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chloseencounter's reviews
85 reviews
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was not only the best book I read this month but one of my new favorite novels of all time. I actually read it twice. The Weight of Blood is a stunning retelling of Stephen King’s Carrie told through the lense of a young black girl in a very racist town. I read this novel and immediately felt this was everything Carrie should’ve been in the first place. The added racial tension gave so much more depth and motivation to each character while keeping the core character archetypes. This book was stunning, emotional, and important. I would recommend The Weight of Blood to literally everyone, though it’s not very graphic I will say it’s painful. I could see why it would be a difficult read for those effected by racism. I actually cried until I thought I was gonna vom near the end but then I still picked this book up and read it a second time this month as well as ordered my own copy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book reminded me why I need to stop taking recs from booktok. Every other book video I see told me that this is the most disturbing book so and so has ever read, so morbid curiosity got the best of me. The description was very interesting to me so I was really hoping for this novel to be everything I was looking for and more but unfortunately it just…wasn’t. Partly it was my own fault because I went in knowing very little about this book, I was expecting the “extreme horror” aspect to be a lot more visceral violence and not just generally upsetting. So you can imagine that I was a little caught off guard by some of the content.
What I did enjoy about this book was the second half, I really liked the more folk horror aspects of this story. That bit was more gripping to me than just learning about how much the MC sucks. The latter half of this novel is the only reason I’d rate it a 2.0 at all.
I was also quite put off by the way the two sisters where written. It felt very much like the sexually promiscuous sister is horrible and evil and the “innocent” and infantilized sister is pure and a perfect angel. It was a very unrealistic portrayal of women in general and kind of a weird vibe even if the author didn’t mean it that way.
What I did enjoy about this book was the second half, I really liked the more folk horror aspects of this story. That bit was more gripping to me than just learning about how much the MC sucks. The latter half of this novel is the only reason I’d rate it a 2.0 at all.
I was also quite put off by the way the two sisters where written. It felt very much like the sexually promiscuous sister is horrible and evil and the “innocent” and infantilized sister is pure and a perfect angel. It was a very unrealistic portrayal of women in general and kind of a weird vibe even if the author didn’t mean it that way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Blood
Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
First book I’ve ever DNF. I’m on an extreme horror kick currently so I wanted to give this a try but almost halfway through this book I still felt as if it was written by an edgy teenage boy.
It seems like reviews are either “this is the worst book I ever read, I love it.” or “this is the worst book I ever read, I hate it”, but all the good reviews have no commentary about the actual substance of the book, they’re all just “well that was gross.” I understand feeling as if a book must be good because it gave you a visceral reaction but l personally need a little bit of substance with my violence.
It seems like reviews are either “this is the worst book I ever read, I love it.” or “this is the worst book I ever read, I hate it”, but all the good reviews have no commentary about the actual substance of the book, they’re all just “well that was gross.” I understand feeling as if a book must be good because it gave you a visceral reaction but l personally need a little bit of substance with my violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Any Man by Amber Tamblyn
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Any Man was a stunning and unique experience. I’d 100% recommend the audio book because it’s extremely immersive.
I really enjoyed hearing all the different POVs of the antagonist’s victims, this was a very raw look into all the various outcomes that can come from surviving sexual assault, weather it’s dealing by humor, family, control, emptiness, self destructive behavior, or even suicide. While the characters were interesting and their storylines were heartbreaking, the most special thing to me about this novel is the look at what women so often deal with when faced with sexual violence but through the eyes of a man. Unfortunately female victims of sexual assault are all too common, we hear about it so much in fact, our society has become desensitized to the sexual abuse women face and how it’s handled by the public. Flipping the narrative and using men as the victims not only opens up an important conversation about men who have experienced sexual violence and how they are treated but also made the subject feel much more shocking. Then I suppose we can ask ourselves…why is that? Why is being sexually assaulted as a women so commonplace that it doesn’t feel nearly as gut wrenching to read?
The most eye opening part in my opinion was the very last bit, when our serial rapist responds to the journalist, in which she replies with a lot of grotesque language about how a women might think about men as essentially prey or even nonhuman. Then she sends the same exact paragraph replacing the pronouns with she/her, it was sort of appalling to see how different those paragraphs felt right next to one another. Why one was shocking and the other…felt sort of normal. As a women it was easy for me to read the paragraph and think “yea that’s just how men often think of us”, and yet the same exact paragraph but with men as the group being preyed upon felt much more abhorrent.
At the end of the day, I think that ultimately there wasn’t one predator but multiple women predators. The story seemed to lump these people into one frightening amalgamation of a women because how could society believe that there may be multiple women out there preying upon men, it must be a repeat offender. However, when a women is attacked it could literally be “any man”, which is a very smart way to make a statement about how both male and female victims of sexual violence are seen unfairly by the general public.
