Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Feed Them Silence

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo

61 reviews

panickedhonking's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book will not feel good to read. The afterword describes the book as coming from the "fertile, toxic soil" of the doomspiral of COVID. It's not a bad book, and if the subject intrigued you go for it, but... Woof

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stephen_reads's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

0.25

Amateurish writing full of weak metaphors and an excess of adverbs.

There’s an interesting hook, but the author doesn’t focus on it. You think you’re getting a dystopian sci-fi but really you’re getting the domestic troubles of a boring and unlikeable married couple. The stunted and unrealistic dialogue between them is downright painful at times.

At one point the characters eat paneer by itself as a meal (lmao). The author credits the increase of anti-asian racism during the pandemic as an inspiration for their writing but it’s obvious the main asian character’s existence in the book is tokenistic at best (they’re not even east asian so I don’t understand the pandemic mention regarding this in the acknowledgements at all, I think the author just wanted some brownie points).

The treatment of this character is an embarrassing display of a white queer person desperately trying to be inclusive and intersectional but failing hard. Some of the comments made about race (particularly the way it intersects with academia) feel like stabs in the dark.

The quality of the writing is just so poor. “Her hopeful hopelessness”, “A spark fizzed in her nerves”, “running made her feel good”.

Laughably bad and fanfictionesque. You can skip this one.

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sn03's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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sarahholliday's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I picked up Feed Them Silence on a whim at the library, initially intrigued by the title and then completely sold on the eco-fiction-meets-speculative-horror premise. That this short novella manages to tackle the ethics and politics of academic research; domestic unease rooted in miscommunication that finds its source in deeply internalized gender norms; environmental crisis and the responsibility we as humans have to earth's other inhabitants in the midst of it—and that it tackles all of these things with a hefty degree of nuance is astounding.

Sean is a fascinating protagonist, at once reprehensibly selfish and pathetically sympathetic, and I loved how Madelo used her conversations with Riya to dig into the ethics of research questions and funding sources.

The writing in Feed Them Silence is layered and beautiful, capturing the various tones in which Sean engages with Kate (her canine research subject) and the world around her.

I really loved this novella and think it's a testament to what can be done with this genre of writing.

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eegekay's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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marleywrites's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

5.0

This book was filled with tension, and the level of familial bonding Sean felt with Kate (her wolf) was quite intense. It was really fascinating to witness Sean approaching Kate— I felt my heart racing right along hers. I found that I wanted Sean’s imagined connection to be as real as she believed it to be. It broke my heart to read Sean longing for the intimacy of a pack; Mandelo described the multifaceted family dynamics beautifully. The parallels drawn between Sean seeking relationships with her wolves and her own failing romantic relationship were striking, and I could feel the pain Sean was experiencing deeply. Overall, I rated this book five stars because it captured the emotional turmoil of wanting to belong to something bigger than you can ever imagine perfectly. The angst and desperation Sean felt was gnawing at me too. Now I’m going to have to give Mandelo’s other works a shot!

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