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nixieba25f's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Cultural appropriation, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Body horror, Infidelity, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
jaredt's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"I would trade a lot of money for you not to be here but this is where we are. Fucking meet me halfway."
"If it helps, I wish you weren't here either."
I loved this in reverse. I've read a couple novellas before, but this one was definitely the shortest. I was curious how it would develop, how the author would get the reader immersed, and which carried more weight: the push of the plot or the shape of the characters.
For me, there's bits to love and bits misplaced. I'm at odds on saying if the story is bad or if it just didn't quite sell it for me. I didn't follow the hype for this book, but I did get it as a gift for a friend, then got another book for myself by the same author and figured I'd give this much shorter story a go before diving into the other one. So the title stood in my peripheral, waiting for me to pick it up. And so I did.
I really liked the repeated mention of teeth, how it works in smiles, sparks in anger, holding a multitude of emotion. The way each character wore and used their teeth. The language that Khaw used in general is nice and pretty and eerie, but it's definitely a style, one that's not going to hit hard for everyone, and probably especially folks that are looking for a straight story about hauntings and ghosts.
The back of the book talked about how the story is meant to be the focus of grief, and essentially bad relationships. Reading an interview of the author also put foward that their focus for the story was unhealthy friendships and a home that isn't safe. I can gleam that from the story.
There's a lot that can be said about this book. You don't spend a lot of time with the characters, so if you don't like them as presented (either as individuals or their tense relationships), then this is going to feel like an annoying drag, even with the length in mind.
As with the focal point itself, the haunting is more a setting for dealing with grief and while there's cool imagery and japanese folklore that surrounds the characters, it's only a piece of the whole and if you came wanting a narrative where the focus was the girls buried in the house and the hauntings that come of that as the main driving force.... you'll probably also be burned a bit here.
But there are things to love. And overall, I am glad I spent time reading it. I know Khaw has a decent amount of works published, and this hasn't deterred me enough to not want to try reading their other work. In the edition I have, there's also a preview to their story THE SALT GROWS HEAVY, which I think is a bit more engaging and tells me there is more out there I want to check out.
The end of the story was probably the most interesting to me. I liked how it wrapped up, and the summary of events that took place in the afterwards.
Based on the story itself, reviews, and an interview of the author, I would say Nothing But Blackened Teeth is probably one of the weaker stories to be introduced to of the author's work. The audience for this story are definitely folks that love a horror setting, while also getting mostly introspection within a small cast of friends-that-should-maybe-stop-being-friends. It's not too much a waste of time if you don't love it, but if the prose is too grating I would just drop it and pick up the next book on your TBR.
"If it helps, I wish you weren't here either."
I loved this in reverse. I've read a couple novellas before, but this one was definitely the shortest. I was curious how it would develop, how the author would get the reader immersed, and which carried more weight: the push of the plot or the shape of the characters.
For me, there's bits to love and bits misplaced. I'm at odds on saying if the story is bad or if it just didn't quite sell it for me. I didn't follow the hype for this book, but I did get it as a gift for a friend, then got another book for myself by the same author and figured I'd give this much shorter story a go before diving into the other one. So the title stood in my peripheral, waiting for me to pick it up. And so I did.
I really liked the repeated mention of teeth, how it works in smiles, sparks in anger, holding a multitude of emotion. The way each character wore and used their teeth. The language that Khaw used in general is nice and pretty and eerie, but it's definitely a style, one that's not going to hit hard for everyone, and probably especially folks that are looking for a straight story about hauntings and ghosts.
The back of the book talked about how the story is meant to be the focus of grief, and essentially bad relationships. Reading an interview of the author also put foward that their focus for the story was unhealthy friendships and a home that isn't safe. I can gleam that from the story.
There's a lot that can be said about this book. You don't spend a lot of time with the characters, so if you don't like them as presented (either as individuals or their tense relationships), then this is going to feel like an annoying drag, even with the length in mind.
As with the focal point itself, the haunting is more a setting for dealing with grief and while there's cool imagery and japanese folklore that surrounds the characters, it's only a piece of the whole and if you came wanting a narrative where the focus was the girls buried in the house and the hauntings that come of that as the main driving force.... you'll probably also be burned a bit here.
But there are things to love. And overall, I am glad I spent time reading it. I know Khaw has a decent amount of works published, and this hasn't deterred me enough to not want to try reading their other work. In the edition I have, there's also a preview to their story THE SALT GROWS HEAVY, which I think is a bit more engaging and tells me there is more out there I want to check out.
The end of the story was probably the most interesting to me. I liked how it wrapped up, and the summary of events that took place in the afterwards.
