I thought this book sounded wild and requested a review copy.
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Mid way check in: this book is breaking my brain.
~~~~~~~~~I thought this book sounded wild and requested a review copy.
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Mid way check in: this book is breaking my brain.
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Honestly, I am not sure what I just read. I believe this is taking place in a near-future post eco-collapse environment where a government agency referred to as RSCH took advantage of the chaos and began instituting extreme new social, educational, and gender rules and norms for its Citizens. Individuals are fitted with permanent AR contacts that record and upload memories directly to RSCHs infrastructure and are used as a means to monitor conformity. Any deviation to the social or dietary regimens is met with strict retraining, amputations slash body modifications, or axeing (which I think is a form of kidnapping) in the hopes of rehabilitating the person. Though, depending on the level of deviance, I think some people are just disappeared.
It's written in a highly experimental format that plays with language and structure A LOT. Part fragmented novel, part poetry, part found footage/transcripts/government postings, it was really difficult to follow. I mean, Cavar makes you WORK for it, you guys. And I don't even know if I got it. I could be really far off base here. My head was literally SPINNING throughout the entire thing.
Early reviews are all glowing, so this could totally be a me-not-you thing, but as someone who tends to dig experimental fiction, I'd be really surprised if I'm the only one who will struggle with this.
Pick this one up if you have an appreciation for sci fi authoritarian dystopia with trans and disability representation. For a vibe check, if you like the concepts in Darin Bradley's Dystopian Cluster series (Chimpanzee, Totem, and Noise), or the writing style of Blake Butler, this may also be for you too.
If you do end up checking it out, I'd love to know what you think! ...more
Holy gross, batman. I read it in one sitting because I was certain if I put it down, I wouldn't be able to stomach picking it back up again.
A revengeHoly gross, batman. I read it in one sitting because I was certain if I put it down, I wouldn't be able to stomach picking it back up again.
A revenge curse, that became more than the creator had initially anticipated, is passed from person to person through sex, like a super infectious chain letter (where my Gen Xers at?!). To undo what was done to you, you must do it to someone else, and FAST. You are running out of time, biatches!
The body horror in this one was so nasty I almost vomited in my mouth. I promise you won't look at sex the same after this one.
I snagged this one at a used book store recently, but was a little worried going in. While I'm not usually a fan of the I do love me some Jesse Ball.
I snagged this one at a used book store recently, but was a little worried going in. While I'm not usually a fan of the story within a story within a story (I still twitch every time I think about House of Leaves), Ball manages to pull it off in a way unlike any I've read before.
Our main character Selah, a municipal inspector and pamphleteer, witnesses a young woman get hit by a taxi and accompanies her to the hospital. When she wake up, she has no memory of who she is or what has happened and Selah pretends to be her boyfriend, bringing her home to his apartment and telling her stories to keep her awake through the night per the doctor's instructions.
The stories he weaves are wildly fantastical and quickly take on a life of their own. His characters begin to meet up with each other, sharing stories of their own, and those story's characters tell their own stories, and on and on. They quickly become deliciously intertwined, oftentimes providing a different view of the same interaction. I really enjoyed how they creatively nestled into one another.
If you enjoy experimental fiction and reading books by writers who take risks with traditional narratives, this one should be on your list!...more
Oh gosh. I requested this review copy because it sounded like something I would enjoy. I'm all for Appalachian fiction and weird fiction, and this proOh gosh. I requested this review copy because it sounded like something I would enjoy. I'm all for Appalachian fiction and weird fiction, and this promised to be both. But this was... it was something else entirely.
I mean... it was both Appalachian and weird. But it was also a whole lot of wtfery. It's full of strangeness and wonder but almost nothing made sense. So while I enjoyed reading it, I really had no idea what was happening.
There's an invisible rope that cannot be cut, monstrous handmade cards that appear to have minds of their own, a boy who may or may not be a ghost, a killer on the loose, and the stars of the story, Shelia and Angie - two sisters who have a very deep and mysterious connection with the mountain they live on and who are, in incredibly different ways, about to play a very big role in bringing peace back their land.
It was atmospheric but also incredibly ambitious.
What were some of the weirdest, wtfery books you've read?...more
That was the quickest 200 page book I've ever read! I inhaled it in one sitting, the words literally flying off the page. For a horror novel, it wasn'That was the quickest 200 page book I've ever read! I inhaled it in one sitting, the words literally flying off the page. For a horror novel, it wasn't nearly as dark as I had expected, but that didn't hurt the book in any way. I actually kind of liked the nonchalant approach Knútsdóttir took with it.
Our narrator Idunn is bone tired. She sleeps every night but isn't feeling rested, her arms and legs aching as though she worked out at a gym, which she wouldn't be caught dead doing. She's a bit of a self-diagnoser, and decides to go see a doctor to ensure she's not dying of some highly incurable disease. When everything comes back good, she convinces them to give her some sleeping pills, and in an effort to uphold her promise to be more active, purchases a smart watch to track her steps.
One morning, she realizes she forgot to take the watch off before going to bed and sees she's walked tens of thousands of miles when she thought she'd been sleeping. After continuing to wake with sore muscles and mysterious injuries, sometimes covered in blood that she knows is not hers night after night, her watch shows that she's been walking to the same spot, and she's not sure she wants to discover what it is that's out there...
We only know what Idunn knows, which isn't much. After her recent experiences with the health system, she's no longer in a rush to discover what's happening to her so we're left in the dark for most of the novel. And once the author finally shows her hand, we're still left scratching our heads a little. But I'm ok with that. A little "wait, wtf just happened" is totally good with me! I don't necessarily need books to be wrapped up in a nice little bow at the end. However, if you are a reader who does, beware... because you won't find that here....more
Aquatic horror for the win! And that cover.. I just knew I had to have it!
A whaling ship gets more than they bargain for when a barely-alive man spilAquatic horror for the win! And that cover.. I just knew I had to have it!
A whaling ship gets more than they bargain for when a barely-alive man spills out of the belly of their first kill. Under the captain's orders, the unconscious stranger is locked in the brig and crewmate Isiah is tasked with splitting his rations with the man until they can decide what to do with him.
Once the rescued man awakens, strange things begin to happen on board The Merciful and the crew starts to slowly descend into madness as they begin to show signs of mysterious and frightening illnesses. Though he cannot immediately prove it, Isiah knows this is not just a string of bad luck and believes the enigmatic man they locked away below deck is somehow behind it all, and if his dreams are anything to go by, he's terrified they won't survive long enough to make it back to port.
From the Belly is atmospheric and claustrophobic and at times downright brutal. This is not your run of the mill Geppetto story. This is a "what the hell did we bring onboard" story. And a "you can't outrun the horrors that await you" story. And it's sooo good you guys....more
More grief fiction for the win and this one gets all the stars!
Joseph's suffered a lot of loss in his life. His mother's recent passing, an absent faMore grief fiction for the win and this one gets all the stars!
Joseph's suffered a lot of loss in his life. His mother's recent passing, an absent father, a stillborn son that resulted in a failed relationship, and a fresh divorce. While he and his half brother Oscar sort through their mother's belongings, he comes across a letter from his father that prompts them to book a trip to Nahanni in an effort to get some closure from the things that haunt them most.
Gillian, Joseph's ex girlfriend, invites herself along on this strange and impromptu journey into the mysterious national park, best known for rumors of giants and prehistoric creatures hidden in its forests. Within hours of arrival, they can feel something is extremely off about the place, and things only get odder for the threesome the deeper into the park they travel.
Think Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy (Tetralogy?!) and you'll have an idea of what our intrepid adventurers are about to uncover in this vast and liminal space. Equal parts psychological terror and cosmic horror, it's incredibly atmospheric and LP just continued to crank up the weirdness, relentlessly testing our characters perception of reality, and I was there for every second of it....more
I had read and loved The Employees so when I saw My Work while browsing the book shelves, you better believe I grabbed it without even really reading I had read and loved The Employees so when I saw My Work while browsing the book shelves, you better believe I grabbed it without even really reading the jacket copy.
This one is about pregnancy and motherhood and postpartum depression and the fear that you are losing your shit and trying to journal your journey in case you DO actually lose your shit because getting it all down might be the key to remaining sane, only now you're not sure if you are the one who wrote the stuff you just found or if someone else or perhaps another version of you has written it... and we the reader aren't totally sure of this either.
There a numerous beginnings, middles, and ends. The entries and poems and narrations are not necessarily in any real sort of order. And there's this section of about 100 pages or so that just drags on kinda painfully and repetitively.
A little uneven, a little weird - even for me - and quite the trip down insanity lane, the deeper into the book you go. I'm not quite sure what I read there at the end, honestly... ...more
This is one of those books that I picked up at a used bookstore, intrigued by the cover but then became completely enthralled by the description. WhenThis is one of those books that I picked up at a used bookstore, intrigued by the cover but then became completely enthralled by the description. When I brought it home, I started seeing it pop up on #bookstagram, and got nervous... usually big buzz books and I don't get along so well.
Also, I need to go on record and confess how much I hate... HATE... tear jerkers. Especially when I don't see the thing that will jerk those tears coming. There I was, reading on the couch last night, thoroughly enjoying the uniqueness of the book when BLAM! This sneaky little sucker suddenly tugged on my heart strings without any warning! So of course I have to give it 5 stars, LOL.
Shark Heart is grief fiction at its... ahem... heart. In it, Wren and Lewis fall in love and get married. Their happiness is short lived when they discover that Lewis has a rare genetic disorder and is quite quickly mutating into a shark. The book follows the couple as they prepare to face the inevitable.
It's not your run of the mill love story, but more of a cracking of the ribs, a peeling back of the meat and muscle, to get to the heart of marriage and motherhood and what it means, and takes, to be human, especially when your body begins to transform into something that's not. And the biggest lesson of all... sometimes, when you let go of the thing you love most, it might not be able to find its way back to you... even if it wanted to.
A stunning debut. And one that I'm glad I stumbled on, even if it did make me misty eyed for a hot second there....more
oh man I really wanted to like this one. My gut was telling me to DNF it over and over again and I kept ignoring it, hoping it would get better, but noh man I really wanted to like this one. My gut was telling me to DNF it over and over again and I kept ignoring it, hoping it would get better, but nope. It didn't. And that really sucks because, in theory, it had the potential to be really good...
It's part eco horror, part oceanic horror, part cosmic horror, part social horror. and part pandy fiction, so at face value it has all the ingredients of something I would love but it just couldn't seem to pull it off.
An oyster farm is the site of the snail bite that sets the whole thing off - a woman gets bit, if bit is the right word, and she basically becomes comatose while more and more of the things crawl on and into her. Her boss attempts to save her and gets bit as well. She vanishes into the water while he becomes something else entirely. Like a patient zero or super boss kind of thing. And then within no time, it spreads to the townspeople who begin deading... seizing, foaming at the mouth, falling down dead on to the ground, only to stand back up a few minutes later and go back to their lives as if nothing happened. The sea town is quickly quarantined by the government, who begin to monitor them with drones, and the residents begin breaking themselves off into two groups - those who dead, now referred to as Risers, and those who don't, the uninfected. And those who don't... are beginning to fear for their lives.
Sounds so good right?! God I wish it was. It meandered a lot, there were whole entire sections that focused on birding (I mean, the cover, which is gorgeous btw, even has one on it) but it felt very loose and disconnected and didn't spend a lot of time on the actual deading. What caused it? Where did the virus, if it is a virus, come from? Why do those who are infected keep deading and rising? Where do they "go" when they die each time? Why doesn't the government actually go in and test or check on them? Why... why... why???
Sigh.
For the social horror part, think Jose Saramago's Blindness and Seeing but not nearly as good....more
Another stellar novel from Laura van den Berg and one in which the jacket copy fails to do it justice.
It's a post covid Florida, in which the govermeAnother stellar novel from Laura van den Berg and one in which the jacket copy fails to do it justice.
It's a post covid Florida, in which the goverment took advantage of everyone while they were isolating and got them hooked on a new meditative, immersive technology called MIND'S EYE, and where people are suffering strange side effects that are believed to have been caused by the crazy high fevers they survived. Our narrator herself discovers that her outie is becoming a cavernous innie and her sister's eyes have completely changed color.
As she deals with these subtle physical changes, and ignores her mom's strange antics, and puts off urgent requests from the assistants of the author she ghosts for, MIND'S EYE users all around town begin mysteriously disappearing, as though into thin air... her sister being one of them. Some of the missing begin reappearing days later, a little dazed, not much worse for the wear, but with strange stories of where they've been. And our narrator's sister is one of the ones who've returned. She swears she entered another reality at their dead father's bidding and she's determined to return, with or without our narrator.
This book was just so deliciously weird. It's a fabulous mashup of grief fiction, sci-fi post-pandy fiction. Much like Florida and the pandemic itself, State of Paradise is a humid and feverish thing and oh gosh I was sooo there for it!...more
Easy to read, yet maddening abstruse, The Factory introduces us to three new employees as they acclimate to their jobsHello you strange little thing!
Easy to read, yet maddening abstruse, The Factory introduces us to three new employees as they acclimate to their jobs - a document shredder, a proofreader, and one who studies and catalogs the moss that grows around the property. We quickly learn that the Factory is much more than just its offices. It has its own housing sections, cafeterias and restaurants, bus and laundry services, museum, rivers and forests... it even appears to have its very own ecosystem of birds and beavers... and yet no one really seems to know what it is The Factory actually does, or how they contribute to the bigger picture.
We follow our three workers around as they chat with thier co-workers, struggle to get comfortable within the mind numbing limitations of their roles, and explore the property in search of answers they may never receive to questions they may never ask aloud.
Honestly, not much happens, but I'm not complaining.
This one will be a good fit for readers who've enjoyed Helen Phillip's The Beautiful Bureaucrat, Jesse Ball's The Cure For Suicide, and Olga Ravn's The Employees.
I grabbed this one on a whim, having heard nothing about it previously. It's an incredibly short and unsettling read, clocking in at just over 100 pagI grabbed this one on a whim, having heard nothing about it previously. It's an incredibly short and unsettling read, clocking in at just over 100 pages. I found it to be more psychological horror and isolation fiction than full on horror but still...
A couple and their young daughter get an Airbnb out in the middle of nowhere. He's supposed to be working on the sequel to a hit screenplay, she's supposed to be enjoying the quiet time away. But the house seems to have other plans for them.
It's slow to start and super creepy towards the end. Easily digested in one sitting but man does it linger in your brain for much, more longer.
Similar themes and vibes to books like Leave the World Behind (the sparce writing style), House of Leaves (the way the house keeps changing), The Shining (the isolation and the niggling fear that you're losing your mind)...
#bookstagram made me buy it! It might not have made it onto my radar otherwise, so I'm glad I caught it while scrolling my feed. A little weird once y#bookstagram made me buy it! It might not have made it onto my radar otherwise, so I'm glad I caught it while scrolling my feed. A little weird once you get to "Part Two" but still, sooo good.
Imagine a dystopian world where the government prides itself on ensuring everyone is happy. All of the time. Just smiling and loving life and being happy. And imagine your job is to visit people who have been reported for being a little sad or showing signs of grief so you can record their most cherished memory for The Catalog before their brains are reset. Because the government can't allow anyone to show signs of sadness, or to feel depressed, or to grieve. And imagine how all that collecting of all those memories might start to weigh on you, and so you start to break a few rules. Just little transgressions. Nothing too crazy. Like coming home every day after dropping off those recordings and writing down those memories in a notebook that you keep hidden in the wall. And then during one of your collections, you make a poor decision, a decision of the heart, and think you've gotten away with it. And then imagine having someone knock on your door to ask you a few questions because YOU've been reported for not seeming like your normal happy self...
It felt a bit Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-ish, only not voluntary. It's soft and gentle and subversive, and just absolutely nuts. If you liked Jesse Ball's A Cure For Suicide, you want to get your hands on this one! ...more
I was browsing the shelves in a new-to-me used bookshop and stumbled across this one. I'm familiar with Jesse Ball, having read his novel Samedi the DI was browsing the shelves in a new-to-me used bookshop and stumbled across this one. I'm familiar with Jesse Ball, having read his novel Samedi the Deafness, and still have Census sitting here in the TBR. This one sounded more interesting though, so I jumped right in with high hopes.
