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trashthatmatters's review against another edition
4.75
Some absolute bangers, esp at the end. Not a pleasant book to read
kellylynnthomas's review
4.0
Creepy, spooky, unsettling, but delightful. Reminds me somewhat of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, but even darker.
sam8834's review against another edition
4.0
This is probably a good way to introduce yourself to Matt Bell's short fiction, as it compiles a bunch of his older work (Cataclysm Baby is a favorite of mine and what made me a fan of Bell's) with some newer stories. You get a good idea of his go-to themes (children, parenthood, disappearance), which are complemented by a style that's somehow both simple and artful. This isn't straight-up horror, as some seemed to expect, but if gross, horrifying allegory makes your brain tingle, I'd give this a shot, even if only in small doses.
lucifer_morningstar13's review against another edition
3.0
The first few stories in this collection had me thoroughly intrigued by their strangeness and symbolism. As I moved farther into the book, however, I found myself more confused by some of the stories than intrigued or entertained. Of course, this can happen with a collection of stories, and nobody is expected to like them all, but after I got a bit more than halfway through, I found myself simply wanting to get through some of the stories, hoping the next would be much better. There were a couple that I finished feeling that they truly had no purpose or meaning. I did like the last story enough, but I wasn't wowed by it like I was by some of the earlier stories. I liked that it made sense and had a decently satisfying ending though.
The themes of forgetting, family dynamics (in particular children's use to the family unit) and searching/being lost were all very prevalent throughout the collection.
Overall, a decent selection of stories, but not one I'd like to read again or even keep on my bookshelf.
The themes of forgetting, family dynamics (in particular children's use to the family unit) and searching/being lost were all very prevalent throughout the collection.
Overall, a decent selection of stories, but not one I'd like to read again or even keep on my bookshelf.
pearseanderson's review against another edition
4.0
Before reading this I wondered in Matt Bell wrote all his prose like In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods. According to this: yup. He has such a developed sense of language and sentence structure. It's so fucking poetic. It's primitive, elemental, jagged. After the first story in this collection (the title story), I breathed out and said "Well, this is what it feels like to be back reading great prose." Bell does it again. Now, all his stories can seem repetitive, and his beginnings need some work just because of the experimental and inverted infodumping situation he's created, but I am definitely going to reread, quote from, and recommend these tales. 9/10.
Note: Bell's unique perspective on the body, and how the body interacts with text/characters is both parallel and rival to Kleeman's. Very interesting, I see a thesis on this in the future.
Note: Bell's unique perspective on the body, and how the body interacts with text/characters is both parallel and rival to Kleeman's. Very interesting, I see a thesis on this in the future.
phee's review against another edition
4.0
Really interesting and somewhat bizarre stories. As with all collections of stories, some were better than others but some were absolutely fantastic. The author has a very interesting writing style which won't be for everyone. The stories beg to be read aloud which I did for the most part. I'm curious to see what this authors novels are like now I've had a taste of their writing.
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