much to me as it may be for someone who would feel represented as autistic or trans person, I think (giving how I emotional I was when I reacted to a book that represented *me*, I can only see how this book would open an autistic/trans person insides and lay them bare). I was very grateful for the autistic representation as I was looking to learn about the experience from first person point of view to better understand autistic people, but as so I can not judge if the representation was accurate or a bit exagerated. At some points it felt a bit forced (as the character explained "I am like this", "my brains does this"), but I think I'd need that to fully grasp something that is foreign to me, so I think it was the right thing to do.
I enjoyed all the imagery and metaphors about surgery and body gore because I could really feel the special interest of the main character, and also it fit very well in the narrative, I could feel the despair and rage to control one's own body, and the adequacy of the imagery with the horrors happening.
I also appreciated that there was hope and comfort to be found in kinship - this person is like me, I can be myself and true and safe with them. It helped going through a story with such hard events.

Be warned if you're a sensitive person though : beyond the horrors that would happen to a person perceived as a girl who is not complying to society's standards, and to a trans person, in a Victorian era, the writing also invite quite a gore imagery. It fits very well, but if you're bothered by body and wounds imagery, it will probably be hard to read for you. There are also a lot of sensitive topics touched, so please look at the warnings if you're unsure. I felt the book did a great job exploring the topics without too much voyeurism, but the subjects are here nonetheless.

Content Warnings

yarbroughac's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is a horror novel because it describes horrors that were all too real in the not-so-distant past. If body horror makes you squeamish, do not read it. If you’re like me, however, and that is your favorite genre of horror, then devour this novel as quickly as possible.

Content Warnings

madamenovelist's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

infinite_helix's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Disturbing, wonderful, horrible, haunting, gorgeous, gory, loving, hateful, angry, wretched, joyful kinship.
The desperation and fear is palpable, and I could not put this down. I would get so sucked in the world around me fell away and got replaced by the cold, dark, clinical and cruel halls of Braxton. I was cringing from phantom pains, recoiling in disgust, clenching the book in fervor.

And yet, somehow, in all the horror, I had such intense joy and satisfaction. This is the second book I've read with an explicitly autistic protagonist, and there was SO MUCH of my experiences and feelings in Silas that it was heartbreaking and cathartic in turn.
The way Silas crumples to the ground, overwhelmed and screaming and crying, upon realizing Daphne is there and real and his mirror and an ally and safe port in this madness was how I felt reading this book. Andrew Joseph White dug his authorial fingers into the brackish and bloody part of my soul with this book.
It was painful and perfect.

Content Warnings