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A review by rradujko
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This book was a hard read. Good, but hard. Compared to Hell Followed With Us, White's writing style has much improved, becoming definitively more streamlined and precise. The gruesome medical imagery, while at times gratuitous in Hell Followed With Us, in this novel were used as an effective tool for plot advancement, and Silas was a stunningly complex mc. All of which I was happy to see, as I had...complex...feelings about Hell Followed With Us.
White gives a much-needed trigger warning at the beginning of The Spirit Bares it's Teeth: if gore is not for you, if significant physical and emotional abuse and trauma is not for you, if grisly death is not for you, don't read this book.
BUT, if you want a ruthlessly visceral portrait of what transness, mental health and illness, and gendered disenfranchisement looked like in the 1800s, this book definitively stood out. White's no-holds-barred approach is stark and unsparing, and reveals the depravity men would wreak on the marginalized in the name of scientific advancement. I found myself rooting for his cast of characters, even as every facet of society was pitted against them over and over again. Silas and his betrothed are a shining ray in the miasma of abuse that was Victorian sanatoriums.
The one distinct critique that i had was that in the trigger warnings as well as in the jacket description I would have loved to see a slightly more accurate depiction of Silas' transness. Meaning that it should have been noted that the setting of the book intensely impacts his own ability to engage with his transness, which would make it unsuitable for some of my own trans friends. The betrayal of trust Silas experiences at the end, as well as the consistent misgendering and deadnaming should have been flagged. So I would say that this book may not be for trans readers who are still settling into their identity.
White gives a much-needed trigger warning at the beginning of The Spirit Bares it's Teeth: if gore is not for you, if significant physical and emotional abuse and trauma is not for you, if grisly death is not for you, don't read this book.
BUT, if you want a ruthlessly visceral portrait of what transness, mental health and illness, and gendered disenfranchisement looked like in the 1800s, this book definitively stood out. White's no-holds-barred approach is stark and unsparing, and reveals the depravity men would wreak on the marginalized in the name of scientific advancement. I found myself rooting for his cast of characters, even as every facet of society was pitted against them over and over again. Silas and his betrothed are a shining ray in the miasma of abuse that was Victorian sanatoriums.
The one distinct critique that i had was that in the trigger warnings as well as in the jacket description I would have loved to see a slightly more accurate depiction of Silas' transness. Meaning that it should have been noted that the setting of the book intensely impacts his own ability to engage with his transness, which would make it unsuitable for some of my own trans friends. The betrayal of trust Silas experiences at the end, as well as the consistent misgendering and deadnaming should have been flagged. So I would say that this book may not be for trans readers who are still settling into their identity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Rape