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A review by visorforavisor
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Andrew Joseph White is a talented writer with a sharp mind.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth centres on the story of Silas Bell, who is trans and autistic (although neither of those labels are used given the book’s 19th-century setting). Silas lives in a world where certain people — those with violet eyes — have the power to reach through into the afterlife and communicate with the angry spirits of the dead, but this is only deemed acceptable for men. Since he is seen as a woman, or indeed a girl as he is only sixteen, this is not an option for Silas. When he’s caught trying to do what is deemed as men’s work, trying to become qualified in communicating with the dead, he’s sent to an institute for girls and young women who have ostensibly become sick from contact with the afterlife: a transparent lie; it’s to stop them trying.
This book is very heavy on medical horror. It’s all excellently written and it doesn’t feel like gore for the sake of gore, but it is fairly graphic in places. I don’t do horror, ever, and it was about as close as I could manage to actual horror, but it didn’t go over that line.
The discussion and exploration of overlapping trans and autistic identities was something I as a trans autistic person found fascinating in The Spirit Bears Its Teeth. In providing an trans allistic character and a cis autistic character, Silas is given the space to determine what he feels about the connectedness of these two identities that he possesses.
Mr White puts words onto many things I’ve felt, but struggled to explain, about my own autism and my own transness over the years. This is a very heavy but extremely refreshing read.
I would thoroughly recommend.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth centres on the story of Silas Bell, who is trans and autistic (although neither of those labels are used given the book’s 19th-century setting). Silas lives in a world where certain people — those with violet eyes — have the power to reach through into the afterlife and communicate with the angry spirits of the dead, but this is only deemed acceptable for men. Since he is seen as a woman, or indeed a girl as he is only sixteen, this is not an option for Silas. When he’s caught trying to do what is deemed as men’s work, trying to become qualified in communicating with the dead, he’s sent to an institute for girls and young women who have ostensibly become sick from contact with the afterlife: a transparent lie; it’s to stop them trying.
This book is very heavy on medical horror. It’s all excellently written and it doesn’t feel like gore for the sake of gore, but it is fairly graphic in places. I don’t do horror, ever, and it was about as close as I could manage to actual horror, but it didn’t go over that line.
The discussion and exploration of overlapping trans and autistic identities was something I as a trans autistic person found fascinating in The Spirit Bears Its Teeth. In providing an trans allistic character and a cis autistic character, Silas is given the space to determine what he feels about the connectedness of these two identities that he possesses.
Mr White puts words onto many things I’ve felt, but struggled to explain, about my own autism and my own transness over the years. This is a very heavy but extremely refreshing read.
I would thoroughly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Medical content
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment