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venusmage's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
It’s a dull ghost story through 4/5ths of its length, then has a “shocking” twist that feels both out of left field and half-assed. With how silly the story here is, I wish the book leaned into the camp. Instead it takes itself seriously despite lacking atmosphere, scares, or complexity. There’s some good ideas - like the classism critiques and the entitlement of certain parenting styles - but ultimately doesn’t do anything with it. Instead it falls back on cliche and arguably sexist tropes that this author does not have the skill to pull off. A decently interesting setup and main character feels wasted here.
An additional nitpick is regarding the book’s art. This is coming from someone with a degree in the fine arts, so this may not bother the average reader, but it’s still worth mentioning. A big gimmick with this book is that it features many illustrations at the heart of the story’s mystery. Some childlike, others more mature and artistic. I think the childlike drawings serve their purpose fine enough while also being a little forgettable. The “better” drawings, though, took me out of the book’s world several times. In the book’s afterward the author interviewed the two artists. The more complex drawings are supposed to evoke a mixed media collage kind of feel - almost abstract (they specifically reference the astoundingly talented illustrator Dave McKean as inspiration) - but ultimately they look like amateur photoshop paint overs. They come off cheap and rushed rather than having an intentional artistic direction. From what little I read it seems the second artist is usually more of a designer and cover artist than an illustrator, and it unfortunately showed through here. His work on the cover looks great, but the interior art was so low quality I first mistook it as being done by a non-professional.
In the end, I’m sad to say the additional art in the book is a fun idea that really doesn’t add anything. The story isn’t enough to make the pictures feel like anything more than padding. I almost wonder if it would’ve been better if the author was forced to describe the artwork instead of showing it, to let the audience conjure something in their minds; but the book doesn’t have a lot of descriptive language that stands out enough for me to believe it would have worked, either.
An additional nitpick is regarding the book’s art. This is coming from someone with a degree in the fine arts, so this may not bother the average reader, but it’s still worth mentioning. A big gimmick with this book is that it features many illustrations at the heart of the story’s mystery. Some childlike, others more mature and artistic. I think the childlike drawings serve their purpose fine enough while also being a little forgettable. The “better” drawings, though, took me out of the book’s world several times. In the book’s afterward the author interviewed the two artists. The more complex drawings are supposed to evoke a mixed media collage kind of feel - almost abstract (they specifically reference the astoundingly talented illustrator Dave McKean as inspiration) - but ultimately they look like amateur photoshop paint overs. They come off cheap and rushed rather than having an intentional artistic direction. From what little I read it seems the second artist is usually more of a designer and cover artist than an illustrator, and it unfortunately showed through here. His work on the cover looks great, but the interior art was so low quality I first mistook it as being done by a non-professional.
In the end, I’m sad to say the additional art in the book is a fun idea that really doesn’t add anything. The story isn’t enough to make the pictures feel like anything more than padding. I almost wonder if it would’ve been better if the author was forced to describe the artwork instead of showing it, to let the audience conjure something in their minds; but the book doesn’t have a lot of descriptive language that stands out enough for me to believe it would have worked, either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Classism, Sexism, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Racism
voidcrawler's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
littered with right wing propaganda, primarily in the form of transphobia. sprinkle in some casual fatphobia, racism, and religious bigotry, and you have this book.
i’m now convinced booktok, especially the horror side of it, either don’t read the books they promote or they severely lack reading comprehension skills. everyone’s more obsessed with how “wOw fUcKed uP!!! 🥴” something is in terms of gore and jump-scares over the actual problematic shit in this book. bonkers, really, since so many horrortok creators are left-leaning and lgbtq+.
