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A review by lanternheart
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
While there were elements of this book which felt simplistic to me as a reader in my twenties, it nevertheless impacted me like a punch to the gut — which, I'd hazard, is exactly as seems intended. The brutality and gore of White's descriptions of violence (especially Isabella's attempt at a self-administered abortion with a knife ) took me by surprise, and as a person with a rough stomach for descriptions of pregnancy, I did have to steady myself a bit in those pages. The way he writes around and yet leaves a perfectly telling space for Silas' assault by Headmaster was also difficult to read, yet I'm still glad I did.
If I'd read this book as a teenager, I think I'd have seen myself in SIlas — and to an extent, as an adult, I still do. The interplay between his neurodivergence and gender in his mind, unable to extricate one from the other, the desire for masculinity while knowing that society's version of it is deeply unappealing and horrific, as horrific as being forced into a gender that doesn't fit, those descriptions and experiences especially hit home. The way in which White writes about Silas' autistic traits was empathetic, recognizable, and if there was anything I wish we'd got, it was a resolution on the character of the groundskeeper, whose name we never learn — Silas doesn't have the time, and admits as much in the rush of the book's final chapters, but it still felt a pity not to put a name to the only other definitively (implicitly) autistic character in the book.
It takes a great deal of work, violence, and blood for Silas to bare his teeth against his conditioning, everything that has ever called him sick and monstrous, and while it was a harrowing journey (and at times a rocky one), I'm glad I finally set aside the time to read this. If I'd read this as a teen, I think it would have been a macabre lifeline.
If I'd read this book as a teenager, I think I'd have seen myself in SIlas — and to an extent, as an adult, I still do. The interplay between his neurodivergence and gender in his mind, unable to extricate one from the other, the desire for masculinity while knowing that society's version of it is deeply unappealing and horrific, as horrific as being forced into a gender that doesn't fit, those descriptions and experiences especially hit home. The way in which White writes about Silas' autistic traits was empathetic, recognizable, and if there was anything I wish we'd got, it was a resolution on the character of the groundskeeper, whose name we never learn — Silas doesn't have the time, and admits as much in the rush of the book's final chapters, but it still felt a pity not to put a name to the only other definitively (implicitly) autistic character in the book.
It takes a great deal of work, violence, and blood for Silas to bare his teeth against his conditioning, everything that has ever called him sick and monstrous, and while it was a harrowing journey (and at times a rocky one), I'm glad I finally set aside the time to read this. If I'd read this as a teen, I think it would have been a macabre lifeline.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Gore, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Vomit