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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 ✨️
Dystopia, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, horror.
You will be quietly, beautifully disturbed ✨️
Our narrator is a storyteller, living in a post pandemic world where women don't exist anymore.
Now, the only things left of women are the stories and the weird yellow mushrooms growing from their graves.
I buddy read this novel with my friend @ifollowedthatrabbit and I'm beyond thankful for her and our discussions because I might have gone off the rails without them
Dystopia, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, horror.
You will be quietly, beautifully disturbed ✨️
Our narrator is a storyteller, living in a post pandemic world where women don't exist anymore.
Now, the only things left of women are the stories and the weird yellow mushrooms growing from their graves.
I buddy read this novel with my friend @ifollowedthatrabbit and I'm beyond thankful for her and our discussions because I might have gone off the rails without them
I had high hopes for this as the basic concept was good, and parts of it were good. However, the narrator was so obnoxious and annoying, and the commentary was far too lazy. It was basically a 1:1 men and women switching gender roles, with nothing new added to discourse except the women are made of mushrooms, which was the only cool part.
I really wanted to love this, and I tried, but unfortunately between the narrator and the lacklustre gender role reversal, it fell pretty flat.
I really wanted to love this, and I tried, but unfortunately between the narrator and the lacklustre gender role reversal, it fell pretty flat.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The weirdest and craziest book I’ve ever read! What a wild ride in just 99 pages! If you want something to creep you out and affect you for days, go for this. I’m so glad I stumbled upon this because it is unforgettable. I loved how strange it was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
4.5/5
I have never read a novel where I utterly and completely agreed with the ‘author reviews’ that are usually posted on the cover/inside.
M.R. Carey’s review, “elegantly chilling, utterly heartbreaking” is the perfect way to describe ‘The Beauty’.
I read this short story in 2 days- only a few sittings. I divided my readings into chunks based on the parts so I could take in what I read. Which was necessary.
I was excited to read this short story just based on the summary...women are gone and all that’s left are men living together trying to survive. Some of those men don’t know anything else. Some remember their mothers and wives and sisters.
What I actually read was both accurate to this summary and inaccurate. I was NOT expecting something so...deep and dark and ‘horror-ish’ (I can’t think of any other words to describe the creepiness).
I’m impressed. During the first part of the short story I would have said I was going to be left unsatisfied, but wow. I wasn’t.
Definitely don’t read this short story if you don’t like creepy and very descriptive. It’s definitely an interesting concept for sure!
I have never read a novel where I utterly and completely agreed with the ‘author reviews’ that are usually posted on the cover/inside.
M.R. Carey’s review, “elegantly chilling, utterly heartbreaking” is the perfect way to describe ‘The Beauty’.
I read this short story in 2 days- only a few sittings. I divided my readings into chunks based on the parts so I could take in what I read. Which was necessary.
I was excited to read this short story just based on the summary...women are gone and all that’s left are men living together trying to survive. Some of those men don’t know anything else. Some remember their mothers and wives and sisters.
What I actually read was both accurate to this summary and inaccurate. I was NOT expecting something so...deep and dark and ‘horror-ish’ (I can’t think of any other words to describe the creepiness).
I’m impressed. During the first part of the short story I would have said I was going to be left unsatisfied, but wow. I wasn’t.
Definitely don’t read this short story if you don’t like creepy and very descriptive. It’s definitely an interesting concept for sure!
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
Yes
I had a real fungal horror or "sporror" moment recently. Not *not* inspired by enjoying The Last of Us, but not totally inspired by that either. Spring is mushroom hunting season, folks!
This book definitely checks the "once a year I read something that halfway through I'm shocked by and think WTF HAVE I JUST READ and I wonder if I should even add it to my Goodreads because what could I possibly say in the review? *insert horrified face emoji*
First, this book is not scary. (Well, maybe for men? But we'll come back to that.) Second, it's kinda f*&ked up. The premise in general is, after some unknown (and totally undescribed) apocalypse where all women on earth have died, men are living sort of sad barely-existing lives in camps across a completely destroyed world. Setting aside that this kinda doesn't make sense. I mean, I guess Y the Last Man also showed how the world would just collapse if all the men died but... honestly? I think that's different because it's like, 90% of world leaders, 70% of big business owners, etc. would have disappeared, plus armies, pilots, etc. because sh*t is skewed, we know. But still, it was laughable the way they are described, it's like a bunch of dads left with the kids who are like "WHAT DO I DO? HOW DOES FOOD WORK? OMG I CANNOT FUNCTION!" which is ridiculous. Sad to say, I kinda think that yeah, if every man in the world dropped dead suddenly we would have some serious post-apocalypse stuff to deal with but if every woman in the world dropped dead... IDK, men would have to learn to take care of kids and households while keeping things running. Hmph.