i’m now convinced booktok, especially the horror side of it, either don’t read the books they promote or they severely lack reading comprehension skills. everyone’s more obsessed with how “wOw fUcKed uP!!! 🥴” something is in terms of gore and jump-scares over the actual problematic shit in this book. bonkers, really, since so many horrortok creators are left-leaning and lgbtq+.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Transphobia
sophieamreacher's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow what an intricate creepy book. Did not expect the plot twists at all and I love when I can look back and see the little clues. Really really good. The illustrations just added so much to it and made it feel real.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Child abuse, Death, and Stalking
Minor: Child death, Racism, Sexism, Car accident, Infertility, and Classism
dalmavatai's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Ahhh it's so hard to rate this book & to explain my feelings about it. This book starts off pretty basic with some oft-repeated plot points of the thriller/mystery genre - the trope of the addict nanny who's not believed, the father in the family attracted to the nanny, the handsome local guy piquing the nanny's interest. I really enjoy the nanny-in-the-rich-family and the creepy-kid/creepy-drawings trope so I did like the setup, though it became quite formulaic as the story went on. I did overall enjoy the conclusion to the story because it was definitely something I didn't see coming and it was really interesting, especially how our MC figured out the truth, I really enjoyed the process of getting there.
However... while this book attempts some very basic commentary on racism and sexism, it simultaneously ends up being ableist, fatphobic and transphobic at times, none of which is challenged. The transphobia is especially concerning as it ends up being a larger portion of the book than the other things that are mostly just throwaway comments and remarks. At one point, the transphobia of the MC is challenged, but then the book uses a trope that is very cisheteronormative - and if you don't understand why, it is because our MC assumes Teddy to be a girl as soon as she sees that s/he has a vulva; however, obviously not all people with a vulva are women, such as trans women, and womanhood itself is not rooted in the possession of a vulva. This is the MC's rather transphobic assumption which is then challenged by Ted, but then it turns out that Teddy is *actually* a girl named Flora who was kidnapped by Ted and Caroline and made to live as a boy so that Flora wouldn't be found. I just... don't know how to feel about this plot point. Especially that at the end, Flora goes back to being a girl (after being allowed to explore all options with regards to their gender identity - or so we're led to believe, because really our society is deeply cisheteronormative which means that, according to psychological studies, even when parents believe they are raising their children in a 'gender-neutral' way, they are subconsciously encouraging gender-normative behaviors that falsely link genitalia, appearance, and behavior in a correlative manner - so, if you have a penis then you're a boy and you will dress like a boy and like things that boys like). So Flora "goes back to being a girl" at which point our MC says "I think she's always known that she was a girl", which is not challenged either, so we're left with very cisheteronormative understandings of gender which believe in an intrinsic correlation between genitalia, appearance/clothing and behavior. Sooo it's quite complex but I wanted to justify why I felt the way that I did with where this book went.
The other thing is that a specific nationality becomes an important plot point towards the end of the book, and as a person with that nationality, I feel compelled to tell you that many words, facts, and dishes were incorrect in the book and I wish that the author had done his homework regarding my nationality because I was really happy to see it in a book that I randomly picked up, but understandably less happy to discover that so many of the details were simply incorrect.
Sooo while I enjoyed most of this book and found the reveals satisfying and shocking, I have many issues with it otherwise. 🤐
However... while this book attempts some very basic commentary on racism and sexism, it simultaneously ends up being ableist, fatphobic and transphobic at times, none of which is challenged. The transphobia is especially concerning as it ends up being a larger portion of the book than the other things that are mostly just throwaway comments and remarks. At one point, the transphobia of the MC is challenged, but then the book uses a trope that is very cisheteronormative - and if you don't understand why,
The other thing is that a specific nationality becomes an important plot point towards the end of the book, and as a person with that nationality, I feel compelled to tell you that many words, facts, and dishes were incorrect in the book and I wish that the author had done his homework regarding my nationality because I was really happy to see it in a book that I randomly picked up, but understandably less happy to discover that so many of the details were simply incorrect.
Sooo while I enjoyed most of this book and found the reveals satisfying and shocking, I have many issues with it otherwise. 🤐
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Infertility, Addiction, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Ableism, and Racism
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