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A review by adamyeti
Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison
dark
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have seen people mostly describe this as a messed-up love story, but to me it felt more like a close look at two people trying to exist together rather than falling in love.
In my opinion, the biggest factor that will affect how much you like or dislike this book is the narration. It is written from the point-of-view of the quintessential edgelord. There is a moment early on where he recounts saying something so edgy to a classmate that the normie began stammering and sprinted out of class to get away from him. You know, the type of thing that only happens in an edgy teen's head when daydreaming about how cool he is. This actually was a benefit to me though, as it allowed me to treat him as a bit of an unreliable narrator. It reads as if he is re-telling this story to you, so of course he embellishes it. If the things in here aren't supposed to actually be embellished.... Well.....
There are certainly some major shock factor scenes, but I was surprised to find that most of the book is much more character-focused instead of a non-stop gore fest. This is good because, frankly, if there were many more shocking scenes that felt the need to one-up the previous, they would have become more ridiculous than disturbing. I will not even begin to go into the content of these scenes, because I am already ashamed enough for anyone to know that I read this...
Towards the end of the book I started to feel like it was actually trying to make a point, but after finishing it, I really don't think there is much substance here. It is worth noting that despite this, the ending was so fantastically clever that I somehow ended up smiling as I finished reading.
Even despite my suspension of disbelief thanks to the weirdo narrator, there were many a moment that still just came off a bit too corny and try-hard for me. Overall, it was fun, but you definitely can't take it too seriously.
By the way, content warning for LITERALLY ANYTHING THAT INVOLVES DEAD PEOPLE.
In my opinion, the biggest factor that will affect how much you like or dislike this book is the narration. It is written from the point-of-view of the quintessential edgelord. There is a moment early on where he recounts saying something so edgy to a classmate that the normie began stammering and sprinted out of class to get away from him. You know, the type of thing that only happens in an edgy teen's head when daydreaming about how cool he is. This actually was a benefit to me though, as it allowed me to treat him as a bit of an unreliable narrator. It reads as if he is re-telling this story to you, so of course he embellishes it. If the things in here aren't supposed to actually be embellished.... Well.....
There are certainly some major shock factor scenes, but I was surprised to find that most of the book is much more character-focused instead of a non-stop gore fest. This is good because, frankly, if there were many more shocking scenes that felt the need to one-up the previous, they would have become more ridiculous than disturbing. I will not even begin to go into the content of these scenes, because I am already ashamed enough for anyone to know that I read this...
Towards the end of the book I started to feel like it was actually trying to make a point, but after finishing it, I really don't think there is much substance here. It is worth noting that despite this, the ending was so fantastically clever that I somehow ended up smiling as I finished reading.
Even despite my suspension of disbelief thanks to the weirdo narrator, there were many a moment that still just came off a bit too corny and try-hard for me. Overall, it was fun, but you definitely can't take it too seriously.
By the way, content warning for LITERALLY ANYTHING THAT INVOLVES DEAD PEOPLE.