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jahnadv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death and Body horror
Minor: Blood, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Medical content, and Vomit
ghostingarden's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Sexual content and Gore
Minor: Child abuse and Injury/Injury detail
tomatocultivator's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Animal death
myranda_the_bookwyrm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content
spicycronereads's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Rita, the main character, is really the only character. She goes to a remote cabin to spend an artist residency for which her girlfriend has applied for her without telling her. So we do see a little bit of her girlfriend from time to time and in flashback, but she’s really almost a tertiary character. The environment is like a secondary character with Rita being the main character.
Tiffany Morris’ writing is really poetic and lyrical. I found myself highlighting tons of passages because they were just so beautifully written.
If you were looking for a horror story, this is pretty unconventional. There is no gore, no killers, and no hauntings or violence, other than that of the landscape, and what is done to the landscape by people. Part of the narrative convention, which I found really neat, is that parts of the story are told by artist reviews of Rita’s paintings. And so we very closely see the relationship between art, ecology, and life in the novel.
In terms of diverse representation, Morris is a queer, indigenous author, and Rita is an indigenous character of the Mi’kmaw people. It’s not clear whether her mother is also indigenous, but there is a lot of emphasis in the narrative about her father and her connection to her indigenous background through her father.
Overall, even though it’s a pretty short book, it took me quite a while to read, because the depth of the grief had to be taken in slow doses for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content
obscurepages's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Wow. I dove into this book not knowing much other than it's an Indigenous horror novella. What I got now is a brilliant character study of a woman struggling with her mental health, insecurities, Indigenous identity, her drive to create art, and her reconciling nature with life and death.
I have to say, the imagery and the prose in this book is something else. Something entirely its own.
Overall, this was an incredible mix of both unsettling and profound.
Graphic: Blood, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
Minor: Body horror and Sexual content