From what I remember of Samedi, Ball likes to confound and confuse his readers right up until the very end and A Cure for Suicide is no different. As I was reading it, Helen Phillips' novel The Beautiful Bureaucrat came immediately to mind. Ball plays in the same enigmatic sandbox, withholding important background information and personal histories, leaving us blindly following along, hoping things will soon start to make sense, but thoroughly enjoying the ride regardless.
Here, there is an Examiner and a Claimant, and they live together in a house in the Gentlest Village, a town apparently built with the specific purpose of rehabbing individuals who were "very sick and almost died" but "asked for help and were brought here". It is the Examiner's job to reteach the Claimant everything - "this is a chair. they put chairs wherever somone might sit" and "the skeleton is a hard substance, hard like wood, like the wood of this chair" - and prepare them to eventually rejoin society.
The Examiner has a very specific job to do, with very specific rules to follow, reporting back to their employer the progress of the Claimant, but it would appear our Examiner might be a bit of a rulebreaker, though it is unclear to what extent.
The Claimant is pliable, moldable, easily influenced and not entirely interested in, or maybe not even capable of, challenging or questioning their current situation. There's a pervasive fogginess that shrouds them. Hell, the book itself is a masterclass in fogginess.
What did the claimant do to get themselves here? Where they a willing participant in this strange experiment or is something more sinister going on? Will their memories ever return to them? Will they rehabilitate and rejoin the world? Is there even a world outside of the Villages to return to? Are these pages hiding more than they are letting on?
I guess you'll just have to read it to find out!!...more
WTF did I just read? How many times did I tell myself to DNF it, to just put it down and walk away? And I didn't listen.
I don't getNope. Nope. Nope.
WTF did I just read? How many times did I tell myself to DNF it, to just put it down and walk away? And I didn't listen.
I don't get it. I mean, I typically like weird, experimental fiction. The stranger, the better. But this was a bunch of cocky doo doo. Quite literally. No, really. The two main characters, Anita and Rainie, spent a lot of time talking about and messing with poop, human and canine.
The writing for the first 100 pages or so was just maddening gibberish. The more I read, the more it started to feel like a bunch of unconnected words and thoughts mushed together on the page. Whole paragraphs were making no sense. It was like listening to someone who just woke up from a feverish dream. Or like those really flowery poems that look beautiful but never make any sense, no matter how you try to dissect them.
From what I gather, ten year old Anita and Rainie are best friends with great imaginations who decide to play at becoming dogs. They obsess and fuss over the strays dogs and the old sycamore tree that live in a empty lot in their neighborhood and explore each other's bodies and generally reek havoc against their mothers' better judgement.
Anita is a vicious instigator and at one point she forces Rainie to push her arm through the fence, and Rainie suffers a nasty dog bite that puts her into a coma for a week. Not long after that, Rainie and her family move away. When Anita's letters to Rainie go unanswered, Anita spirals into a decade long deep dream from which she cannot wake. Her family watches helplessly as her body begins to rot from the inside out, until Rainie returns home to check in on her friend and devises a plan to bring her back from the dreamworld.
But also... blood becomes red thread, dog teeth are skin gems, feces are everywhere, and banana ghosts are like genies who grant wishes if you agree to free them from the trees. Oh, and let's not forget the dangers of unhealthy co-dependency.
I remember walking the bookshelves at BAM and stumbling across this one in the horror section. I hadn't heard a thing about it and worried that it souI remember walking the bookshelves at BAM and stumbling across this one in the horror section. I hadn't heard a thing about it and worried that it sounded a little too romancey for me, but it was in the HORROR section so I figured eh, why not, and bought it. And I'm glad I did because this one was a win!
It's a sapphic love story that starts out all cutesy and flirty and curious with weird boundaries that quickly becomes obsessive and extremely manipulative that then becomes damn right straight up horrific!
