4.5 stars, rounded up. I saw a review of this on Goodreads, found out the ARC was available for immediate download on Eidelweiss, and devoured it whol4.5 stars, rounded up. I saw a review of this on Goodreads, found out the ARC was available for immediate download on Eidelweiss, and devoured it whole in a single afternoon! It has the exact humor + satisfying supernatural horror payoff that I've come to expect with this author's darker novels, and I love that it was allowed to sit comfortably at 200-some odd pages rather than padding it out to a standard size novel. What a delightful little treat for spooky season...more
3.5 stars. When all's said and done I really liked this- very atmospheric, well drawn characters, excellent cosmic horror. I just don't think I can gi3.5 stars. When all's said and done I really liked this- very atmospheric, well drawn characters, excellent cosmic horror. I just don't think I can give it more than 3 stars, though, because of the pacing- the first half literally took me a month and a half to read, whereas I devoured the second half in a single day. I'll probably write a longer review once I sleep!...more
This was so deliciously strange and unexpected and somehow both visceral and dreamlike. It really reminded me of the folktales recorded by Franz XaverThis was so deliciously strange and unexpected and somehow both visceral and dreamlike. It really reminded me of the folktales recorded by Franz Xaver von Schonwerth in the mid 19th century- because they were never modernized and sanitized in the way that the Brothers Grimm tales were, they maintained certain qualities that I think this book captures really well. There is this sense of a world with an entirely alien set of rules outside the realm of any normal human logic. The hapless humans caught up in this web are completely unaware of these rules yet still brutally subject to them, and no mercy is granted for ignorance.
This leads to a deep sense that nothing is as it seems, that every seemingly innocuous detail holds a special weight that deserves consideration and suspicion. Is almost kaleidoscopic- one moment an old woman in the woods is enjoying a nice joint of pork, the next moment the scene tips into the horrorific, relish turning to greedy gorging and back again.
Because the main character (and the reader to some extent) doesn't have the tools to figure out what's going on, the suspicion just becomes this overwhelming sense of dread that grows and grows until the very end, the very moment when it's all too late and the true horrific nature of this world is finally revealed.
I originally rated this a 4-star, but the more I think about it, the more I'm just so thoroughly satisfied with it as a whole. I'm probably not going to be recommending it to a ton of people because it IS strange and dark and very wtf-is-actually-happening, but I just loved it....more
This was so compelling and weird and morbidly fascinating. It captures a single night in rural India when a family (pregnant mom, dad, and son) appearThis was so compelling and weird and morbidly fascinating. It captures a single night in rural India when a family (pregnant mom, dad, and son) appears at the doors of the local rundown clinic and tells the doctor that they were murdered last night and that their only chance to live again is if the doctor can successfully fix their wounds overnight.
This is one of those books that makes me wish I had gotten an English degree so I could talk a little more intelligently about it. Like what is it when a plot is structured as a framework to explore philosophical ideas- life, death, human connection, corruption, etc.? Would it be an allegory? I think that implies more of an aspect of overt moralizing than this book goes in for, though; even though it's an excellent playground for some really interesting ideas, it isn't emotionally manipulative or trite. It could easily have gone Scrooge and the three Christmas ghosts, culminating in some convenient life lesson, but thankfully it doesn't.
The story's overall lack of sentimentality is one of the main reasons it worked so well for me. There are some really great moments where the narrative acknowledges the places where it could easily fall into the expectations for this type of story and purposefully doesn't:
The teacher's story was like a bizarre fable- something a priest might deliver in a religious ceremony. But there were no flowers here, no lamps or burning inherence to make the unreality more palatable.
Or
It was tempting to adopt the pharmacist's way of thinking about the world and everything in it. Whatever would happen would happen, she'd said... Or something similar, some aphorism of endless absolving circularity.
I also liked exploring a lot of the themes here- the concrete consequences of bureaucratic corruption, how people treat you versus how you percieve yourself, how you act when you are completely out of your depth and your yardstick for what's right and wrong has been utterly demolished.
A lot of this was represented well in the contrast between how the older, disillusioned doctor reacts to the situation versus how his young, religious pharmacist experiences it. And even though this feels fable-like in that the characters are all unnamed (the pharmacist, the teacher, etc.), I thought the characterizations were quite well done; they always felt like real people rather than cardboard metaphors.
The last thing I have to mention is how I loved the way it leans into the bizarre grossness of it all. The descriptions of the surgeries kept me absolutely glued to the page!
Overall just great ideas, great story, great characterizations, delightfully weird, couldn't put it down!...more
I finally enjoyed a Jeff Lemire book! Fourth time's the charm, I guess. This one was super intriguing- a sinister barn, red light-filled doorways to gI finally enjoyed a Jeff Lemire book! Fourth time's the charm, I guess. This one was super intriguing- a sinister barn, red light-filled doorways to god knows where, murder, secret societies trying to stave off evil. Me likey. On to volume 2!...more
Dreamlike, strange, and compelling story about two static, otherworldly beings who have long lived on the outskirts of town and used strange powers toDreamlike, strange, and compelling story about two static, otherworldly beings who have long lived on the outskirts of town and used strange powers to heal the ailments of those seeking help. This book is a trip, with an interestingly unreliable narrator. It's really well written.. and also very wtf. Right up my alley in other words!...more
2.5 stars. Extremely quick read (it's the length of one of the short stories in her earlier YA collection Through the Woods) that's deliciously spooky2.5 stars. Extremely quick read (it's the length of one of the short stories in her earlier YA collection Through the Woods) that's deliciously spooky, atmospheric, and decidedly adult. The problem is I don't really get it? What happened, someone please explain it to me....more
I love the artwork- super creepy! And I love when something seemingly innocuous (apologizing) can be turned into something disturbing. It was quite reI love the artwork- super creepy! And I love when something seemingly innocuous (apologizing) can be turned into something disturbing. It was quite repetitive, though, and I kind of wanted more actual story.....more
But beyond that, just whoa. This was gross and disturbing but also really, really well done.
There arMy whole review should just be:
*dry heaving noise*
But beyond that, just whoa. This was gross and disturbing but also really, really well done.
There are shades of Annihilation in the body horror of humans made to be things inimical to humanity.
It also brought to mind Dawn by Octavia Butler in the implications surrounding consent (can it really be given when there's a power imbalance? Are we more than the soup of our hormones?), generational change and transformation (something shifting from horrific to natural). The way it looks at what we need to continue on, what we are willing to give up or accept.
I did keep thinking, what about trans women? Intersex women? Women who've had a hysterectomy? Gay men? All the people who would upset the neat binary that's presented here. But I think the one thing that makes it ok for me is that it's set in a very small, limited community. It doesn't deny the existence of these people by not including them, I suppose. The lack of nuance in this area though definitely knocks it down a bit.
In my mind I roughly categorize supernatural horror into two main groups: Babadook-style horror and Cabin in the Woods-style horror.
Babadook-style horIn my mind I roughly categorize supernatural horror into two main groups: Babadook-style horror and Cabin in the Woods-style horror.
Babadook-style horror is the kind that starts out right off the bat with a low-grade, unceasing tension, and it usually follows one or more Very Unhappy People. You see the characters and think- do they really need to go through even more shit? Their lives already kind of suck. But the story often relies at least to some extent on the narrative mystery of "is this supernatural or is it budding psychosis? Or maybe a metaphor for something else entirely?" It's usually a bit of a downer.
Cabin in the Woods-style horror starts out lighter, sunnier, with average folks just living their lives. Once the crap starts hitting the fan, there's not usually much prevarication about whether or not the horror is supernatural. Part of the horror comes in the knowledge that even though these characters are relatively good people, even though they are making ok decisions, this thing is going to wreck their world. It focuses on the huge transition-- we were so happy and normal yesterday and now nothing will ever be the same ever again.
The Twisted Ones is definitely the latter, much to my delight!
The story centers on a 30-something editor, Mouse, who journeys to rural North Carolina to clean out her estranged grandmother's house at her father's behest. When she gets there she's exasperated to find that her grandmother had been a hoarder, and every room of the house is filled with hangers and newspapers and bags full of bags. Every room, that is, except for her step-grandfather's bedroom, where she finds his creepy diary full of creepy prose that seem to worm their way into her head.
Now the first thing I'll say is that the overall tone of the book is lighter for a bigger chunk of the book than I would have expected from looking at the cover. The blurb describes it as "The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show," which I find to be an odd choice for a variety of reasons (has anyone in the target demographic even seen The Andy Griffith Show, for one?), but I think it's trying to give you the idea that the story's not all grimdark horror all the time.
Oh don't get me wrong, this is definitely horror. It goes into some deliciously weird directions, and it pays off satisfyingly in the end.
But for the first part of the book its appeal is in the narrator, who's one of the most engaging, relatable characters I've read in a while. I loved how irreverent and low-key snarky Mouse is without her voice ever feeling forced or self consciously jokey, and I found the plethora of descriptions about her lovable dumbass of a dog to be super endearing.
It also becomes clear pretty quickly that Mouse uses humor and denial to cope with all the weirdness going on. So while I think the bits of humor (especially when paired with the first person past tense, which by definition assures the survival of the narrator), tend to insulate the horror a bit, I do think that it all makes sense for the character.
