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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Like all short story collections, I had an up and down time with this. Some stories I absolutely adore: Break-up Poem Recited Knee Deep in Bog Water, Big Round Ball of Light and the Water, Sad Straight Sex at the End of the World, & Such a Pretty Face (which was the only story that got under my skin as well no pun intended). Only a few felt like real duds, and most were passable or enjoyable but missing something. Overall, I think it's a collection I'll come back to at some point; to solidify my ratings of each story and to reread those beautiful favourites. I honestly wasn't expecting to find any story that I loved so I was pleasantly surprised and glad I was wrong.
What would you give for a treat like me: 7/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Flowers: 5/10 ⭐⭐⭐
Nature Morte: 5/10 ⭐⭐⭐
Such a pretty face: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Only corpses stay: 4/10 ⭐⭐
The Summoning: 2/10⭐
Rath: 7/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sad Straight Sex at the End of the World: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Carrier: 7/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Big round ball of light and the water: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Saying it's name breaks it: 2/10 ⭐
A different beat: 4/10 ⭐⭐
Breakup poem recited knee deep in bog water: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Two truths and a lie: 5/10 ⭐⭐⭐
Playing house: 6/10 ⭐⭐⭐
What would you give for a treat like me: 7/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Flowers: 5/10 ⭐⭐⭐
Nature Morte: 5/10 ⭐⭐⭐
Such a pretty face: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Only corpses stay: 4/10 ⭐⭐
The Summoning: 2/10⭐
Rath: 7/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sad Straight Sex at the End of the World: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Carrier: 7/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Big round ball of light and the water: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Saying it's name breaks it: 2/10 ⭐
A different beat: 4/10 ⭐⭐
Breakup poem recited knee deep in bog water: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Two truths and a lie: 5/10 ⭐⭐⭐
Playing house: 6/10 ⭐⭐⭐
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A really great short story collection, and such a unique voice and writing style.
Rath was my absolute favourite of the collection, closely follows by The Summoning and Only Corpses Stay.
Sapphic love, lust and longing scattered throughout the stories, with some uniquely dark imagery and dystopian worlds.
Rath was my absolute favourite of the collection, closely follows by The Summoning and Only Corpses Stay.
Sapphic love, lust and longing scattered throughout the stories, with some uniquely dark imagery and dystopian worlds.
a fun collection of very weird, sapphic short stories. gory, disturbing at times, with some really unique ideas - i enjoyed the concepts a little more than the actual stories, especially towards the end the stories got very high-concept, but if you're into this sort of thing (unique vaguely disturbing sapphic literature), def check this out
my favorite stories were nature morte and big round ball of light and the water. real good stuff
my favorite stories were nature morte and big round ball of light and the water. real good stuff
ofc I giggled and then got scared shitless by a story about spiders and birth
cool
cool
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Equal parts creepy, queer and beautiful - I loved the gut punch that so many of these stories left me with. The surrealism blended with relatability and existentialism is exactly my style. I’m looking forward to reading more from Fowley and I’m so glad to have picked this up at a bookshop employee’s recommendation in a Scottish feminist bookshop.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
‘𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝑒𝓃𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓈𝓅𝒶𝒸𝑒, 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒶𝒹𝓎, ℱ𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝑒𝓃𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒹.’ ‘ℐ’𝓁𝓁 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒹. ℐ 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒹.’
“𝒫𝒶𝒾𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝓇𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎.”
“ℐ𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒.”
Ahh this flowery writing style was so perfect and beautifully executed. I melted reading all the pretty lines.
I knew I will love this book the moment I saw the cover of it. It is literally the most gorgeous piece of art I’ve ever seen and with a title like this!
In horror I’m usually looking for the gore and extremity but in this one I appreciated every single stunning detail. These short stories were revolving around sapphic relationships and motherhood. They were enchanting and dark. It was obvious to me how talented the author is. I’m so excited to read more by this wonderful writer in the future. If you love unapologetic female characters, prose like writing that is easy to understand and fall in love with then please don’t hesitate to pick up this novel. It was truly brilliant!
The story called “The summoning” was absolutely hilarious, even the writing felt so different and fun.
My favorite story of this collection was “Two truths and a lie” I absolutely loved both the storyline and the writing style.