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directorpurry's review against another edition
4.0
CW: Homophobia, anti-Semitism, death of an animal, gore, parental abuse/neglect, suicide, self-harm, (mentioned) statutory rape
The Silent End doesn't pull any punches. It's a wild ride from start to finish, barely tethered to reality even before things go nuts.
It was f*cking great. It's also incredibly difficult to describe - it's one of those things where I think you just have to read it. There is a lot of horror, almost cosmic, going on, as well as the more relatable high school nerd dynamic.
This book does a lot of things right. The main cast is super diverse but without playing identity politics - where else are we going to find a one eyed, Phillipino as a main character? Sattin did a really great job of laying each character's ethnicity/background early on but letting the rest of the story play it way down. They just were diverse. The pacing (except for Just a Hat) was also excellent. There's a lot of weirdness going on, but it was balanced pretty well. But Just a Hat spent a little too long on explaining plot elements with more telling than showing, in direct opposition to the rest of the story.
Unfortunately, there were some significant typos that could have easily been fixed by a closer proof. In a similar vein, both Just a Hat and the epilogue probably could have been a little more streamlined. And, admittedly, I wish that some of the plot had been a little more symbolic than literal, but not enough to really hurt my rating.
I really, really enjoyed reading this book, regardless of the laundry list of content warnings and little typos.
And I mean really, what are the odds that I would run across a cosmic horror-tinged, printed by a tiny press, novel with a Jewish main character in the middle of a Half Price Books in Waukesha, Wisconsin? It was meant to be. I look forward to reading more of Sattin's writing in the future!
The Silent End doesn't pull any punches. It's a wild ride from start to finish, barely tethered to reality even before things go nuts.
It was f*cking great. It's also incredibly difficult to describe - it's one of those things where I think you just have to read it. There is a lot of horror, almost cosmic, going on, as well as the more relatable high school nerd dynamic.
This book does a lot of things right. The main cast is super diverse but without playing identity politics - where else are we going to find a one eyed, Phillipino
Spoiler
lesbianUnfortunately, there were some significant typos that could have easily been fixed by a closer proof. In a similar vein, both Just a Hat and the epilogue probably could have been a little more streamlined. And, admittedly, I wish that some of the plot had been a little more symbolic than literal, but not enough to really hurt my rating.
I really, really enjoyed reading this book, regardless of the laundry list of content warnings and little typos.
And I mean really, what are the odds that I would run across a cosmic horror-tinged, printed by a tiny press, novel with a Jewish main character in the middle of a Half Price Books in Waukesha, Wisconsin? It was meant to be. I look forward to reading more of Sattin's writing in the future!
zionacook's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
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