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A review by em_brebs
A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry
3.0
3.5 (very much close to a 4/5, however.)
So I actually quite liked this, though I do understand many readers were less than pleased. The writing was, as many have noted, pretty gorgeous and I thought that, though the protagonist himself was not particularly interesting, the plot and some of the secondary characters were truly fascinating. I was just… consistently intrigued and interested and the images and motifs strewn throughout worked really, really well for me. Furthermore, the magical realism worked quite well for me and… I don't know. I liked it, not loved it, but I liked it and I think there's a lot to explore in it that I didn't even really get to in this first reading. It's the kind of book I want to read again, and that says something beyond the star rating.
(I consider this to not really touch on any possible spoilers considering what other reviews say, but it does say more than the blurb on the book, which isn't really a blurb at all but a tease, so keep in mind that the author might not want you to know the following.) This book is about Lucas who spends every summer in Puerto Rico with his developer dad. Throughout his time there, he has heard stories about the house at the end of a specific street. Some of the stories talk about a green haired girl, and some about poison which means birds won't even fly over the house.
SPOILERSSSSSSS DISCUSSION!!!!!!!
I really loved that this book was set in a location I've never never really read about before. That being said, I didn't necessarily feel like the location was explored as much as it could have been– if you're going to set your book in Puerto Rico, then set your book in Puerto Rico . Really, really commit. Here, we definitely got Puerto Rico, but I felt like I wanted more of it.
I could've done without Lucas's three friends (really, for the sake of the story, he only needed Ruben and maybe another one with a scooter.) Too many of those friends made their characters unwieldy and relationships hard to keep track of, especially in a book with an otherwise fairly limited scope of characters (which works really well, in my opinion.) Also, just like the partying and the drinking and the fighting… maybe good for the set-up, but by far my least favorite parts.
In fact, I didn't really like the whole first section of the book until the part where Isabel was introduced. I mean, I like get that there had to be some set-up but it kind of dragged or at the least was uninteresting to me. I did enjoy the stories told by the señoras though, especially the one about the nun who died in his room.
I've read some reviews which call into question how the scientist gets away with having a hidden daughter and, like, experimenting on girls. Which, fair (more the hidden daughter part) especially given that the disappearance of white girls was something to keep track of, but I also kind of buy it. Here's this kind of quirky old scientist whose wife left him; who's to say she didn't take the daughter, who's to say that there even was a daughter. No one was interested in finding out who he really was, Lucas had never even thought of climbing the wall before Mari suggested it, so, yeah, I guess I can see how he, a total outsider, could get away with a hidden daughter. I don't think it would necessarily happen in reality, but for this magical realism book I buy it.
I really liked that Ms. Mabry included that the only reason that the desaparecidas were really being looked for was because, for once, one of them was white and out of town. That's why, that's the only reason. Otherwise, no one would have really cared. That's a really wonderful detail.
I actually liked that there was this kind of mystery element to it. I mean, we clearly find out that Isabel's dad is the one doing all this and stuff, but the build-up to that and the connections and then you find out that Lucas has been set up and all this groundwork that Isabel's father did… All of those connections being made was a kind of fun element of a not otherwise fun book for me.
Because clearly, the rest of the book was pretty damn depressing. I mean, we have this girl who is dying and killing everyone around her while she's at it… and just totally hating herself for it. And her father who is willing to justify absolutely everything in order to save his daughter's life (the idea of him looking at things in a black-and-white "scientific" way is really interesting given Isabel's condition. He's trying to diagnose her, and when he justifies why it's okay to kill all of these girls, he says that she's basically one of a kind and so special she must be kept alive. Special to him, sure, but more special to humanity as a whole to study and get a handle on.) I thought those dynamics were so fascinating and intriguing.
Okay, I wish we'd been given some closure on why Celia was immune? Like, is she the next one? But she can't be, because Lucas is the one who gets all the wishes now, so what's the point of her immunity. I wanted more from that, not just saving her from the poison because… why not? There needed to be some clear and defined reasoning behind there.
But also, like, this idea of a literal toxic person. A person who you can't even be around without getting sick, sicker even if you kiss them… Isn't that just a wonderful concept? That is one of those elements that I'd love to discuss with others because I think its just so cool . And though maybe this book could've gone further with it, I still thought that Ms. Mabry addressed it responsibly and created a great, if not flawless, story from that premise.
I just feel like there's a lot to unpack within this story, and I like stories like that which feel like they're teeming below the surface. It intrigues me, and the atmosphere of this book (hot and sticky and deadly) really contributed to that I think. As well as use of imagery and language and plot and just everything. If I had to pick a favorite element it'd be that one (and I'm sorry it's not at all tangible or easily expressible to others, I hope the rest of my thoughts will be more applicable to other readers, but I felt I needed to include this one.)
I will definitely be checking out more of Ms. Mabry's work.
FFFFFFFFIIIIIINNNNNN!!!!!!!!
