Entry tags:
Book Reviews: Sharp Objects, Flynn; The Amulet, McDowell; The Butcher of the Forest, Mohamed
Title: Sharp Objects
Author: Gillian Flynn
Published: Crown, 2018 (2006)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 255
Total Page Count: 512,890
Text Number: 1854
Read Because: this post, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A reporter returns to her hometown to investigate apparent serial murders, and is thrust back into her troubled home life. Thrillers are larger than life in order to justify their pacing and twists, and that exaggerated scale grates against some of the psychological depth Flynn aims to explore; that depth is also what makes this stand out from the crowd. Readable, compelling, persistently unpleasant, but this failed to get under my skin - and I think it needed to. Case in point: I have a long and easily-triggered history with self-injury, and this didn't trigger me, barely pinged on my radar. Everything is pushed too far: the protagonist didn't just self-injure, she carved thematically-relevant words into her skin; like the overlong coda, there is something here, particularly in the characterization of Amma-as-viewed-by-Camille, but it tips towards strained rather than haunting. I honestly don't know that it could be toned back without losing its momentum and genre, so, once again, the takeaway may simply be that this isn't the genre for me.
Title: The Amulet
Author: Michael McDowell
Published: Valancourt Books, 2016 (1979)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 320
Total Page Count: 513,210
Text Number: 1855
Read Because: reviewed by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rachelmanija, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A southern gothic following the fate of an entire town rather than a single family, after a tragic accident sparks a journey of uncontrolled, disproportionate revenge. That's a cool approach in theory, focused as much on setting as character; in practice, it makes for slow & repetitive pacing as the narrative pauses to introduce/kill off a widening cast. This is black comedy/horror, a combination that doesn't work for me - that rollicking, over the top tone ain't my thing. Except the climax and resolution, which are a delightful juxtaposition; the last chapter is pretty much perfect. So: not for me, but an interesting read, and it leaves me ambivalent about reading more McDowell (the Blackwater series has been on my TBR for some time). CW for tiresome fatphobia, but the depictions of race are, crucially, not awful.
Title: The Butcher of the Forest
Author: Premee Mohamed
Published: Tor, 2024
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 513,370
Text Number: 1856
Read Because: reviewed bymrissa, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Veris is the only person to have entered the north woods and returned and, compelled by the Tyrant, she enters them again in search of his missing children. Nightmare-fairytale woods set in autumn, and I picked it up at the beginning of autumn - it felt like it showed up wrapped in a bow and there was no chance I wouldn't like it. And I do! This has great heaps of aesthetic, intuitive magics, strange monsters, fey creatures, and the right kind of evocative language to suit the weird setting. The tortured backstories get pretty tortured, and the protagonist's reveals don't quite land - there's nothing objectively wrong with them; they just fail to live up to the build-up. But the consequences of the setting (both within and without the forest) are thoughtful & effective, particularly in the relationship between the protagonist and the children, the children as representative (or not) of their position. This is reread material for me next autumn.
Author: Gillian Flynn
Published: Crown, 2018 (2006)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 255
Total Page Count: 512,890
Text Number: 1854
Read Because: this post, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A reporter returns to her hometown to investigate apparent serial murders, and is thrust back into her troubled home life. Thrillers are larger than life in order to justify their pacing and twists, and that exaggerated scale grates against some of the psychological depth Flynn aims to explore; that depth is also what makes this stand out from the crowd. Readable, compelling, persistently unpleasant, but this failed to get under my skin - and I think it needed to. Case in point: I have a long and easily-triggered history with self-injury, and this didn't trigger me, barely pinged on my radar. Everything is pushed too far: the protagonist didn't just self-injure, she carved thematically-relevant words into her skin; like the overlong coda, there is something here, particularly in the characterization of Amma-as-viewed-by-Camille, but it tips towards strained rather than haunting. I honestly don't know that it could be toned back without losing its momentum and genre, so, once again, the takeaway may simply be that this isn't the genre for me.
Title: The Amulet
Author: Michael McDowell
Published: Valancourt Books, 2016 (1979)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 320
Total Page Count: 513,210
Text Number: 1855
Read Because: reviewed by
rachelmanija, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: A southern gothic following the fate of an entire town rather than a single family, after a tragic accident sparks a journey of uncontrolled, disproportionate revenge. That's a cool approach in theory, focused as much on setting as character; in practice, it makes for slow & repetitive pacing as the narrative pauses to introduce/kill off a widening cast. This is black comedy/horror, a combination that doesn't work for me - that rollicking, over the top tone ain't my thing. Except the climax and resolution, which are a delightful juxtaposition; the last chapter is pretty much perfect. So: not for me, but an interesting read, and it leaves me ambivalent about reading more McDowell (the Blackwater series has been on my TBR for some time). CW for tiresome fatphobia, but the depictions of race are, crucially, not awful.
Title: The Butcher of the Forest
Author: Premee Mohamed
Published: Tor, 2024
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 513,370
Text Number: 1856
Read Because: reviewed by
mrissa, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: Veris is the only person to have entered the north woods and returned and, compelled by the Tyrant, she enters them again in search of his missing children. Nightmare-fairytale woods set in autumn, and I picked it up at the beginning of autumn - it felt like it showed up wrapped in a bow and there was no chance I wouldn't like it. And I do! This has great heaps of aesthetic, intuitive magics, strange monsters, fey creatures, and the right kind of evocative language to suit the weird setting. The tortured backstories get pretty tortured, and the protagonist's reveals don't quite land - there's nothing objectively wrong with them; they just fail to live up to the build-up. But the consequences of the setting (both within and without the forest) are thoughtful & effective, particularly in the relationship between the protagonist and the children, the children as representative (or not) of their position. This is reread material for me next autumn.