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A review by wittchyn
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
3.0
I have always been really interested in the mermaid-type mythos where flesh eating plays a big part. I think this could have been really good as a side-story to a larger novel about the mermaid herself.
My main problem with this, and the reason why I didn't give it a higher rating, was because of the vocabulary. I understand the anatomical terms, but there are a lot of other unnecessarily high level words (some used not quite correctly) that make this incredibly dense and—honestly—unpleasant to read.
I don't think Khaw should dumb down their language, so to speak, but imo it would help a lot to make their stories more approachable and memorable in a good way if it didn't feel like they were trying to impress someone with how long they spent in a thesaurus.
Otherwise, I very much enjoy how Khaw doesn't shy away from writing the gruesome. I really wish the word usage didn't put me off from reading the rest of their works.
My main problem with this, and the reason why I didn't give it a higher rating, was because of the vocabulary. I understand the anatomical terms, but there are a lot of other unnecessarily high level words (some used not quite correctly) that make this incredibly dense and—honestly—unpleasant to read.
I don't think Khaw should dumb down their language, so to speak, but imo it would help a lot to make their stories more approachable and memorable in a good way if it didn't feel like they were trying to impress someone with how long they spent in a thesaurus.
Otherwise, I very much enjoy how Khaw doesn't shy away from writing the gruesome. I really wish the word usage didn't put me off from reading the rest of their works.