Based on the story itself, reviews, and an interview of the author, I would say Nothing But Blackened Teeth is probably one of the weaker stories to be introduced to of the author's work. The audience for this story are definitely folks that love a horror setting, while also getting mostly introspection within a small cast of friends-that-should-maybe-stop-being-friends. It's not too much a waste of time if you don't love it, but if the prose is too grating I would just drop it and pick up the next book on your TBR.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia
vaguely_pink's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Body horror, Death, and Cursing
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Self harm, Violence, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
Minor: Body shaming, Vomit, Gaslighting, Excrement, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Drug use, and Bullying
dustghosts'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
girl help the horror recs are letting me down
+ when it wasn’t too forced, the writing— particularly figurative language and sense descriptions— could be quite beautiful
+ i loooove a horror story with house-as-character, and there were times when this came off particularly eerie. i wish this had been pushed a little more, given depth, something more complicated thanmoldy books “tricking you” into (or just letting you get away with, depending on how you interpret this) killing an old friend against whom you have a grudge
+ i do think khaw captures a certain kind of former-to-forced friendship really well in this group, with twisty histories between them and palpable built up resentments
o the author often uses Japanese words and terminology that will require non-speakers to do some research. i don’t personally think this is a con, but other reviewers have mentioned it and it is worth being prepared for. not everything has to be made easy for an english-speaking audience.
- none of these characters, however, come across as particularly likeable, complex, or clever, nor do they have much development for better or for worse— and I think you need at least one of those if you want my investment. instead they all seem pared down to the most basic of their traits, and the descriptions of those wind up feeling repetitive, like we’re rarely if ever learning anything new about the characters— just finding new ways to describe the same traits that our narrator has only disdain for.
- bizarre treatment of mental illness here— the POV character has had a struggle that reads true-to-life and is still dealing with the repercussions of that in a way that’s a little painful (not necessarily in a bad way) and similarly realistic. but the way thatthe rest of the characters seem to fall apart in an abrupt mockery of ~madness~ at the climax of the story is kind of wild and doesn’t feel well-justified or true.
- pacing is a problem. at times it drones (I found it really difficult to get into), at times it skips forward too fast, at times it seems unmatched to the urgency of what’s actually happening in the scene.
- I would like to give some benefit of the doubt that some of this has to do with characterization of the narrator (cat is someone who considers herself smarter than most of the people in the room, while at the time still being a little discombobulated and learning how to person again). however. overall, I think it could have used another editing pass— often the writing seems staccato, too many half-sentences and incomplete thoughts stacked against each other. when it isn’t that, it’s often overly verbose to the point of being inaccessible, hard to parse, metaphors made too specific so as to be ineffective (distracting or abstracted, vs evocative).
- while the length made this an easy read, combined with the pacing issues, it also made everything from the climax to the end feel stilted— either too easy or not as impactful as it could be given some room to breathe. the “front” of the book feels heavier than the meat of the haunting, like we’re being set up for the characters to face something much more challenging and frightening than what actually happens.
- to that end? I feel that the resolution was too easy, too loosely-justified, and honestly a bit too blasé for what could have been the tragedy of it. and that has to do with aaaall of those other flaws. in general, the book doesn’t have any real concept of hierarchy of information— what’s important to the writer, the characters, the house, or to the reader?
+ when it wasn’t too forced, the writing— particularly figurative language and sense descriptions— could be quite beautiful
+ i loooove a horror story with house-as-character, and there were times when this came off particularly eerie. i wish this had been pushed a little more, given depth, something more complicated than
+ i do think khaw captures a certain kind of former-to-forced friendship really well in this group, with twisty histories between them and palpable built up resentments
o the author often uses Japanese words and terminology that will require non-speakers to do some research. i don’t personally think this is a con, but other reviewers have mentioned it and it is worth being prepared for. not everything has to be made easy for an english-speaking audience.
- none of these characters, however, come across as particularly likeable, complex, or clever, nor do they have much development for better or for worse— and I think you need at least one of those if you want my investment. instead they all seem pared down to the most basic of their traits, and the descriptions of those wind up feeling repetitive, like we’re rarely if ever learning anything new about the characters— just finding new ways to describe the same traits that our narrator has only disdain for.
- bizarre treatment of mental illness here— the POV character has had a struggle that reads true-to-life and is still dealing with the repercussions of that in a way that’s a little painful (not necessarily in a bad way) and similarly realistic. but the way that
- pacing is a problem. at times it drones (I found it really difficult to get into), at times it skips forward too fast, at times it seems unmatched to the urgency of what’s actually happening in the scene.
- I would like to give some benefit of the doubt that some of this has to do with characterization of the narrator (cat is someone who considers herself smarter than most of the people in the room, while at the time still being a little discombobulated and learning how to person again). however. overall, I think it could have used another editing pass— often the writing seems staccato, too many half-sentences and incomplete thoughts stacked against each other. when it isn’t that, it’s often overly verbose to the point of being inaccessible, hard to parse, metaphors made too specific so as to be ineffective (distracting or abstracted, vs evocative).
- while the length made this an easy read, combined with the pacing issues, it also made everything from the climax to the end feel stilted— either too easy or not as impactful as it could be given some room to breathe. the “front” of the book feels heavier than the meat of the haunting, like we’re being set up for the characters to face something much more challenging and frightening than what actually happens.
- to that end? I feel that the resolution was too easy, too loosely-justified, and honestly a bit too blasé for what could have been the tragedy of it. and that has to do with aaaall of those other flaws. in general, the book doesn’t have any real concept of hierarchy of information— what’s important to the writer, the characters, the house, or to the reader?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, and Vomit
Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
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