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ktrain3900's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What a strange book (and I like strange) but also so depressing I felt it was negatively affecting my mood. Every woman and girl had at least one trauma which made this lovely sparse prose and intriguing story so hard to read. I couldn't follow how the family could be poor enough to only afford the cheapest clothes and do so much shopping at the dump, yet they're buying a huge rich person's home (and no a death in the house doesn't depreciate value that much) nor did the year 1985, mentioned once, seem to fit the time (at least not when the story moved forward in time). My favorite part was when Ruthie imagined Winifred's life. I'm left feeling a bit empty, or at least grateful it ended when it did.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Incest, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Bullying, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault
lil13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, and Rape
zwin's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Body shaming, Child abuse, Bullying, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Sexual violence
danidamico's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
"I thought that maybe it was wrong to be that loudly happy, and that she was trying to protect me".
Esta novela narra la historia de Ruthie, una adolescente que crece en un suburbio de Massachussetts y observa todo lo que sucede a su alrededor. La autora Sarah Manguso expone todas las pequeñas (y no tan pequeñas) miserias que existen debajo de la fachada de decencia, la realidad detrás de la imagen de revista del típico pueblo norteamericano. En menos de 200 páginas, Ruthie relata la crueldad a la que fue sometida por parte de su familia, especialmente su madre, y cómo esa misma crueldad se reproduce en cada casa del barrio, en la escuela, en cada vínculo. Cómo el veneno de los adultos ya comienza a asentarse en los niños.
Es un libro en el que los hechos más terribles se mencionan rápidamente, al pasar, porque es así como la sociedad los percibe y nos enseña a percibirlos. Un estado permanente de elipsis. Normalizar la violencia ejercida sobre los cuerpos de niños y mujeres. "It was clear to me that what had happened to her wasn't rare but normal, that it was too common even to register as a story. It wasn't even a story at all", escribe Manguso.
La "gente muy fría" del título no se refiere sólo a la familia de la narradora, hace referencia a todo el pueblo, al cual Manguso caracterizó como un lugar de "pobreza emocional", que a su vez funciona como una versión en miniatura de toda la sociedad. Las cosas que ocurren en Waitsfield no son únicas, suceden todos los días en todas partes. La crueldad, la falta de empatía, el clasismo, el desprecio por uno mismo y el otro. La desconexión apática ante el dolor propio y ajeno. Es también una novela sobre la inocencia perdida, sobre infancias interrumpidas.
Es un libro silencioso, sútil, pero absolutamente violento.
"She'd believed his praise was genuine. She hadn't noticed that he'd pegged her as a person who would snatch up any compliment into the maw of her unloved, throbbing little heart".
"She was telling me that she'd absorbed so much of her father's violent attentions that she had to get it out of herself, to inflict it on a mute, inanimate object that would never tell".
"My mother looked at me. (...) As if she wanted to take good care of me but knew that she couldn't, that no one could protect a child from being hurt, that no one could take care of anyone".
Esta novela narra la historia de Ruthie, una adolescente que crece en un suburbio de Massachussetts y observa todo lo que sucede a su alrededor. La autora Sarah Manguso expone todas las pequeñas (y no tan pequeñas) miserias que existen debajo de la fachada de decencia, la realidad detrás de la imagen de revista del típico pueblo norteamericano. En menos de 200 páginas, Ruthie relata la crueldad a la que fue sometida por parte de su familia, especialmente su madre, y cómo esa misma crueldad se reproduce en cada casa del barrio, en la escuela, en cada vínculo. Cómo el veneno de los adultos ya comienza a asentarse en los niños.
Es un libro en el que los hechos más terribles se mencionan rápidamente, al pasar, porque es así como la sociedad los percibe y nos enseña a percibirlos. Un estado permanente de elipsis. Normalizar la violencia ejercida sobre los cuerpos de niños y mujeres. "It was clear to me that what had happened to her wasn't rare but normal, that it was too common even to register as a story. It wasn't even a story at all", escribe Manguso.
