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aidenwaites 's review for:
You Weren't Meant to Be Human
by Andrew Joseph White
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A disturbing, visceral, and extremely cathartic read. The story of Crane, a transgender man involved in a cult in West Virginia who realizes he's pregnant, and that the hive he belongs to will force him to carry it to term, You Weren't Meant to Be Human had me hooked from the very start.
Every character in this story is filled with depth, with those interesting human contradictions, and Crane most of all. I loved being inside his head, even when we were seeing the more disturbing side of it. I also loved the way that this book depicts its central cult; its a very small, intimate community of only four or five people and loosely connected to other small, intimate communities scattered across the east coast. Despite only being a short drive away from where he came from, Crane is isolated by the few people he knows, and that isolation is palpable. His pregnancy is claustrophobic. At every turn, I was just hoping for someone to be on his side.
If you're faint of heart to the kinds of subject matter that might come up in a story about an unwanted pregnancy, definitely proceed with caution, but as someone who is myself trans and with a fear of pregnancy, I found this book to be as cathartic as it was horrifying. It'll be on my mind for a long time.
Digital ARC received through Netgalley.
Every character in this story is filled with depth, with those interesting human contradictions, and Crane most of all. I loved being inside his head, even when we were seeing the more disturbing side of it. I also loved the way that this book depicts its central cult; its a very small, intimate community of only four or five people and loosely connected to other small, intimate communities scattered across the east coast. Despite only being a short drive away from where he came from, Crane is isolated by the few people he knows, and that isolation is palpable. His pregnancy is claustrophobic. At every turn, I was just hoping for someone to be on his side.
If you're faint of heart to the kinds of subject matter that might come up in a story about an unwanted pregnancy, definitely proceed with caution, but as someone who is myself trans and with a fear of pregnancy, I found this book to be as cathartic as it was horrifying. It'll be on my mind for a long time.
Digital ARC received through Netgalley.