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shadowinferno's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Lost something like half of a star for She-Man alone honestly. Even in a book of women in strange situations all a trans women can be is pimped out and then killed I suppose.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed a lot of this prose, there's potent body horror throughout. The book generally swings for the fences and sees some hits.
I'd recommend it, though probably as the reprint without She-Man in, it sort of sours the collection right at the end.
Favorite stories
Hellion
Ant Colony
Dinner
Dancing Rat
Otherwise, I really enjoyed a lot of this prose, there's potent body horror throughout. The book generally swings for the fences and sees some hits.
I'd recommend it, though probably as the reprint without She-Man in, it sort of sours the collection right at the end.
Favorite stories
Hellion
Ant Colony
Dinner
Dancing Rat
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Infertility and Transphobia
Minor: Abortion
shirley098's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Loved it. Stories with women that were unhinged, flawed, varied train wrecks, that threw you straight into the madness with very little set-dressing and preparation from the very first sentence. Bitingly funny, with intriguing phrase construction where you're never quite sure where it'll end up.
Some memorable quotes:
Dinner.
I am boiling inside a kettle with five other people. Our limbs are bound and our intestines and mouths are stuffed with herbs and garlic, but we can still speak. We smell great despite the pain.
"There are worse ways to die," I tell myself, "than being boiled then sliced with a knife." But it takes me awhile to think of one.
Model' assistant.
My best friend Garla is a model from somewhere Swedishy; if you try to pin down where, like what town, or if actually Sweden, she just yells "Vodka," of if she's in a better mood, "Vodka, you know?" which seems like she's maybe saying she's Russian, but really she just wants to drink.
Her hair is softer than my shaved legs.
Compared to her, I am like a sandwich. I am completely inhuman and benign. I try to remember one I'd eaten in the fourth grade and cannot. I can't really remember one I'd eaten a month ago. We all must be like fourth grade sandwiches to Garla.
Bandleader's Girlfriend.
We came to the designer in order to get fitted full-body leather suits. They have zippers and ties all other the place so they can stay on during a variety of activities, like going to the bathroom or getting an immunization shot in the upper arm.
A lot of people who know about the view from the tip-top of a bridge or tall building are dead, because they climbed up in order to jump off. But sometimes I wonder if they truly planned on jumping or if the view was just so beautiful that they realized what a wide big net beauty is, and then wanted so badly to be caught by it.
Delivery woman.
She also killed my father. He was a good man, but too talkative
Cat Owner.
I am bad at dating, which is to say, I am bad at waiting for people to fall in love with me. What is the hold up? Where is the kink in the hose?
Tonight, I've prepared mashed potatoes. I'm nervous because they look like the diarrhea of a clown.
Teenager.
I am sixteen years old and I cannot have Luke Gunter's baby. I have seen my older cousin's deflated football breasts. They have weird marks and lines that make them seem like optical illusions, like how pencils placed into glasses of water appear broken.
Some memorable quotes:
Dinner.
I am boiling inside a kettle with five other people. Our limbs are bound and our intestines and mouths are stuffed with herbs and garlic, but we can still speak. We smell great despite the pain.
"There are worse ways to die," I tell myself, "than being boiled then sliced with a knife." But it takes me awhile to think of one.
Model' assistant.
My best friend Garla is a model from somewhere Swedishy; if you try to pin down where, like what town, or if actually Sweden, she just yells "Vodka," of if she's in a better mood, "Vodka, you know?" which seems like she's maybe saying she's Russian, but really she just wants to drink.
Her hair is softer than my shaved legs.
Compared to her, I am like a sandwich. I am completely inhuman and benign. I try to remember one I'd eaten in the fourth grade and cannot. I can't really remember one I'd eaten a month ago. We all must be like fourth grade sandwiches to Garla.
Bandleader's Girlfriend.
We came to the designer in order to get fitted full-body leather suits. They have zippers and ties all other the place so they can stay on during a variety of activities, like going to the bathroom or getting an immunization shot in the upper arm.
A lot of people who know about the view from the tip-top of a bridge or tall building are dead, because they climbed up in order to jump off. But sometimes I wonder if they truly planned on jumping or if the view was just so beautiful that they realized what a wide big net beauty is, and then wanted so badly to be caught by it.
Delivery woman.
She also killed my father. He was a good man, but too talkative
Cat Owner.
I am bad at dating, which is to say, I am bad at waiting for people to fall in love with me. What is the hold up? Where is the kink in the hose?
Tonight, I've prepared mashed potatoes. I'm nervous because they look like the diarrhea of a clown.
Teenager.
I am sixteen years old and I cannot have Luke Gunter's baby. I have seen my older cousin's deflated football breasts. They have weird marks and lines that make them seem like optical illusions, like how pencils placed into glasses of water appear broken.
spaceodin's review against another edition
4.0
I was loving this collection until the next to last story, the unfortunately named “She-Man”, starring the only trans character of the bunch. I was annoyed by some pretty basic ignorance throughout - estrogen doesn’t change your voice! - but by the end, it was pure garbage. Yet another story about a trans sex worker who, upon having her “deception” discovered, is beaten to death by her lover and white supremecists. This was inexcusably lazy, in a collection that thrives on women being in otherworldly and surreal situations, that the only scenario a trans woman could possibly be in is murdered.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Violence
misskimlove's review
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
katellison's review against another edition
5.0
hell yeah rock and roll
i liked the story about the dentist who transplants an ant colony into the bones of his crush and then gives himself an ant colony transplant and then stops feeding her ant colony in order to subsume her
when i finished i ordered a copy of the edition that includes the unreprinted story "Shemale"
i hope it gets here in time for Transgender Day of Visibility
i liked the story about the dentist who transplants an ant colony into the bones of his crush and then gives himself an ant colony transplant and then stops feeding her ant colony in order to subsume her
when i finished i ordered a copy of the edition that includes the unreprinted story "Shemale"
i hope it gets here in time for Transgender Day of Visibility
thrillerbingergirl's review against another edition
funny
3.25
🌟🌟🌟💫
𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀/ 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘀𝗮 𝗡𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
«ᴡʜʏ ᴀᴍ ɪ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇʀᴅ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴛʏ? ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴛʜɪʀᴛɪᴇꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʏ ɴᴏᴡ ɪ ꜱʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴀᴛ ʟᴇᴀꜱᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴇɴᴅ. »
Unusual scenarios, this could be considered fairy tales for adults. There are clever, disturbing and creative plots and as in any compilation i enjoyed some stories more than others.
My favorites:
ᴅɪɴɴᴇʀ
ᴍᴏᴅᴇʟ'ꜱ ᴀꜱꜱɪꜱᴛᴀɴᴛ
ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀʏ ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ
ɢᴀʀᴅᴇɴᴇʀ
𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀/ 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘀𝗮 𝗡𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
«ᴡʜʏ ᴀᴍ ɪ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇʀᴅ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴛʏ? ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴛʜɪʀᴛɪᴇꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʏ ɴᴏᴡ ɪ ꜱʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴀᴛ ʟᴇᴀꜱᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴇɴᴅ. »
Unusual scenarios, this could be considered fairy tales for adults. There are clever, disturbing and creative plots and as in any compilation i enjoyed some stories more than others.
My favorites:
ᴅɪɴɴᴇʀ
ᴍᴏᴅᴇʟ'ꜱ ᴀꜱꜱɪꜱᴛᴀɴᴛ
ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀʏ ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ
ɢᴀʀᴅᴇɴᴇʀ
erboe501's review against another edition
5.0
These are weird, enthralling stories. The characters aren't likeable, and their actions hard to predict, but I devoured them. They are all pretty grim, many of them focused on women lonely in their relationships with men, mothers, children. They are beautiful and know it; they are unattractive and know it. Desire for connection is a common theme. The girl who begins a relationship with a cannibal in "Cannibal Lover." The woman who follows a super model around desperate for the pseudo-attention in "Model's Assistant."
Some of these fall under the magical realism umbrella to address society's approaches to women's bodies, like the gorgeous woman who has ants drilled into her bones in "Ant Colony." Others, like "Dancing Rat," have no easily perceivable element of the speculative. But because of their proximity in a collection with other surreal stories, they take on an element of absurdity or unreality like the stories set in spaceships, although "Dancing Rat" is about the very normal and human experience of a woman unable to have, but aching for children.
Not all of the women in these stories have "jobs" in the traditional sense. But if you consider women's bodies a kind of currency or commodity, and their desires a kind of unpaid labor, you land on very messy jobs indeed.
Some of these fall under the magical realism umbrella to address society's approaches to women's bodies, like the gorgeous woman who has ants drilled into her bones in "Ant Colony." Others, like "Dancing Rat," have no easily perceivable element of the speculative. But because of their proximity in a collection with other surreal stories, they take on an element of absurdity or unreality like the stories set in spaceships, although "Dancing Rat" is about the very normal and human experience of a woman unable to have, but aching for children.
Not all of the women in these stories have "jobs" in the traditional sense. But if you consider women's bodies a kind of currency or commodity, and their desires a kind of unpaid labor, you land on very messy jobs indeed.