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A review by vickycbooks
Vampires of Portlandia by Jason Tanamor
DNF @ 65.4%
I really was so excited for Vampires of Portlandia. It sounded amazing--Filipino mythology and vampires, magic, Pacific North West vibes. And I do think that the things I was excited for were still exciting, but I hit some road blocks while reading that made me ultimately DNF this book.
I almost never DNF ARCs. It's not an action I do lightly, but as my time is more and more precious in college and because it's become increasingly important for me to find joy in fiction and not drag my feet about reading, I've DNF'd Vampires of Portlandia. I tried very hard to give it my best shot, and it's been hindering my reading for more than two weeks at this point.
The writing style is different than I am used to, but I don't actually think it's inherently bad. It's more roundabout and measured than the direct type of writing I am used to, but I don't think that makes it bad. Tanamor uses third person in a very distinct way that's like a narrated script, but also not. There's changing POVs, little details that a narrator wouldn't know, and things slipped in that you should be paying attention to. It just meant that for me personally, I had a hard time getting absorbed into the story from the writing. I think if I was a different reader, I could absolutely enjoy the writing style more, but ultimately that's not me.
What was ultimately a deal breaker for me was the writing style in combination with the way Vampires of Portlandia framed victims of the murders happening. To be completely honest, I feel like the way the story talked about homeless people, the elderly, people who are struggling with drug abuse, was callous. One line (from the e-ARC, mind you) read
"Thus, they [the ghouls] added a new clientele to their repertoire [the people they preyed on & killed], one who had also contributed very little to society--the elderly."
I personally disagree, and I think elderly people, although not perfect, are still important members of society? I think they do hold a lot of wisdom. I dislike this framing a lot and I don't enjoy it being used so casually. I think we can absolutely examine sentiments like this critically, but I personally felt like it was an offhand comment that was meant to be more stylistic, rather than critical of the ghouls.
We see the same thing with the treatment of homeless people, as the story reduces them, who are the predominant population being murdered in Portland, to a faceless aggregate. There were anti-homeless sentiments being expressed, as well as really suspicious lines about drug use.
It made me uncomfortable enough that I DNF'd the book. I just grew so tense with how the story used homeless people as faceless victims of these murders, but used the writing style and narrative to push the readers away from empathizing with the people affected by the murder, and instead read about the vampires and werebeasts and ghouls and witches and viscera and their conflict.
I don't think my priorities matched with the priorities that Vampires of Portlandia had, and it's honestly a huge relief to be able to put this down.
I think readers who are more persistent or less sensitive than I can find something to like in this. The beginning where an anti-homeless sentiment wasn't so strong was interesting. I liked the folklore and the aswang. I liked the idea of a murder mystery. But I hated the framing, and that's ultimately what made me set this aside.
I've thought quite a lot about this, and I didn't make the decision to DNF lightly. I just can't bring myself to read more of this because I am quite frankly, very tired. There was so much potential, I can't help but feel left down.
I really was so excited for Vampires of Portlandia. It sounded amazing--Filipino mythology and vampires, magic, Pacific North West vibes. And I do think that the things I was excited for were still exciting, but I hit some road blocks while reading that made me ultimately DNF this book.
I almost never DNF ARCs. It's not an action I do lightly, but as my time is more and more precious in college and because it's become increasingly important for me to find joy in fiction and not drag my feet about reading, I've DNF'd Vampires of Portlandia. I tried very hard to give it my best shot, and it's been hindering my reading for more than two weeks at this point.
The writing style is different than I am used to, but I don't actually think it's inherently bad. It's more roundabout and measured than the direct type of writing I am used to, but I don't think that makes it bad. Tanamor uses third person in a very distinct way that's like a narrated script, but also not. There's changing POVs, little details that a narrator wouldn't know, and things slipped in that you should be paying attention to. It just meant that for me personally, I had a hard time getting absorbed into the story from the writing. I think if I was a different reader, I could absolutely enjoy the writing style more, but ultimately that's not me.
What was ultimately a deal breaker for me was the writing style in combination with the way Vampires of Portlandia framed victims of the murders happening. To be completely honest, I feel like the way the story talked about homeless people, the elderly, people who are struggling with drug abuse, was callous. One line (from the e-ARC, mind you) read
"Thus, they [the ghouls] added a new clientele to their repertoire [the people they preyed on & killed], one who had also contributed very little to society--the elderly."
I personally disagree, and I think elderly people, although not perfect, are still important members of society? I think they do hold a lot of wisdom. I dislike this framing a lot and I don't enjoy it being used so casually. I think we can absolutely examine sentiments like this critically, but I personally felt like it was an offhand comment that was meant to be more stylistic, rather than critical of the ghouls.
We see the same thing with the treatment of homeless people, as the story reduces them, who are the predominant population being murdered in Portland, to a faceless aggregate. There were anti-homeless sentiments being expressed, as well as really suspicious lines about drug use.
It made me uncomfortable enough that I DNF'd the book. I just grew so tense with how the story used homeless people as faceless victims of these murders, but used the writing style and narrative to push the readers away from empathizing with the people affected by the murder, and instead read about the vampires and werebeasts and ghouls and witches and viscera and their conflict.
I don't think my priorities matched with the priorities that Vampires of Portlandia had, and it's honestly a huge relief to be able to put this down.
I think readers who are more persistent or less sensitive than I can find something to like in this. The beginning where an anti-homeless sentiment wasn't so strong was interesting. I liked the folklore and the aswang. I liked the idea of a murder mystery. But I hated the framing, and that's ultimately what made me set this aside.
I've thought quite a lot about this, and I didn't make the decision to DNF lightly. I just can't bring myself to read more of this because I am quite frankly, very tired. There was so much potential, I can't help but feel left down.