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A review by flags
Fluids by May Leitz
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I've not really read so-called extreme horror before, i've read horror novels with extreme content but not where that content has been so much the focus. So I was curious what reading this type of violence and graphic and shocking content would be like for me versus watching it.
The answer is personally I just kind of go ew and tilt my head one way to look at the themes and tilt my head the other to look at the writing style. In this particular case I think the higher impact violence (especially the sexual violence) left me a bit underwhelmed in reaction because it was so prevalent in the second half of the book. The intended awfulness was achieved but any one of the acts described could have been exchanged for any other brutality you can imagine and have the same effect.
I think there's a visceral discomfort that comes through for certain elements being used. I think there is a catharsis to reading about someone going through undeniably the worst things that can happen to a person and surviving. I think there's a pretty good perspective shift between the two protagonists and their individual warped understanding of what they are experiencing.
For me I really did enjoy the first third of the book, the set up of these lonely women and the way they think and their shared fixation on the most gruesome shock content you are likely to experience online.
The pacing just goes and goes as these two characters self destruct together, I think that the manic-putrid-nightmare-girl of it all is pretty funny in a morbid way.
It was an interesting read, I alternated between stopping to go GIRL NO! and stopping to go EW YUCKY! and that's more or less a reasonable reaction to have to what was going on here in this book.
It was for sure a splatterpunk examination of self loathing and toxic co-dependence and identity crisis in a post-covid era. An extremely quick read for anyone inclined to the tolerance level required for it's graphic content. And the trigger warnings are literally on the cover for you if you think it might be too much then take heed of those.
The answer is personally I just kind of go ew and tilt my head one way to look at the themes and tilt my head the other to look at the writing style. In this particular case I think the higher impact violence (especially the sexual violence) left me a bit underwhelmed in reaction because it was so prevalent in the second half of the book. The intended awfulness was achieved but any one of the acts described could have been exchanged for any other brutality you can imagine and have the same effect.
I think there's a visceral discomfort that comes through for certain elements being used. I think there is a catharsis to reading about someone going through undeniably the worst things that can happen to a person and surviving. I think there's a pretty good perspective shift between the two protagonists and their individual warped understanding of what they are experiencing.
For me I really did enjoy the first third of the book, the set up of these lonely women and the way they think and their shared fixation on the most gruesome shock content you are likely to experience online.
The pacing just goes and goes as these two characters self destruct together, I think that the manic-putrid-nightmare-girl of it all is pretty funny in a morbid way.
It was an interesting read, I alternated between stopping to go GIRL NO! and stopping to go EW YUCKY! and that's more or less a reasonable reaction to have to what was going on here in this book.
It was for sure a splatterpunk examination of self loathing and toxic co-dependence and identity crisis in a post-covid era. An extremely quick read for anyone inclined to the tolerance level required for it's graphic content. And the trigger warnings are literally on the cover for you if you think it might be too much then take heed of those.