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bitinglime 's review for:
What Should Be Wild
by Julia Fine
Just... ugh. This book started out so amazingly and it turned me sour to it rather quickly. It's touted as "magical realism," but there were times where I felt like it was too fantastic to be categorized like that. The book is about a young girl who, if she touches organic matter such as plant or animal life, it will die if it was already living, or become alive if it was already dead - and if she makes a mistake, it's reversible just by her touching it again. The only "realism" part of this seems to be that it's no big deal when someone she didn't grow up around witnesses this occurrence. Fascinating and perhaps questionable, sure, but not important enough to be really wild about it. Everything else seemed like fantasy with maybe some bits of horror (though not enough to really scare because it's too unrealistic).
I feel like there was some small element of feminism thrown in, but it didn't feel at all like a tale of empowerment. While all the women were very different from one another, I can't think of any that were actually likeable. For example, I'm all for sexual freedom, but there is a woman in the book that rapes men who enter the forest and that's not at all empowering or feminist. Rape is rape no matter who commits it. There's also this odd sort of obsession the author has with menstrual blood - like, yes to free bleeding and all - but I don't really know what that has to do with the rest of the story.
Speaking of the rest of the story - it all just sort of ends. The main character stops the curse by hugging her shadow doppelganger. That's it. It's a huge disappointment when a conflict like this is resolved so quickly and without thought. Other disappointments include all the loose ends that were never tied. Like what happened to the cursed women in the woods? Why would touching Peter be the "ultimate sacrifice" if she could just touch him alive again? Where the heck did a dog come from that couldn't die at her hands? And the romance - really? It doesn't make sense to me.
Aside from all the failures this book possessed, I did think that the writing itself was done well. The descriptions were beautiful and interesting at least.
Bottom line, I wouldn't recommend this book. The plot didn't hold up very well and the "feminist elements" weren't actually feminist at all.
I feel like there was some small element of feminism thrown in, but it didn't feel at all like a tale of empowerment. While all the women were very different from one another, I can't think of any that were actually likeable. For example, I'm all for sexual freedom, but there is a woman in the book that rapes men who enter the forest and that's not at all empowering or feminist. Rape is rape no matter who commits it. There's also this odd sort of obsession the author has with menstrual blood - like, yes to free bleeding and all - but I don't really know what that has to do with the rest of the story.
Speaking of the rest of the story - it all just sort of ends. The main character stops the curse by hugging her shadow doppelganger. That's it. It's a huge disappointment when a conflict like this is resolved so quickly and without thought. Other disappointments include all the loose ends that were never tied. Like what happened to the cursed women in the woods? Why would touching Peter be the "ultimate sacrifice" if she could just touch him alive again? Where the heck did a dog come from that couldn't die at her hands? And the romance - really? It doesn't make sense to me.
Aside from all the failures this book possessed, I did think that the writing itself was done well. The descriptions were beautiful and interesting at least.
Bottom line, I wouldn't recommend this book. The plot didn't hold up very well and the "feminist elements" weren't actually feminist at all.