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ghostingarden's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Sexual content and Gore
Minor: Child abuse and Injury/Injury detail
anyaemilie's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Gore and Vomit
bookishbyjennaavh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
There was so many words and so little said! There was no plot. It was supposed to be about grief but we spent most of the time describing the taste of the horizon and our relationship with our girlfriend. This would have made more sense if it was in first person. It being in third really did a detriment to the story and the character. She was confusing and unlikable because you couldn’t understand her thinking.
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Gore
Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Vomit, and Medical trauma
rorikae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
After her father's death, Rita is wallowing in her grief. To help her, Rita's girlfriend Molly applies for an artists residency for her. When Molly surprises her with the accepted residency application, Rita isn't completely sold but she decides to go anyway. Alone in the forest by a large pond, Rita delves into her grief through her painting but her feelings threaten to overwhelm her, especially when she starts to see strange things.
This is an excellent, evocative novella though it comes with strong content warnings for grief, loss of a parent, and suicidal ideation. Though we only spend so much time with Rita, Morris does an excellent job of helping us to understand her grief and how it is affecting her. She accomplishes this through a mix of beautiful and horrific nature writing with a slightly supernatural aspect. Rita is deep in her grief and since we are seeing the world through her eyes, it's unclear what is just a hallucination and what is real. One of my favorite aspects of the story is that each chapter starts with looking at one of the paintings that Rita created during the residency. These paintings help to inform our view of Rita's experience and how she is coming to terms with her grief.
Morris' writing is lush and horrifying at the same time. I will definitely be looking to pick up more of what they write next.
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal death
Moderate: Body horror
obscurepages's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Wow. I dove into this book not knowing much other than it's an Indigenous horror novella. What I got now is a brilliant character study of a woman struggling with her mental health, insecurities, Indigenous identity, her drive to create art, and her reconciling nature with life and death.
I have to say, the imagery and the prose in this book is something else. Something entirely its own.
Overall, this was an incredible mix of both unsettling and profound.
Graphic: Blood, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
Minor: Body horror and Sexual content
atlastheninth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
There are a lot of flashbacks from Ritas' life, explaining how she got to this point in her life, explaining why she feels the way she feels. Later in the book, these did feel neither out of place nor confusing, but at the beginning they did. It seemed unorganized and took away from that first feeling of wrongness when Rita hears noises during the first night. Together with the many descriptions and the author spelling out things, that you can already understand from those descriptions, the beginning was all over the place.
"She'd become alien in her own body, alien in the landscape she and her ancestors had called home, transformed into some unearthly being."
"She could do it. She could die here."
"She was ready to be remade in the waters, to meet herself in the sludge of unbecoming."
Graphic: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Death of parent