Anyway, things get weird when someone tells someone else in the camp that mushrooms are sprouting out of the ground wherever women were buried. OK, creepy, but also, not too weird yet. Lots of unnecessary infighting fueled by testosterone later, check back on the mushrooms, they are huge, and are starting to become... body shaped? Here is where things get jacked.
The mushrooms eventually become woman-shaped entities without faces. Some of the men start taking them as, erm, "companions" - yes, you read that right. Gross. The mushrooms are super strong, and start taking care of the men, hunting food for them and protecting them (from each other, because there are like, no other dangers here for the men, really). Then, through their, um, "companionship" with the shroom women, the men start getting impregnated.
I liked that this is basically creating a scenario where men become the "weaker" sex; they can't take care of themselves, and they can be thrown around, forced, by stronger, um, people? They basically get relegated to the role of breeders, good only for being implanted with new shroom people (we never see any of them born, though).
But, it's also like, a super heavy-handed metaphor, or not even a metaphor? Because there's no outcome - nothing is really said about this state of affairs. The book just kind of ends. Maybe it's just meant to be body horror for men? Maybe it's supposed to make them more aware of their position in society? Really unsure.
It's kind of a cool idea, but it's just not that well-done, and ultimately pointless. And, in general, squicky - which is a kind of horror, I know, but it's not my style of horror and also, gross.
Also, PS, I added this book on my phone and the crappy drop-down just added it as "want to read" so I completely lost the actual read dates, and just made them up later. I know I finished it in March, not sure if I started it in March or February; I think I read it in a day. It's fairly short. Oh, and I got this one from the library.
This book definitely checks the "once a year I read something that halfway through I'm shocked by and think WTF HAVE I JUST READ and I wonder if I should even add it to my Goodreads because what could I possibly say in the review? *insert horrified face emoji*
First, this book is not scary. (Well, maybe for men? But we'll come back to that.) Second, it's kinda f*&ked up. The premise in general is, after some unknown (and totally undescribed) apocalypse where all women on earth have died, men are living sort of sad barely-existing lives in camps across a completely destroyed world. Setting aside that this kinda doesn't make sense. I mean, I guess Y the Last Man also showed how the world would just collapse if all the men died but... honestly? I think that's different because it's like, 90% of world leaders, 70% of big business owners, etc. would have disappeared, plus armies, pilots, etc. because sh*t is skewed, we know. But still, it was laughable the way they are described, it's like a bunch of dads left with the kids who are like "WHAT DO I DO? HOW DOES FOOD WORK? OMG I CANNOT FUNCTION!" which is ridiculous. Sad to say, I kinda think that yeah, if every man in the world dropped dead suddenly we would have some serious post-apocalypse stuff to deal with but if every woman in the world dropped dead... IDK, men would have to learn to take care of kids and households while keeping things running. Hmph.
Anyway, things get weird when someone tells someone else in the camp that mushrooms are sprouting out of the ground wherever women were buried. OK, creepy, but also, not too weird yet. Lots of unnecessary infighting fueled by testosterone later, check back on the mushrooms, they are huge, and are starting to become... body shaped? Here is where things get jacked.
The mushrooms eventually become woman-shaped entities without faces. Some of the men start taking them as, erm, "companions" - yes, you read that right. Gross. The mushrooms are super strong, and start taking care of the men, hunting food for them and protecting them (from each other, because there are like, no other dangers here for the men, really). Then, through their, um, "companionship" with the shroom women, the men start getting impregnated.
I liked that this is basically creating a scenario where men become the "weaker" sex; they can't take care of themselves, and they can be thrown around, forced, by stronger, um, people? They basically get relegated to the role of breeders, good only for being implanted with new shroom people (we never see any of them born, though).
But, it's also like, a super heavy-handed metaphor, or not even a metaphor? Because there's no outcome - nothing is really said about this state of affairs. The book just kind of ends. Maybe it's just meant to be body horror for men? Maybe it's supposed to make them more aware of their position in society? Really unsure.
It's kind of a cool idea, but it's just not that well-done, and ultimately pointless. And, in general, squicky - which is a kind of horror, I know, but it's not my style of horror and also, gross.
Also, PS, I added this book on my phone and the crappy drop-down just added it as "want to read" so I completely lost the actual read dates, and just made them up later. I know I finished it in March, not sure if I started it in March or February; I think I read it in a day. It's fairly short. Oh, and I got this one from the library.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