La "gente muy fría" del título no se refiere sólo a la familia de la narradora, hace referencia a todo el pueblo, al cual Manguso caracterizó como un lugar de "pobreza emocional", que a su vez funciona como una versión en miniatura de toda la sociedad. Las cosas que ocurren en Waitsfield no son únicas, suceden todos los días en todas partes. La crueldad, la falta de empatía, el clasismo, el desprecio por uno mismo y el otro. La desconexión apática ante el dolor propio y ajeno. Es también una novela sobre la inocencia perdida, sobre infancias interrumpidas.
Es un libro silencioso, sútil, pero absolutamente violento.
"She'd believed his praise was genuine. She hadn't noticed that he'd pegged her as a person who would snatch up any compliment into the maw of her unloved, throbbing little heart".
"She was telling me that she'd absorbed so much of her father's violent attentions that she had to get it out of herself, to inflict it on a mute, inanimate object that would never tell".
"My mother looked at me. (...) As if she wanted to take good care of me but knew that she couldn't, that no one could protect a child from being hurt, that no one could take care of anyone".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Pedophilia
samhanson's review
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Incest, Grief, Sexual assault, and Miscarriage
mjhalberstadt's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I love love love Sarah Manguso's 300 Arguments as well as much of her poetry, but I find that her writing style applied to storytelling simply does not work in this case. A friend described this to me as an "oblique character study", which feels right to me. So many sentences and symbols took my breath away, but I also felt deeply bored and frustrated, and I wanted her commentary about sexual abuse and class to cut sharper than it did. Then the end contains a series of shocks that don't quite feel earned... I'll read Manguso's next collection of poetry, but remain wary of her fiction. Really disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Classism, Incest, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Child abuse
lyhtning's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
onmalsshelf's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
If anything, this is a good palette cleanser book if you’re unsure what to pick up next because you’ll want to pick up anything else after finishing this one.
I found this stilted with brief bits of plot that would slightly develop and then get immediately cut off. This was more of a show than a tell kind of book and read more like an outline of memoir that was left unfinished.
I think I can see what the author was trying to do with this dark piece of literary fiction, but the stilted prose just didn’t work for me.
I’m glad I picked this up on audio from the library via Libby as it was a very quick listen (4hrs and 21min at 1x) instead of purchasing as it would be an immediate unhaul.
I found this stilted with brief bits of plot that would slightly develop and then get immediately cut off. This was more of a show than a tell kind of book and read more like an outline of memoir that was left unfinished.
I think I can see what the author was trying to do with this dark piece of literary fiction, but the stilted prose just didn’t work for me.
I’m glad I picked this up on audio from the library via Libby as it was a very quick listen (4hrs and 21min at 1x) instead of purchasing as it would be an immediate unhaul.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Alcohol, Body shaming, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
caoimheisme's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
constantine2020's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: General Fiction + Literary Fiction
This is the coming of age story of a girl called Ruth, surrounded by very cold people in a small town (Waitsfield). Whether it is her mother, father, relative, or acquaintances. Everybody feels cold and distant. The story is narrated by her and through her eyes, we live her life, her difficult childhood whether it is in the emotional abuse that she gets or the way her parents are so toxic to each other and to her.
This novel is not written in a typical way. It feels more like a documentary or precisely a memoir and it flows beautifully. The writing style hooked me right from the start. At times I felt very very sorry for the main character and other times I laughed hard due to the mother’s self-centered attitude. Keep in mind that this book stays faithful to its title. You are not going to find any kind of hope or warmth or a change of attitude from those very cold people. This is a story not only about a toxic family but a toxic society. Although the main character never suffers from any physical abuse, the emotional abuse she suffers from is deep. This emotional abuse affects her mental health at a later stage. Physical abuse is present in the story though and it is suffered by other characters.
If you are a fan of stories about dysfunctional families/society you should not miss this one. It has all the solid ingredients be it an honest narrator, a good ending, and never a boring moment. The way it is written makes it a fast easy read. I loved it.
Many thanks to the publisher Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
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