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A review by root
Grey Dog by Elliott Gish
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I got perplexed by the direction this book was going in as well as its tone about halfway in and I found an author interview that said this book was influenced by Midsommar. It shows.
Incredibly slow paced, contradicts its own points regarding the perception of spinsters, and it's so depressingly white feminist that it really just reads like what spending the day with a group of white women in a gender studies class who all conveniently never address anything except white womanhood would be like. I really wish it had gone deeper than it had but it really didn't progress much beyond the surface. Painful, disappointing, somehow pretentious while having both the main characters' names start with A like we never moved past page one of baby names dot com. The most "horror" this gets in terms of character transformation is that she's losing her grip by...being naked in her bedroom but get this--she doesn't care if someone sees. The author substitutes the word "gore" a lot in place of actual description, and I also have to say that vaginal births are not very gorey at all. I was going to be nicer given this is a debut novel but I've decided that if we're calling cruelty a feminist freedom, then I'll be free about it.
If you're gay and you're drawn to this book because of its advertisement as such:unless you consider sexually assaulting your crush in a vaguely spooky scary way, twice, and then murdering her as being gay then I wouldn't pick it up for the gay aspect. Not every gay book has to be happy but I don't personally feel like the literal predatory lesbian trope is enticing.
Incredibly slow paced, contradicts its own points regarding the perception of spinsters, and it's so depressingly white feminist that it really just reads like what spending the day with a group of white women in a gender studies class who all conveniently never address anything except white womanhood would be like. I really wish it had gone deeper than it had but it really didn't progress much beyond the surface. Painful, disappointing, somehow pretentious while having both the main characters' names start with A like we never moved past page one of baby names dot com. The most "horror" this gets in terms of character transformation is that she's losing her grip by...being naked in her bedroom but get this--she doesn't care if someone sees. The author substitutes the word "gore" a lot in place of actual description, and I also have to say that vaginal births are not very gorey at all. I was going to be nicer given this is a debut novel but I've decided that if we're calling cruelty a feminist freedom, then I'll be free about it.
If you're gay and you're drawn to this book because of its advertisement as such: