Reviews

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

suicunejpg's review against another edition

5.0

quality of writing: 10/10 enjoyment: 10/10 pc: 356 a lesbian taxidermist struggles to keep her family and the family business afloat after her dad kills himself. funny, morbid, weird and very gay, this book transported me to the narrators hot, sweaty, sticky florida town with flashbacks to her childhood and her love triangle with her best friend and her brother and the ripple effect it left on both their lives. this book talks about how you can know everything about someone while knowing absolutely nothing at all, and the crazy realization that your parents are just as complex as you. i love love loved this book. highly recommend. tw for taxidermy descriptions (obvi)

chronicloser's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“how do you leave the past when it’s staring you in the face all the time? when it’s got its teeth dug into you like a rabid animal?”

the parts of this that I liked were great. I love the characters, weird and intense and whole people in all their ugliness. so ugly that its beautiful. arnett’s writing is chockfull of exposition, definitely a strength of hers, and inner thoughts that make her MC jessa so compelling. I adore stories about grief, complicated dynamics, things that have been left unsaid — mostly dead things gave me all of that and more

it took me a miiiiinute to finish this, which is for many reasons, but i can’t act like my up and down interest in the actual story wasn’t one of them. BUT !!!! it was still good. and I’m glad I finished it… literally 20 minutes before I had to return it to the library. which was kinda thrilling, tbh. I recommend!!! 

avesmaria's review against another edition

1.0

Didn’t finish this. I was hoping for taxidermy/family dysfunction and it was pretty much just lesbian erotica. Not enough dead things

spaceyyycasey's review against another edition

3.0

not amazing but also not horrible

jessdonaldson84's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

3.0

cadefritz's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

mollywollydooda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

miri3ll3's review

4.0

So weird but I couldn’t stop listening!

sophiedavis's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sirthatsacowboy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Whoa. Loved this. Loved this a lot. It was slow and paced in a way that I usually can’t stay engaged with, but I really just couldn’t put it down. Reminded me so much of growing up in rural Texas as a closeted queer kid. It had complex, complicated, fucked up characters that were true to their environment and upbringing and I appreciated how human it all was. I even appreciated that the conflicts weren’t perfectly wrapped up, which felt truer to the characters that had been carefully written. Really loved this.