A review by coralinejones
Lockjaw by Matteo L. Cerilli

2.5

  ✩₊˚.⋆🕸️⋆⁺₊✧

a YA book exploring the small town blues...

points of reference:
⋆  horror
⋆  small town gothic
⋆  found family
⋆  lgbt and kids of color

─── ⋆⋅ 𓆣 ⋅⋆ ───

this book is cute. obviously i'm not the target audience for this type of literature but it does have many literary elements i tend to gravitate towards, so i figured why not give it a chance? i'm glad i did, but i also wish i spent my time reading something else entirely.

this isn't bad per say, just exceptionally slow. i didn't feel anything for any of the characters (and there's many to keep track of) and didn't necessarily care for the timeline jumps, the plot itself, and the frequent change of perspective that kept tugging me throughout the story. the chapters are scant so it's not much of a drag to get through, butt personally i'm getting tired of multiple perspective stories. this has nothing to do with the author in particular, it's just not my style at this current point.

i thought there were good discussions being made. like how certain characters felt about being homeless or how they felt about their gender identity, which is nice for kids who may pick this book up and struggle with similar aspects of their life. this novel is quite atmospheric and could make for good tv or film if picked up by the right hands.

some parts were "spooky" but nothing too chilling. i didn't expect this to be all that scary but i thought the author would amp up the horror parts a bit more.

i did love the small town feel and how sometimes it's more about community and figuring things out amongst the people you trust rather than waiting for anyone of authority to give a fuck. nice messaging imo.