A review by debussy
What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

2.5

Look, the beginning of this book is confusing. You don't know what's going on, or why, but the weird monster family vibes and visuals are pretty on point so I continued. The story snaps into focus when Grandmere shows up, but it eventually starts to run out of steam when the mystery gets convoluted and Arthur's backstory is revealed and I completely stopped caring about everyone. Most of the reveals are done in heavy monologue, which took me out of the story. The characters were interesting but not to the point that I wanted to watch them bicker and threaten to murder each other. I also was not sure of the theme--stick with your family, even though they continually fear and abuse you? For what? I also took issue with the weird amount of unchallenged homophobia. It felt like the author was attempting to critique it, but did not at all succeed. 

The vibes and visuals were great, and the concept was on point, but the confused plot and character choices were just ruinous and made it an unsatisfying experience. 
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