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mtherobot's Reviews (866)
challenging
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
<blockquote><i>"Lisen's was an insult that jerks a laugh from your person at the shock of it being just so."</i></blockquote>
Torrey Peters is my perfect no-skip writer. Where other authors pull their punches, Peters goes after her characters with a steel chair. Like sinners in the hands of a mean-spirited (but nonetheless very funny) god, they can escape neither their worst fears nor their most dearly held desires, and too bad for them because I love to read about it.
thanks for the arc netgalley i love you forever xoxo
Torrey Peters is my perfect no-skip writer. Where other authors pull their punches, Peters goes after her characters with a steel chair. Like sinners in the hands of a mean-spirited (but nonetheless very funny) god, they can escape neither their worst fears nor their most dearly held desires, and too bad for them because I love to read about it.
thanks for the arc netgalley i love you forever xoxo
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
in trying to write this review, I find myself coming back to food-y figures of speech. this book's eyes are bigger than its stomach. Clarke has bitten off more than he can chew. the prose styling gave me indigestion. and so on and so forth, all which really amounts to this: I liked the idea more than the executions (and, also, the prose styling gave me indigestion). I worried, at first, that my disagreements with Clarke's narrative choices were just a matter of taste -- I can't overstate how much the writing style (maximalist, florid, evocative of nothing so much as Riverdale) put me off, and I'm shocked that no one else has mentioned it -- but the flaws are, I fear, deeper than that. for the sake of brevity, I would summarize them as follows:
the pacing: slow, then glacial, then abruptly very fast; in other words, uneven
the cast of characters: sprawling, and consequently very uniform
the narrative logic: somewhere between haphazard and totally random
marney dying with like a hundred pages left to go????: holy the last book in the divergent series, batman! (in other words, such a ballsy move that it almost redeemed the whole thing for me -- and it helps that the writing becomes, at that point, ironically much less baroque.)
all that said, I really enjoy some of Clarke's ideas -- I'm underselling it to just say that the world they've created here is sincerely cool and interesting -- and, matters of taste aside, I admire that they don't pull any punches (stylistically or otherwise). I don't think I'm ever going to come around to the way they write, but I do look forward to reading whatever they write next.
ps thanks netgalley I love u netgalley ur the best netgalley for giving me books for free
the pacing: slow, then glacial, then abruptly very fast; in other words, uneven
the cast of characters: sprawling, and consequently very uniform
the narrative logic: somewhere between haphazard and totally random
all that said, I really enjoy some of Clarke's ideas -- I'm underselling it to just say that the world they've created here is sincerely cool and interesting -- and, matters of taste aside, I admire that they don't pull any punches (stylistically or otherwise). I don't think I'm ever going to come around to the way they write, but I do look forward to reading whatever they write next.
ps thanks netgalley I love u netgalley ur the best netgalley for giving me books for free
i did not like it 👍
to be fair, i also didn't like white's last book, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth. i found it morally and politically shallow. but there were some really cool ideas there, an interesting and admirable approach to horror, and i hoped that the shallowness i observed was function of that book's protagonist's particular personality, rather than a fundamental quality of white's writing.
so that egg is on my face, i guess! because in compound fracture, white doubles down on everything that i found grating in spirit -- the shallowness, the hamfisted morality, the absolute refusal to dwell on complexity or allow his protagonists to be wrong in even the most minor of ways. and layered on top is this obnoxious affectation of country-isms that could make tom sawyer seem a subtle depiction of the american south. maybe it's just that it's closer to home (literally) for me since i'm from a nearby area myself, but while i understand from white's introduction that he is himself from west virginia (or his family is?), in style and substance it felt more characteristic of the kind of twitter progressive posturing than anything i recognize from my own experiences. all of that is to say -- lesson learned! no more andrew joseph white for me.
that being said, if you enjoy the idea of a "john brown did nothing wrong uwu" t-shirt i'm sure this is the kind of book that will really appeal to you.
thnx anyway netgalley!!
to be fair, i also didn't like white's last book, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth. i found it morally and politically shallow. but there were some really cool ideas there, an interesting and admirable approach to horror, and i hoped that the shallowness i observed was function of that book's protagonist's particular personality, rather than a fundamental quality of white's writing.
so that egg is on my face, i guess! because in compound fracture, white doubles down on everything that i found grating in spirit -- the shallowness, the hamfisted morality, the absolute refusal to dwell on complexity or allow his protagonists to be wrong in even the most minor of ways. and layered on top is this obnoxious affectation of country-isms that could make tom sawyer seem a subtle depiction of the american south. maybe it's just that it's closer to home (literally) for me since i'm from a nearby area myself, but while i understand from white's introduction that he is himself from west virginia (or his family is?), in style and substance it felt more characteristic of the kind of twitter progressive posturing than anything i recognize from my own experiences. all of that is to say -- lesson learned! no more andrew joseph white for me.
that being said, if you enjoy the idea of a "john brown did nothing wrong uwu" t-shirt i'm sure this is the kind of book that will really appeal to you.
thnx anyway netgalley!!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
that daniel lavery is a talented writer isn't exactly breaking news, but it must be said. really great prose that i can only describe as "jaunty," like an amy sherman-palladino take on the bell jar, almost energizing to read. and, while it would be clear even to a reader unfamiliar with lavery that he's deeply familiar with the classics, and especially the classics of women's literature, i'm very pleased to read something of his that isn't fundamentally referential, and doubly pleased that it's so good. women's hotel isn't without its flaws -- it can be uneven at times, pinballing around the various hotel residents, their backstories and present exploits, without a clear central narrative or sense of progression. but these flaws were ones i was aware of, rather than bothered by. lavery could write a grocery list with enough cleverness and sensitivity that i would read it without complaint.
thnx netgalley i owe u my life etc etc
thnx netgalley i owe u my life etc etc
adventurous
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
An okay story weighed down under some very ineffective story telling choices. Leah and Bernie were both interesting characters, well-formed and complex, and I was interested in them and their relationships with the other characters in the story, though I'm not sure I really understood their draw to each other. Unfortunately, that was the only aspect of this novel that I did enjoy -- the writing itself was clunky, the narrative chronology was not totally sensible, and the choice to tell the story through the semi-omniscient (?) POV of an unrelated character was very odd and did not, in my opinion, pay off. Some of these choices could work in a shorter piece, or if the story was overall compelling enough to either overcome or justify them, but the character work alone did not carry it for me.
thnx netgalley tho <333
thnx netgalley tho <333
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
Hilarious and messy. Made me want to move to historic lesbian house in the Hudson Valley, or at least buy a fancy Japanese potato peeler. Read in under 24 hours.
p.s. thanks for the arc netgalley i love u netgalley!!!!!!!
p.s. thanks for the arc netgalley i love u netgalley!!!!!!!
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
People who like to describe things as "elevated horror" talk a lot about the difference between horror and terror. "The difference between Terror and Horror is the difference between awful apprehension and sickening realization: between the smell of death and stumbling against a corpse," as they say (or, ok, as Devendra Varma said, according to the "Horror and Terror" Wikipedia page...). What people often fail to mention is that a lot of so-called horror media is not really about horror, or about terror, but about disgust. More <i> ick </i> than <i>eek<i/>. No more frightening than spoiled milk, no less upsetting.
Folks, this is prime example of what I'm talking about. Brainwyrms is gross. Brainwyrms is disgusting. Brainwyrms should not be read in times and places where it would be inappropriate to become violently ill. Very icky. Whatever the opposite of elevated is. Neither the smell of death nor the stumbled upon corpse but the maggots and piles of vomit left behind for the crime scene clean-up crew. I often asked myself, <i> why am I reading this? why am I doing this to myself?<i/> It is the stinkingest turd of a novel I have ever read.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, as they say! And as turds go, this one was pretty polished. Rumfitt does a really fine job here of crafting a compelling narrative that neither under nor overplays its (unwashed) hand. The characters are well-formed, distinct, plausibly motivated to behave as they do. And the more straight-forward horror elements lurk persistently in the background, waiting patiently to be born. It has none of the flaws of Rumfitt's first novel, Tell Me I'm Worthless (which I found to be poorly structured, derivative, philosophically confused, etc.), or of Eric LaRocca's similarly premised Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (which was rushed, pointless, unbelievable, etc.). I doubt I will recommend it to anyone -- I try to avoid rendering my friends and loved ones nauseous -- nor can I say honestly that I enjoyed it. But if you're looking to have a bad time reading a good book: this is for you.