I really enjoyed hearing all the different POVs of the antagonist’s victims, this was a very raw look into all the various outcomes that can come from surviving sexual assault, weather it’s dealing by humor, family, control, emptiness, self destructive behavior, or even suicide. While the characters were interesting and their storylines were heartbreaking, the most special thing to me about this novel is the look at what women so often deal with when faced with sexual violence but through the eyes of a man. Unfortunately female victims of sexual assault are all too common, we hear about it so much in fact, our society has become desensitized to the sexual abuse women face and how it’s handled by the public. Flipping the narrative and using men as the victims not only opens up an important conversation about men who have experienced sexual violence and how they are treated but also made the subject feel much more shocking. Then I suppose we can ask ourselves…why is that? Why is being sexually assaulted as a women so commonplace that it doesn’t feel nearly as gut wrenching to read?
At the end of the day, I think that ultimately there wasn’t one predator but multiple women predators. The story seemed to lump these people into one frightening amalgamation of a women because how could society believe that there may be multiple women out there preying upon men, it must be a repeat offender. However, when a women is attacked it could literally be “any man”, which is a very smart way to make a statement about how both male and female victims of sexual violence are seen unfairly by the general public.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book began in a way that I thought I knew exactly where it was going to go but flipped so I could’ve never predicted what would happen. When you intake so much horror it can all start to feel similar and I’m impressed with what this story accomplished. I was drawn in by the POV of a cat but enjoyed this read more than I could’ve ever anticipated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
The Laws of the Skies by Grégoire Courtois
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
3.0
I don’t know what I was expecting, I went into this read pretty blind to what it was about. I’m not sure what I thought it was going to be, but definitely not what it was…
This novel was beautifully written and brutal, the descriptions of graphic violence where some of the most agonizing and genuine I’ve ever read but that’s sort of all this story had to offer. I kept waiting for there to be some sort of lesson or point to the brutality but there just wasn’t. I just keep coming back to the why of it all. You may expect a story to have a plot, or a lesson, or even be a character study but to me, it just wasn’t any of those things. I suppose it was meaning to stand for loss of innocence but I didn’t even get enough time and introspection with each character to see that. I suppose if anything the ending was…ironic, I guess. The hunter becomes the hunted.
I don’t think of myself as someone who is bothered by violence but also I don’t really find joy in reading about the terrible and upsetting deaths of six year olds, one after another…and for what? Was it some weird metaphor for Darwinism? I honestly have no idea and at the end of the day that left me with a lot to be desired.
This novel was beautifully written and brutal, the descriptions of graphic violence where some of the most agonizing and genuine I’ve ever read but that’s sort of all this story had to offer. I kept waiting for there to be some sort of lesson or point to the brutality but there just wasn’t. I just keep coming back to the why of it all. You may expect a story to have a plot, or a lesson, or even be a character study but to me, it just wasn’t any of those things. I suppose it was meaning to stand for loss of innocence but I didn’t even get enough time and introspection with each character to see that. I suppose if anything the ending was…ironic, I guess.
I don’t think of myself as someone who is bothered by violence but also I don’t really find joy in reading about the terrible and upsetting deaths of six year olds, one after another…and for what? Was it some weird metaphor for Darwinism? I honestly have no idea and at the end of the day that left me with a lot to be desired.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
I'm a Therapist, and My Patient is Going to be the Next School Shooter by Dr. Harper
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I went into this book completely blind to what it was and based on title I was thinking it was going to be rather dark, and while some of the subject matter was bleak this was honestly a super fun little read. If you’re looking for horror maybe this isn’t exactly it but I found myself taken by this vigilante therapist and his escapades.
It was silly, it was camp, it was ridiculous, I could definitely see why this is not the story for everyone but if you’re strictly a horror reader (like myself) and you want a little break in between books that make you feel bad/sad, this was surprisingly light hearted while still being gripping at points.
I will definitely pick up the other two the next time I’m looking for a quick, ridiculous read.
It was silly, it was camp, it was ridiculous, I could definitely see why this is not the story for everyone but if you’re strictly a horror reader (like myself) and you want a little break in between books that make you feel bad/sad, this was surprisingly light hearted while still being gripping at points.
I will definitely pick up the other two the next time I’m looking for a quick, ridiculous read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’m so glad to have ended my year with this book! I’m not sure what I expected going in but my expectations where more than met. This Thing Between Us filled me with grief and dread in a way very little media has been able to, though I fully understand why it is a divisive read, leaving more to the imagination than most books would. Personally, this gave the novel more staying power with me, I was left thinking about the end long after I finished.
This Thing Between Us is a sorrowful story, a snapshot of grief more honest than I’ve ever read. I know Pet Semetery is what people always point to as the book which captures pain and loss in the most sincere way but honestly, I think Gus Moreno portrayed this specific agony so clearly it was palpable. That was truly the draw for me.
Well written and upsetting, the reader is left feeling the frustration of losing something you can never get back. We’re left feeling the way in which people try and understand, to sympathize, but they can never grasp a human experience they haven’t had. Thiago is stuck with the overwhelming idea that this feeling might be something only he alone has felt, even though he knows that isn’t possible. This loneliness, this emotion that is almost exclusionary, the idea that you’re in a club no one else can join is a terribly difficult thing to grasp but This Thing Between Us allowed me to sit with all those feelings.
