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_fallinglight_'s review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Storygraph kept recommending this book to me and I gotta thank the algorithm that knows me better than I do bc I wouldn't have heard of this book otherwise and it would've been a real shame. It's right up my alley! Dark, gruesome, sad, and darkly funny. I read this in like 3 hours and idk maybe that's not fast for other folk but it's definitely fast for me who just spent almost two weeks on a reread lmao! There's a lot of deep stuff on death and birth and life and existence in this nonstop novella. It's perfect for anyone going through emo days and questioning the value or pointlessness of our existence and how never being is the better outcome. The majority of people might not agree on this but I dig it, honestly. Molly is so deliciously messed up! I love her, which makes the ending so sad for me. How can I not relate with a homeschooled only child who h words kids? đŸ˜‚ Maybe that explains a lot about me...But anywho. I really liked the story and the concept if not why it happened (the mom's Soviet (?) secret agent spy mission something) if that makes sense. Also the writing is kinda cool but there were some weird situations and at points was kinda pretentious. But overall it was a mysterious, weirdly funny at points, dark read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Vomit, Self harm, Medical content, Grief, and Gore
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual content, and Excrement
sucreslibrary's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence
pauliina_thebookaholicdreamer's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Body horror, and Blood
ianders's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This was a ride. What a delightfully bizarre concept this novella revolves around: every time the main character bleeds, a clone of herself is formed and it wants to murder her. And it works: I was thoroughly engrossed in the story throughout. There were some slower parts as Molly tries to navigate her life trying to bleed as less as possible, but her "condition" always catches up to her, leading to a lot of dread as we anticipate it, and bloody action once it happens.
I thought Molly herself was pretty interesting. She was raised in a sort of survivalist environment because she had no choice, and she grew up very isolated, lonely and on the fringe of society, barely able to interact with it until her teens. She changes a lot as she ages, going through various phases of anger or acceptance, which in turns changes the way clones act towards her (although the murderous intents remain). She remains detached from others, sometimes by choice but mostly not. Her life visibly exhausts her because it is barely her own at times.
This story felt like a rough coming of age story with the theme of how one's change through their life, and how they might have conflicted feelings towards those changes. We often oppose resistance to change, or we enter different stages of denial, clinging to the comfort of what we know and the illusion of being in control all the time. We are also under the pretense that we know ourselves well at any time. Then, there's also the influence other people have on us, especially as children. Molly's parents are the one teaching her to combat her clones because they don't want them to replace their daughter; they want her to remain the same. Now I don't know if that was the author's intent, but I think it works well as a metaphor. I think there's definitely something interesting in the very concept of choosing to kill yourself repeatedly.
The ending was a tad ambiguous: choices are made and something major happens, but we are left in the dark as to where all of it will lead. There's a sequel though, and I've yet to read it, but I hope it takes us even further down this weird, thrilling path.
I thought Molly herself was pretty interesting. She was raised in a sort of survivalist environment because she had no choice, and she grew up very isolated, lonely and on the fringe of society, barely able to interact with it until her teens. She changes a lot as she ages, going through various phases of anger or acceptance, which in turns changes the way clones act towards her (although the murderous intents remain). She remains detached from others, sometimes by choice but mostly not. Her life visibly exhausts her because it is barely her own at times.
This story felt like a rough coming of age story with the theme of how one's change through their life, and how they might have conflicted feelings towards those changes. We often oppose resistance to change, or we enter different stages of denial, clinging to the comfort of what we know and the illusion of being in control all the time. We are also under the pretense that we know ourselves well at any time. Then, there's also the influence other people have on us, especially as children. Molly's parents are the one teaching her to combat her clones because they don't want them to replace their daughter; they want her to remain the same. Now I don't know if that was the author's intent, but I think it works well as a metaphor. I think there's definitely something interesting in the very concept of choosing to kill yourself repeatedly.
The ending was a tad ambiguous: choices are made and something major happens, but we are left in the dark as to where all of it will lead. There's a sequel though, and I've yet to read it, but I hope it takes us even further down this weird, thrilling path.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Body horror
bookwyrmknits's review
dark
medium-paced
3.75
This is an odd story. It's slightly dystopian, a bit thriller, and rather gory at times. It's not really my usual fare, but the premise is fascinating and the writing caught me up and I had trouble putting the book down. I saw the ending coming—at least a portion of it—but that didn't make the rest of the story any less interesting. While I think you could easily end the story here, I already bought the sequel because this one was so intriguing and I'm curious to see where it goes from here.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, and Self harm
Minor: Gore and Infertility
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