A review by ktrain3900
Toad by Katherine Dunn

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The writing is exquisite. That is the pre-eminent thing to mention. The details, the imagery is grotesque, but often in the best way. The characters? Well, if you like yelling at pretty much all of the characters as you read, you will love this book. And I don't mind some reproach in my reading, but I guess despite my love of a good flawed character, the apple can't be rotten the whole way through. Maybe in our current moment I need fiction that feels a tiny bit escapist? Maybe it's the hippie aesthetic that doesn't work for me? (I recently read Drop City and felt much the same about those characters.) This is a good book, very good even, but woof if I'm not glad to leave every single persona I encountered here.
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