If you're an anticipatory reader, you'll figure this one out reaaaally early on but I don't think that spoils the ride at all. Honestly, it moves kind of slowly so even if you do have it pegged right, you won't know just HOW right you pegged it until those final few pages.
It's worth it. I promise. It all comes together when it's ready.
You gotta tell me what you think when you read it!
I picked this up as an ebook for a couple bucks because it sounded like it'd be a fun, campy horror novel and as long as you go in knowing that, it'llI picked this up as an ebook for a couple bucks because it sounded like it'd be a fun, campy horror novel and as long as you go in knowing that, it'll totally meet, and possibly exceed, your expectations. I really enjoyed this one.
Our narrator Ellie takes what appears to be her dream job with a mining company stationed 8,000 feet under the ocean. When one of the maintenance guys disappears while performing a routine repair on one of the drills, Ellie and a handful of others convince their chief to let them go out there and attempt to rescue him. No one seems to question the fact that he only had 8 hours of oxygen when he went out there, and didn't activate his distress signal until nearly a day later. Or that he seems to be 3,000 feet further down from where he should be... they just know he's alive and they've got to try to save him.
What initially felt like a good idea quickly becomes a chilling, claustrophic nightmare as Ellie and crew realize they may never make their way back up towards the surface. Their search finds them exploring a hollowed out underwater mountain, complete with strange obelisks and hieroglyphics on the walls. It doesn't take long for the crew to realize that they are not alone down there in the deep inky darkness. Something is out there stalking them and you'll never guess what it is!
If jellyfish and shark weren't enough to keep you out of the water, whooo boy! This book sure will! You'll be gasping for air in no time....more
A space novel but told solely through interviews and recordings with the human, and humanoid, crew members over a period of eighteen months. Because wA space novel but told solely through interviews and recordings with the human, and humanoid, crew members over a period of eighteen months. Because we're just thrown right into it, it takes a handful of pages to get a grasp on what's happening, but hang in there. It's quite the read!
From what I can gather, something's happened on Earth and a bunch of scientists and blue collar workers boarded a space ship. Robotic co-workers were hatched and continue to be subjected to a series of upgrades and reboots as together, they locate a new planet and begin to collect 'objects' from its surface. These objects are stored in a couple of rooms aboard the ship, and seem to have a positive impact on crew morale. Over time, however, the ship's employees, human and humanoid both, develop slightly obsessive behaviors towards the objects, which appears to then impact the way they work with and behave towards each other.
Oooh that ending, you guys! What a stellar and stunning way to tell the story of space exploration and mental dysphoria - in people and machines alike.
If you enjoy science fiction and non traditional storytelling, this is a must-read for you!...more
The Paleontologist was one of those books I was eyeing for a bit before I requested it on netgalley, wondering if it would be too sciencey for me. TurThe Paleontologist was one of those books I was eyeing for a bit before I requested it on netgalley, wondering if it would be too sciencey for me. Turns out, I was worrying about the wrong things. While fully enjoyable, it starts off strong but then gets a little too bogged down in the supernatural stuff for my tastes.
Simon is returning to Pennsylvania and the Hawthorne Museum of Natural History nearly twenty years after his little sister Morgan's disappearance. Taking the job as Director and Curator will allow him to not only pick up where his predecessor left off, preparing the bones of their most recent discovery, but it also gets him closer to uncovering what exactly happened to Morgan all those years ago when she was snatched out from under his watch in that very building.
When Simon arrives at the Hawthorne, though, it's closed due to the pandemic and he learns it's in severe financial distress. As he settles himself into his basement office, he begins to hear strange noises that he initially shrugs off as old pipes and boilers, only to learn from the sole maintenance employee Maurice that there's something much more sinister stalking the halls of the museum.
His determination to locate his sister's killer finds Simon face to face with forces he never expected to encounter. Hell, forces he may not be able to survive...
While I had anticipated this would be more of a dark thriller - a sort of who-dun-it murder mystery - it quickly switched gears on me. Think Night at the Museum but with less laughs and a whole lot more prehistoric supernatural horror. Within these pages are ghosts that won't be easily sated. ...more