P.S. Thanks NetGalley! This book should come with an anti-emetic!
Folks, this is prime example of what I'm talking about. Brainwyrms is gross. Brainwyrms is disgusting. Brainwyrms should not be read in times and places where it would be inappropriate to become violently ill. Very icky. Whatever the opposite of elevated is. Neither the smell of death nor the stumbled upon corpse but the maggots and piles of vomit left behind for the crime scene clean-up crew. I often asked myself, <i> why am I reading this? why am I doing this to myself?<i/> It is the stinkingest turd of a novel I have ever read.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, as they say! And as turds go, this one was pretty polished. Rumfitt does a really fine job here of crafting a compelling narrative that neither under nor overplays its (unwashed) hand. The characters are well-formed, distinct, plausibly motivated to behave as they do. And the more straight-forward horror elements lurk persistently in the background, waiting patiently to be born. It has none of the flaws of Rumfitt's first novel, Tell Me I'm Worthless (which I found to be poorly structured, derivative, philosophically confused, etc.), or of Eric LaRocca's similarly premised Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (which was rushed, pointless, unbelievable, etc.). I doubt I will recommend it to anyone -- I try to avoid rendering my friends and loved ones nauseous -- nor can I say honestly that I enjoyed it. But if you're looking to have a bad time reading a good book: this is for you.
P.S. Thanks NetGalley! This book should come with an anti-emetic!
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don't want to say this book was bad. This book was not bad! But I simply did not like it at all.
The biggest strength here is the concept. Spiritualism and eugenics lend themselves well to horror and pair well together, and White has done an admirable job of integrating those concepts into a believable world, though the supernatural elements are underused. But like a lot of historical fiction, there's a pervasive sense of moral pedantry that impedes that believability. White insists we know that our narrator Silas is improbably aware and critical of everything from British imperialism to Victorian medical hygiene practices, as if we the audience would hold it against him if he held any opinions that would be remotely plausible for a child of the 1880s British upper class. Maybe that's something that other people enjoy, but to me it felt like a shallow reckoning with historical injustice, and it left me rolling my eyes.
Also eye-roll worthy: most of the characters. I'll credit White that every member of the (unnecessarily large, IMO) ensemble cast is distinct and memorable. But they're all so one-dimensional that it's hard to feel any attachment to them, and the relationships between them feel strangely unreal, like children's toys that are now fighting, now in love, now fighting again. The only character I found remotely compelling was Mary, who floats around being vaguely antagonistic (which I enjoyed) before suddenly lurching towards plot relevance in the last act.
Overall, this was a quick and easy read with a cool concept and very uneven execution. Reminded me (not necessarily unfavorably) of other books I've enjoyed, like Molly Tanzer's Diabolist series and Libba Bray's Diviners.
PS thnx netgalley! Sorry I keep picking books that I don't like!
The biggest strength here is the concept. Spiritualism and eugenics lend themselves well to horror and pair well together, and White has done an admirable job of integrating those concepts into a believable world, though the supernatural elements are underused. But like a lot of historical fiction, there's a pervasive sense of moral pedantry that impedes that believability. White insists we know that our narrator Silas is improbably aware and critical of everything from British imperialism to Victorian medical hygiene practices, as if we the audience would hold it against him if he held any opinions that would be remotely plausible for a child of the 1880s British upper class. Maybe that's something that other people enjoy, but to me it felt like a shallow reckoning with historical injustice, and it left me rolling my eyes.
Also eye-roll worthy: most of the characters. I'll credit White that every member of the (unnecessarily large, IMO) ensemble cast is distinct and memorable. But they're all so one-dimensional that it's hard to feel any attachment to them, and the relationships between them feel strangely unreal, like children's toys that are now fighting, now in love, now fighting again. The only character I found remotely compelling was Mary, who floats around being vaguely antagonistic (which I enjoyed) before suddenly lurching towards plot relevance in the last act.
Overall, this was a quick and easy read with a cool concept and very uneven execution. Reminded me (not necessarily unfavorably) of other books I've enjoyed, like Molly Tanzer's Diabolist series and Libba Bray's Diviners.
PS thnx netgalley! Sorry I keep picking books that I don't like!