I know there’s a lot of back and fourth on what the end meant. I gathered two different things. First is that this book is about two true statements coexisting. That Thiago could be Mexican while simultaneously being not Mexican enough. That Esteban could be guilty while also being innocent. That the cook and Thiago could be one in the same person. That Thiago could be a starving fish in the well while standing outside of the well looking in.
In its simplest form though, I think this book is just about being devoured by grief. For Thiago this looked like becoming totally swallowed by fear and anger. Thiago talks about how perhaps the afterlife is just whatever you think it is, in the same sense I believe that he was convinced his family was cursed, that he was cursed and would pay for generations of sin. It clearly effected his life before Vera’s death, being antisocial and too afraid to follow his dreams and passions, so when the worst possible thing happened it was easy for Thiago to feel like he was the problem. In the end he allowed that guilt and grief to eat him alive.
This Thing Between Us is a sorrowful story, a snapshot of grief more honest than I’ve ever read. I know Pet Semetery is what people always point to as the book which captures pain and loss in the most sincere way but honestly, I think Gus Moreno portrayed this specific agony so clearly it was palpable. That was truly the draw for me.
Well written and upsetting, the reader is left feeling the frustration of losing something you can never get back. We’re left feeling the way in which people try and understand, to sympathize, but they can never grasp a human experience they haven’t had. Thiago is stuck with the overwhelming idea that this feeling might be something only he alone has felt, even though he knows that isn’t possible. This loneliness, this emotion that is almost exclusionary, the idea that you’re in a club no one else can join is a terribly difficult thing to grasp but This Thing Between Us allowed me to sit with all those feelings.
In its simplest form though, I think this book is just about being devoured by grief. For Thiago this looked like becoming totally swallowed by fear and anger. Thiago talks about how perhaps the afterlife is just whatever you think it is, in the same sense I believe that he was convinced his family was cursed, that he was cursed and would pay for generations of sin. It clearly effected his life before Vera’s death, being antisocial and too afraid to follow his dreams and passions, so when the worst possible thing happened it was easy for Thiago to feel like he was the problem. In the end he allowed that guilt and grief to eat him alive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent
Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Theme Music has been on my TBR for months and I was so happy to finally get to it. Though this novel didn’t end up being exactly what I expected, I wasn’t disappointed.
The unreliable narrator trope is one of my favorites and I think this book does that trope so well. Dixie is the ultimate unreliable narrator especially considering she doesn’t even know what’s happening most of the time. I enjoyed her as the novel’s voice, she was funny and at times frustrating but I still found myself hoping desperately everything would work out for her. I also liked that at any given time the reader only knew as much as Dixie knew, which kept us in the dark as much as she had been the majority of her life. I found that to be effective and kept me guessing until pretty far into the book.
I had my suspicions about what may have been happening by the climax but I think I literally suspected almost every main character at some point in time. I actually only figured it out because I was skimming the beginning and came upon the first paragraph about the axe, and when I was presented with a four letter word beginning with F again, it clicked for me. Despite having mostly figured it out, I still didn’t expect the ending and was very anxious for Dixie and her neighbors.
I thought that even though the story dragged just a little around the 50% - 75% mark, the ending was satisfactory for me. I especially enjoyed the epilogue because I’m nosy and I want to know where our characters end up. I realize that this kind of ending is not everyone’s favorite but I appreciate being left with some questions, I actually think all the answers are there if we look back (upon a second read I definitely began to theorize why some things happened the way they did) but again, we only ever know as much as Dixie so some things are up to the reader’s discretion. Books tend to have more staying power with me if I’m left to interpret afterward.
This was a successful read for me, I felt pretty enthralled through most of it.
The unreliable narrator trope is one of my favorites and I think this book does that trope so well. Dixie is the ultimate unreliable narrator especially considering she doesn’t even know what’s happening most of the time. I enjoyed her as the novel’s voice, she was funny and at times frustrating but I still found myself hoping desperately everything would work out for her. I also liked that at any given time the reader only knew as much as Dixie knew, which kept us in the dark as much as she had been the majority of her life. I found that to be effective and kept me guessing until pretty far into the book.
I had my suspicions about what may have been happening by the climax but I think I literally suspected almost every main character at some point in time.
I thought that even though the story dragged just a little around the 50% - 75% mark, the ending was satisfactory for me. I especially enjoyed the epilogue because I’m nosy and I want to know where our characters end up. I realize that this kind of ending is not everyone’s favorite but I appreciate being left with some questions, I actually think all the answers are there if we look back (upon a second read I definitely began to theorize why some things happened the way they did) but again, we only ever know as much as Dixie so some things are up to the reader’s discretion. Books tend to have more staying power with me if I’m left to interpret afterward.
This was a successful read for me, I felt pretty enthralled through most of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Bunny by Mona Awad
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’ve been sitting on this review for literal weeks because I’m not sure exactly what I could say about this novel. Sharp and dripping with sarcasm I loved every second of getting to know our MC and the bunnies. The stream of consciousness writing style was lovely, there was so much biting humor here but also vulnerability in what it means to be an artist and what it feels like to not match up. This was like the Heathers, meets a hive mind cult of adorable girls, meets one giant metaphor for being an artist. I loved every weird and off putting second.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail