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misstwosense's review against another edition
2.0
Just OK
This book shows a pretty good understanding of the culture it’s trying to portray. Unfortunately, most of the horror is just derived from real life horrors. The supernatural stuff is all pretty silly and, like in the case of the Grans, downright cartoonish. It makes for an uneven experience. Also, the author really leans into the snakes and kudzu as his main tools of horror and it just doesn’t work for me. The way he describes kudzu is honestly, far too dreamy and a touch romanticized. And the snakes I just felt sorry for. It’s not their fault they’ve been made into a lazy literary device. They’re just animals.
For a book about an evil preacher, the author sure seems reluctant to make any real statement about religion itself. So it all comes off a bit wishy washy by the end. Too me, it felt like he was too neatly trying to draw a parallel between The Gibsons being a negative subset of the other normal and respectable branches of their family and this preacher being the same in regards to religion. And that’s pretty severely intellectually dishonest.
Ultimately. I just didn’t think it was very interesting. A lot of overused tropes and themes with no real point to any of it. Just misery porn. Not scary in the least.
This book shows a pretty good understanding of the culture it’s trying to portray. Unfortunately, most of the horror is just derived from real life horrors. The supernatural stuff is all pretty silly and, like in the case of the Grans, downright cartoonish. It makes for an uneven experience. Also, the author really leans into the snakes and kudzu as his main tools of horror and it just doesn’t work for me. The way he describes kudzu is honestly, far too dreamy and a touch romanticized. And the snakes I just felt sorry for. It’s not their fault they’ve been made into a lazy literary device. They’re just animals.
For a book about an evil preacher, the author sure seems reluctant to make any real statement about religion itself. So it all comes off a bit wishy washy by the end. Too me, it felt like he was too neatly trying to draw a parallel between The Gibsons being a negative subset of the other normal and respectable branches of their family and this preacher being the same in regards to religion. And that’s pretty severely intellectually dishonest.
Ultimately. I just didn’t think it was very interesting. A lot of overused tropes and themes with no real point to any of it. Just misery porn. Not scary in the least.
aemesserlie's review
3.0
Blood Kin is a southern Gothic horror story about the strange goings on in a poor family. Michael Gibson, a Melungeon man from a small southern town, moves back home to take care of his elderly grandmother Sadie. As he is caring for her, she tells him stories of her childhood in the 1930's. As she tells him stories of a dark past, he begins to realize that the darkness of her childhood still exists and she is trying to prepare him for a final showdown with a family nightmare.
Honestly, I picked up this book because it had a cool cover and an interesting premise. Plus, I was impressed that the author was creating Melungeon characters; none of the people I know have even heard of Melungeons, let alone know anything about them.
However, I was slightly disappointed in this book. Although the characters and the story have a lot of promise, I think that promise was unfulfilled. The characters were compelling, but Rasnic Tem could have done so much more with them. And the writing was convoluted and had quite a few plot holes; for example, in one chapter, the Grans are described as being reclusive shut ins that almost no one in the family has ever seen, while just a few pages later, everyone in the family is showing up for a birthday party for them. This makes no sense.
However, I do have to say that Rasnic Tem does a wonderful job of evoking atmosphere; I really loved reading the parts about Sadie's life as a poor child in the 1930's. I was really able to put myself into the environment and that was wonderful. I just wish the rest of the book had been as good.
Honestly, I picked up this book because it had a cool cover and an interesting premise. Plus, I was impressed that the author was creating Melungeon characters; none of the people I know have even heard of Melungeons, let alone know anything about them.
However, I was slightly disappointed in this book. Although the characters and the story have a lot of promise, I think that promise was unfulfilled. The characters were compelling, but Rasnic Tem could have done so much more with them. And the writing was convoluted and had quite a few plot holes; for example, in one chapter, the Grans are described as being reclusive shut ins that almost no one in the family has ever seen, while just a few pages later, everyone in the family is showing up for a birthday party for them. This makes no sense.
However, I do have to say that Rasnic Tem does a wonderful job of evoking atmosphere; I really loved reading the parts about Sadie's life as a poor child in the 1930's. I was really able to put myself into the environment and that was wonderful. I just wish the rest of the book had been as good.
_marjolaine_'s review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
sjj169's review
3.0
This book starts off just pure Appalachian tale. Michael has come home to the Mountains to recover from a suicide attempt and to care for his ailing Grandmother Sadie. Sadie starts telling the history of the Gibson clan to him as her health allows. Sadie was a young girl growing up in the mountains in the 1930's. I loved her parts of the story. I eat up Appalachian folklore with a spoon. The history and tales in this part of the book come alive. I live at the base of the Appalachian mountain chain so I have experienced some of the happenings that are told. Yes I've been to a church that handled snakes.(No I didn't touch them) It's not something you discuss in proper company but I grew up curious about everything and as a young teenager I jumped at the chance to go once I found out what the outing would include. A church that speaks in tongues and picks up snakes is something this reader will never forget. A chill ran through me as I read this part of the book remembering. The author does a fantastic job detailing this in the book.
Southern Appalachian history to me is just like no other. The Granny in this book were so familiar to me growing up that I saw her in my mind perfectly. Old wives tales that came from her lips were reminiscent of my grandmother's getting on to us youngun's as we constantly tested their nerves.
The book swerves into horror towards the end and I think then I became disjointed from the story. I just wanted it to be more than it was. The ending became rushed and disjointed.
Southern Appalachian history to me is just like no other. The Granny in this book were so familiar to me growing up that I saw her in my mind perfectly. Old wives tales that came from her lips were reminiscent of my grandmother's getting on to us youngun's as we constantly tested their nerves.
The book swerves into horror towards the end and I think then I became disjointed from the story. I just wanted it to be more than it was. The ending became rushed and disjointed.
allimmiller's review
dark
emotional
tense
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? It's complicated
3.5
old_tim's review against another edition
5.0
Hey who doesn't love a good snake handling scene?
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2014/03/sometimes-weird-is-just-over-next-hill.html
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2014/03/sometimes-weird-is-just-over-next-hill.html
jennysaisquois's review
3.0
You know, I don't think I've ever read a book that could call itself Southern Gothic and yet I could rattle off the tropes - poverty, race tensions, incest, snake-handling churches, KUDZU - and they are all here in abundance (especially the kudzu!) Maybe it's because, as I said, it's not a genre I read much if at all, but Sadie's story didn't feel tired or trite to me. And Sadie's chapters were the most engaging part of the story. The end did feel a bit rushed to me, after all the WHAT IS IN THE BOX UNDER THE KUDZU (you will figure out what is in the box after, like, a chapter) tension. What did the preacher do? What were his Evil Plans? What would he have gone on to do if the book had not ended as it did? I would have liked more on these topics. I also was a little confused why Tem decided to have the main characters be Melungeons; it felt a little like writing them as people of color as a way to make the Gibsons and their strange ways and talents seem a little more mysterious and mystical, and people should cut that out.
Content warnings: some body horror (if you're at all squeamish, skip the part where Jesse and Lilly go home after church) and snakes. LOTS OF SNAKES. Indiana Jones would hate this book.
Readalikes: there's a strong tie to Stephen King's IT with children believing they've vanquished a childhood terror only for it to return years later.
Content warnings: some body horror (if you're at all squeamish, skip the part where Jesse and Lilly go home after church) and snakes. LOTS OF SNAKES. Indiana Jones would hate this book.
Readalikes: there's a strong tie to Stephen King's IT with children believing they've vanquished a childhood terror only for it to return years later.
serialreader's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
vkemp's review
2.0
Michael Gibson lives with his grandmother down in the valley. He has returned to his place of growing up to escape life outside. She is a Melungean, someone with a mixed racial profile living in central Appalachia. She is dying, but has a story to tell about growing up during the Depression with strange relatives. Buried deep in a nearby kudzu-covered field is an iron-clad box containing something unspeakable. As a horror novel, this worked, but as something I enjoyed reading, not so much.