And that's the thing-- everything here makes so much sense. The story does such a great job of gradually building up the creep factor in a really believable way. Every beat of the story happens for a reason, everything that happens feels like a natural extension of what happened before. I love that it never had me screaming over stupid plot or characters decisions and let me just enjoy the ride.
And enjoy it I did. Overall I loved the clever writing, engaging narrator, expert plotting, and serious creep factor. Plus, I devoured it in like 24 hours which I haven't done with a non-romance in quite a while, and a weeks later it's still giving me that "oooh yeah, that was good" feeling....more
This one really brought it back after that snoozefest of a second book, and overall I'm really glad I read the series. It's utterly compelling, disturThis one really brought it back after that snoozefest of a second book, and overall I'm really glad I read the series. It's utterly compelling, disturbing, creepy, nihilist, and has a way of describing the seemingly indescribable. Is it completely satisfying in the end? Not really. Did I expect it to be? Also not really. I'm not going to get into spoiler territory, so I'll just say that the end is pretty much exactly in line with the entire rest of the series up til that point. Even though it left me with questions, I know that this is one I'll be thinking about for a long time (in a good way)....more
4 stars because this was completely what I was in the mood for- eerie and dark and unlike anything I've read before. It is oddly captivating, almost h4 stars because this was completely what I was in the mood for- eerie and dark and unlike anything I've read before. It is oddly captivating, almost hypnotizing, as you piece together the details of a strange boy's life in a strange world.
Reading this after Another Brooklyn was an odd bit of synchronicity in that the two books have almost nothing in common, yet they both deal with memory and its ambiguity, with how childhood ignorance can shape so much of our early memories. Here it's the mutability of details and the strange, alienating way the narrator switches between referring to his younger self as 'I' and 'the boy' and 'you' that deftly portrays dissociation.
While Another Brooklyn feels like it's making a statement on the nature of memory, though, this feels like it's being used more stylistically to wrong-foot the readers (which it does very well). Damn, China Mieville is good at taking control and creating atmosphere.
He's also very good at keeping a tight hold on staying inside the particular peculiarities of the characters and the world he creates.
I was put in mind of this review of Crimson Petal and the White that I read probably 10 years ago that talked about how the book includes a lot of details about Victorian England that Dickens or another writer of the time would never have had to include, would never have consider including, because they were just facts of life. And that's a pretty fundamental difference that I've been thinking a lot about lately-- if you're an author writing about people, places, and times far removed from our own, how do you choose to do it?
I think so much of writing something foreign is a balancing act between easy readability and (for lack of a better term) authenticity. How the characters choose to think about the world, what they notice and how they react to something.
For instance, if you were writing a zombie story, the characters' reactions are going to be completely different if they're dealing with a zombie outbreak that just happened versus one that's been around for a long time and they were born into. If it's a world recently fallen, it makes sense that the character's reactions and viewpoints are as ours would be. But if it's a distant future and it's from the perspective of people who were born into this new world, their experience is necessarily foreign, though the degree can vary. Their taboos are different. Their priorities are different. This can make for a difficult, alienating read, but it can also provide character development on a whole other level.
Mieville obviously thinks all this stuff through and did an exceptional job of making me believe in this person and this world despite it all being vague and gently wakadoo. Overall I look forward to reading more of his works!...more
Ooh this one was good! Tightly written, creepy as heck. Disturbing. I think it could be a scoach longer and more developed... honestly, though, brevitOoh this one was good! Tightly written, creepy as heck. Disturbing. I think it could be a scoach longer and more developed... honestly, though, brevity and ambiguity actually work well for horror, so maybe not. Either way, I really enjoyed this!...more
I had never heard of this book and probably never would have picked it up without a friend's recommendation, but I'm sure glad I did! While I have a fI had never heard of this book and probably never would have picked it up without a friend's recommendation, but I'm sure glad I did! While I have a few quibbles, overall I really loved it. It follows a Black family in 1954 as their lives each intersect with a rich, devious white man who heads this cultish order of "natural philosophers". The characters run the gamut from a Korean War vet, to a 12-year-old comic book writer, to the publishers of the "The Safe Negro Travel Guide" (based on the actual "Negro Motorist Green Book", published from the 1930s to the 1960s) and beyond.
This book reminded me of Get Out in that it takes horror tropes normally centering on white people and turns them on their heads, and it has these really complex Black characters who have a crapton of smarts and agency.
WAIT.
Hold the phone.
I just Googled the book and found out that JORDAN PEELE IS ADAPTING IT FOR TV.
FUCK. YES.
My body is ready!
Ok, review TBC. I'm too amped to write more rn!...more
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