Atmospheric, mysterious, and wonderful (though with some issues): 87%
So I actually quite liked this, though I do understand many readers were less than pleased. The writing was, as many have noted, pretty gorgeous and I thought that, though the protagonist himself was not particularly interesting, the plot and some of the secondary characters were truly fascinating. I was just… consistently intrigued and interested and the images and motifs strewn throughout worked really, really well for me. Furthermore, the magical realism worked quite well for me and… I don't know. I liked it, not loved it, but I liked it and I think there's a lot to explore in it that I didn't even really get to in this first reading. It's the kind of book I want to read again, and that says something beyond the star rating.
(I consider this to not really touch on any possible spoilers considering what other reviews say, but it does say more than the blurb on the book, which isn't really a blurb at all but a tease, so keep in mind that the author might not want you to know the following.) This book is about Lucas who spends every summer in Puerto Rico with his developer dad. Throughout his time there, he has heard stories about the house at the end of a specific street. Some of the stories talk about a green haired girl, and some about poison which means birds won't even fly over the house.
SPOILERSSSSSSS DISCUSSION!!!!!!!
I really loved that this book was set in a location I've never never really read about before. That being said, I didn't necessarily feel like the location was explored as much as it could have been– if you're going to set your book in Puerto Rico, then set your book in Puerto Rico . Really, really commit. Here, we definitely got Puerto Rico, but I felt like I wanted more of it.
I could've done without Lucas's three friends (really, for the sake of the story, he only needed Ruben and maybe another one with a scooter.) Too many of those friends made their characters unwieldy and relationships hard to keep track of, especially in a book with an otherwise fairly limited scope of characters (which works really well, in my opinion.) Also, just like the partying and the drinking and the fighting… maybe good for the set-up, but by far my least favorite parts.
In fact, I didn't really like the whole first section of the book until the part where Isabel was introduced. I mean, I like get that there had to be some set-up but it kind of dragged or at the least was uninteresting to me. I did enjoy the stories told by the señoras though, especially the one about the nun who died in his room.
I've read some reviews which call into question how the scientist gets away with having a hidden daughter and, like, experimenting on girls. Which, fair (more the hidden daughter part) especially given that the disappearance of white girls was something to keep track of, but I also kind of buy it. Here's this kind of quirky old scientist whose wife left him; who's to say she didn't take the daughter, who's to say that there even was a daughter. No one was interested in finding out who he really was, Lucas had never even thought of climbing the wall before Mari suggested it, so, yeah, I guess I can see how he, a total outsider, could get away with a hidden daughter. I don't think it would necessarily happen in reality, but for this magical realism book I buy it.
I really liked that Ms. Mabry included that the only reason that the desaparecidas were really being looked for was because, for once, one of them was white and out of town. That's why, that's the only reason. Otherwise, no one would have really cared. That's a really wonderful detail.
I actually liked that there was this kind of mystery element to it. I mean, we clearly find out that Isabel's dad is the one doing all this and stuff, but the build-up to that and the connections and then you find out that Lucas has been set up and all this groundwork that Isabel's father did… All of those connections being made was a kind of fun element of a not otherwise fun book for me.
Because clearly, the rest of the book was pretty damn depressing. I mean, we have this girl who is dying and killing everyone around her while she's at it… and just totally hating herself for it. And her father who is willing to justify absolutely everything in order to save his daughter's life (the idea of him looking at things in a black-and-white "scientific" way is really interesting given Isabel's condition. He's trying to diagnose her, and when he justifies why it's okay to kill all of these girls, he says that she's basically one of a kind and so special she must be kept alive. Special to him, sure, but more special to humanity as a whole to study and get a handle on.) I thought those dynamics were so fascinating and intriguing.
Okay, I wish we'd been given some closure on why Celia was immune? Like, is she the next one? But she can't be, because Lucas is the one who gets all the wishes now, so what's the point of her immunity. I wanted more from that, not just saving her from the poison because… why not? There needed to be some clear and defined reasoning behind there.
But also, like, this idea of a literal toxic person. A person who you can't even be around without getting sick, sicker even if you kiss them… Isn't that just a wonderful concept? That is one of those elements that I'd love to discuss with others because I think its just so cool . And though maybe this book could've gone further with it, I still thought that Ms. Mabry addressed it responsibly and created a great, if not flawless, story from that premise.
I just feel like there's a lot to unpack within this story, and I like stories like that which feel like they're teeming below the surface. It intrigues me, and the atmosphere of this book (hot and sticky and deadly) really contributed to that I think. As well as use of imagery and language and plot and just everything. If I had to pick a favorite element it'd be that one (and I'm sorry it's not at all tangible or easily expressible to others, I hope the rest of my thoughts will be more applicable to other readers, but I felt I needed to include this one.)
I will definitely be checking out more of Ms. Mabry's work.
FFFFFFFFIIIIIINNNNNN!!!!!!!!
Atmospheric, mysterious, and wonderful (though with some issues): 87%