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mariball's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
“Strangely, it gives me hope, hope that it’s possible to make art primitively, in a way that isn’t steeped in professionalism and compromise. Art that still hates. I remember how much hope there is in hatred.“
This was one of the most surreal books I’ve read in some time, maybe ever. If you’re looking for a traditional story format with plot, you’re not going to get it here. This is an experimental treatise that focuses on art, Black Metal music, magic, witchcraft, religion, nonconformity, and writing. The prose is powerful, direct, gross, and, well, hateful. It’s my favorite aspect of this book.
However, I think this book is too experimental for my tastes. There are some scenes where I question the necessity of its inclusion (besides shock). I feel that at least 50 or so pages could have been shaven off and nothing major would have been lost. I’m also deeply disappointedthat the adventure of the murderous subject of Edvard Munch’s Puberty and her mission to kill him didn’t pan out as a subplot like the blurb implied . And while I appreciated the narrator’s unique voice, at the same time it also borderlined on angsty edgy teen cursing the world- which made sense in some passages talking about her youth but when you’re an adult and still acting like that it will induce some eye rolls.
In the end, my expectations were too high.
This was one of the most surreal books I’ve read in some time, maybe ever. If you’re looking for a traditional story format with plot, you’re not going to get it here. This is an experimental treatise that focuses on art, Black Metal music, magic, witchcraft, religion, nonconformity, and writing. The prose is powerful, direct, gross, and, well, hateful. It’s my favorite aspect of this book.
However, I think this book is too experimental for my tastes. There are some scenes where I question the necessity of its inclusion (besides shock). I feel that at least 50 or so pages could have been shaven off and nothing major would have been lost. I’m also deeply disappointed
In the end, my expectations were too high.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Vomit, and Body horror
Moderate: Blood
musical_alex's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Excrement, Mental illness, Death, Racial slurs, Blood, Gore, Body horror, and Vomit
Moderate: Sexual content
owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
‘Maybe it’s because it’s important to me that what we do should mean something, that language should be able to find different strategies and be something other than a machine for shame and denial.’
This had some extremely interesting theory, such as the witches-as-a-threat-to-the-establishment passage, but ultimately I think it was too theoretical in its overall approach to character and narrative. Admittedly I don’t think Hval was going for something conventional here and I do think her writing is very clever and imaginative. Ultimately this wasn’t an excellent choice to help me get out of my reading slump - but hey, that’s on me!
This had some extremely interesting theory, such as the witches-as-a-threat-to-the-establishment passage, but ultimately I think it was too theoretical in its overall approach to character and narrative. Admittedly I don’t think Hval was going for something conventional here and I do think her writing is very clever and imaginative. Ultimately this wasn’t an excellent choice to help me get out of my reading slump - but hey, that’s on me!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Body horror, Cursing, Vomit, and Excrement
joellemariel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Animal death, Gore, Death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Violence
macodi's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Blood, and Vomit
Minor: Animal death
librarymouse's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Surrealism and self-reflection reform as magic in this novel. It is disgusting, devoted, and drenched in adoration and bodily fluids.
I could read this novel a dozen more times and still have trouble categorizing it. It is angsty, lyrical, and shows the process of decontaminating oneself of the harshly imposed shame Christianity often ascribed to difference while avoiding the pitfalls of textual shame - the avoidance or curation of language. Hval writes this novel viscerally, with bodies, their parts, their fluids, and the conceptualization and actualization of sins being given true names and tangible descriptors. The struggle between the individual and externally oppressive religion is relatably detailed, and through that lens, this novel has the same impact when consumed as stained glass church windows divorced from their context.
So many readers who came of age on the internet were first introduced to the concept of a queer tenderness or queerness treated like literary fiction rather than something inherently pornographic, through the realm of fanfiction or short stories written to Tumblr prompts, as was very common in the 2010s. Rather than pulling me out of the story, despite how tenuous my grasp on the continuity of this book was, the narrator intermittently addressing the reader directly as "you" harkens back to that very specific reader insert fanfiction feeling, and the love expressed by the narrator for the reader creates that gorgeous, fluid, and velvety sense of adoration. This is an effect that I remember keenly feeling and craving at the young age of the girl in the puberty portrait that is so often brought up in this novel. I don't know that I can claim this specific tone to be authorial intent, but the mood created for the reader by the form and language of this book, with specific focus on the intersection between naturalism and internet subcultures, intertwines beautifully with the content.
I really don't know if I can recommend this novel to others. It is a lot, but it is also gorgeous.
I could read this novel a dozen more times and still have trouble categorizing it. It is angsty, lyrical, and shows the process of decontaminating oneself of the harshly imposed shame Christianity often ascribed to difference while avoiding the pitfalls of textual shame - the avoidance or curation of language. Hval writes this novel viscerally, with bodies, their parts, their fluids, and the conceptualization and actualization of sins being given true names and tangible descriptors. The struggle between the individual and externally oppressive religion is relatably detailed, and through that lens, this novel has the same impact when consumed as stained glass church windows divorced from their context.
So many readers who came of age on the internet were first introduced to the concept of a queer tenderness or queerness treated like literary fiction rather than something inherently pornographic, through the realm of fanfiction or short stories written to Tumblr prompts, as was very common in the 2010s. Rather than pulling me out of the story, despite how tenuous my grasp on the continuity of this book was, the narrator intermittently addressing the reader directly as "you" harkens back to that very specific reader insert fanfiction feeling, and the love expressed by the narrator for the reader creates that gorgeous, fluid, and velvety sense of adoration. This is an effect that I remember keenly feeling and craving at the young age of the girl in the puberty portrait that is so often brought up in this novel. I don't know that I can claim this specific tone to be authorial intent, but the mood created for the reader by the form and language of this book, with specific focus on the intersection between naturalism and internet subcultures, intertwines beautifully with the content.
I really don't know if I can recommend this novel to others. It is a lot, but it is also gorgeous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Excrement, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Cursing, Body horror, Abortion, Animal death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Sexual content
Moderate: Xenophobia, War, and Bullying
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Antisemitism
cyruspapyrus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Excrement, and Body horror
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