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A review by kkenna7
Make Sure You Die Screaming by Zee Carlstrom
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
*Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC! All opinions are my own.*
I was very excited to dig into this one and I’m less than thrilled with what I received for a few reasons, which I’ll get into shortly.
First, the positives:
The narrator was wonderful! This was the well-narrated, fully executed audiobook that I’m always looking for.
The last-third or maybe half-ish? of the book or so was really very good and I wish the remainder of the book had the heart that it had. There’s a tonal shift there that feels like the author really got to the meat of the story they wanted to tell and just went all-in. It left me wanting more of it and that energy could have been better distributed on the front half. (This one is kind of a half-positive, I guess, my bad. :/)
The negatives, unfortunately, starting with the most egregious:
The blurb for this book lists Chain Gang All-Stars as a readalike. That’s not something you just SAY. You can’t just throw that around. Folks, I’m here to tell you that no, this book is not a Chain Gang readalike. Not in themes, nor tone, nor vibe. So just know this going in.
SMH, throwing around accolades like that.
Anyway, some other things I wasn’t too keen on. Especially in the first half (it does chill out some eventually), the language in this feels so trendy and almost tryhard? Who am I to say if that was intentional or not, idk. It doesn’t read that way to me. It feels quite forced and like “oh I know this slang term, here’s another!” It made it very hard to get into the book when every other sentence was another buzzword-filled cringefest. Very disappointing imo.
I’m sure this book will speak to a lot of people and for good reason - there are themes of found family and reckoning with generational trauma that are extremely important. I just wish it was a more fully cohesive story and that it spoke to me like we’re all adults here.
I was very excited to dig into this one and I’m less than thrilled with what I received for a few reasons, which I’ll get into shortly.
First, the positives:
The narrator was wonderful! This was the well-narrated, fully executed audiobook that I’m always looking for.
The last-third or maybe half-ish? of the book or so was really very good and I wish the remainder of the book had the heart that it had. There’s a tonal shift there that feels like the author really got to the meat of the story they wanted to tell and just went all-in. It left me wanting more of it and that energy could have been better distributed on the front half. (This one is kind of a half-positive, I guess, my bad. :/)
The negatives, unfortunately, starting with the most egregious:
The blurb for this book lists Chain Gang All-Stars as a readalike. That’s not something you just SAY. You can’t just throw that around. Folks, I’m here to tell you that no, this book is not a Chain Gang readalike. Not in themes, nor tone, nor vibe. So just know this going in.
SMH, throwing around accolades like that.
Anyway, some other things I wasn’t too keen on. Especially in the first half (it does chill out some eventually), the language in this feels so trendy and almost tryhard? Who am I to say if that was intentional or not, idk. It doesn’t read that way to me. It feels quite forced and like “oh I know this slang term, here’s another!” It made it very hard to get into the book when every other sentence was another buzzword-filled cringefest. Very disappointing imo.
I’m sure this book will speak to a lot of people and for good reason - there are themes of found family and reckoning with generational trauma that are extremely important. I just wish it was a more fully cohesive story and that it spoke to me like we’re all adults here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Dysphoria