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A review by gloom_lord
Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
"But the apple was first, and it never stops rotting, it just gets blacker."
I'm skeptical of those who read this novel and only found "vibes" and piss contained therein. Yeah, it has those things in spades, but I want to give Paradise Rot more credit than that. I think it's fascinating how Hval's writing is able to wrest sensuality out of the abject, and with it construct its own contemporary fairytale. This book might as well be a rotting apple, a glistening mushroom, a colony of mold. That's what it felt like to me. Sentences became spores. At times, they entered my body without cognition, eliciting soft reveries with the fleshy interior backdrop of an eyelid.
It's not a "perfect" book, but I devoured it in two short sittings and I have not stopped thinking about it.
I'm skeptical of those who read this novel and only found "vibes" and piss contained therein. Yeah, it has those things in spades, but I want to give Paradise Rot more credit than that. I think it's fascinating how Hval's writing is able to wrest sensuality out of the abject, and with it construct its own contemporary fairytale. This book might as well be a rotting apple, a glistening mushroom, a colony of mold. That's what it felt like to me. Sentences became spores. At times, they entered my body without cognition, eliciting soft reveries with the fleshy interior backdrop of an eyelid.
It's not a "perfect" book, but I devoured it in two short sittings and I have not stopped thinking about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Sexual content