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A review by faroukk
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Really loved this book from Cassandra Khaw. Has what I would describe as "Bloodborne Vibes" and successfully executes on it. That horrific, tense, and cold atmosphere featuring characters with a dark and monstrous underbelly to their psychology was very satisfying to read in this short 100 page novel.
The main criticism I've seen of this book, and it is important to note, is that Khaw's prose is overly wordy to the point that it actually gets in the way of the story/understanding what's going on. To give you an idea of how "overly complicated" the vocabulary is: I had to google words I'd never seen before/didn't know the definitions to offhand at least 1-3 times per page as I was reading it (and I would say I have a pretty extensive vocabulary). I was willing to do the work of researching definitions while reading due to the shortness of the book, but I most likely would not have had the stamina to do so if the book were longer.
With that being said, I don't agree with the argument that the "thesaurus fluff" didn't add anything to the story. Khaw clearly has intention behind every single word that they write. The extremely flowery and vibrant prose is often used to beautifully describe some of the most horrific gore you could read. I find this intense contrast, to portray such monstrous and grotesque things so beautifully, to be incredibly evocative and found that it added to the unique atmosphere the book is trying to evoke. Additionally, once you actually google the words, it becomes clear that Khaw did not just randomly decide to use big words. The author has a clear understanding of what these words mean, and constructs sentences expertly to convey incredibly powerful imagery.
I'm also admittedly biased because I also actually really like books that use big words, and I love the opportunity to expand my vocabulary. I believe that reading is just as much about expanding your language/cognition as it is about understanding the thesis/story of the writing. With that belief in mind, I was willing to go on admittedly a very arduous journey of constantly pulling out my phone as I was reading to understand what the hell was going on.
Ultimately, if you're willing to stomach the gore and the purple prose, you will love this book. The tone and atmosphere is incredible, the monstrous psychology of desire within the characters is fascinating, and you'll come out of it having learned a bunch of new words! Like I said I'm biased so if the wordiness is not your thing then take my opinion with a grain of salt, but this was right up my alley and I came out of it inspired to write more myself.
The main criticism I've seen of this book, and it is important to note, is that Khaw's prose is overly wordy to the point that it actually gets in the way of the story/understanding what's going on. To give you an idea of how "overly complicated" the vocabulary is: I had to google words I'd never seen before/didn't know the definitions to offhand at least 1-3 times per page as I was reading it (and I would say I have a pretty extensive vocabulary). I was willing to do the work of researching definitions while reading due to the shortness of the book, but I most likely would not have had the stamina to do so if the book were longer.
With that being said, I don't agree with the argument that the "thesaurus fluff" didn't add anything to the story. Khaw clearly has intention behind every single word that they write. The extremely flowery and vibrant prose is often used to beautifully describe some of the most horrific gore you could read. I find this intense contrast, to portray such monstrous and grotesque things so beautifully, to be incredibly evocative and found that it added to the unique atmosphere the book is trying to evoke. Additionally, once you actually google the words, it becomes clear that Khaw did not just randomly decide to use big words. The author has a clear understanding of what these words mean, and constructs sentences expertly to convey incredibly powerful imagery.
I'm also admittedly biased because I also actually really like books that use big words, and I love the opportunity to expand my vocabulary. I believe that reading is just as much about expanding your language/cognition as it is about understanding the thesis/story of the writing. With that belief in mind, I was willing to go on admittedly a very arduous journey of constantly pulling out my phone as I was reading to understand what the hell was going on.
Ultimately, if you're willing to stomach the gore and the purple prose, you will love this book. The tone and atmosphere is incredible, the monstrous psychology of desire within the characters is fascinating, and you'll come out of it having learned a bunch of new words! Like I said I'm biased so if the wordiness is not your thing then take my opinion with a grain of salt, but this was right up my alley and I came out of it inspired to write more myself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail