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A review by menastarr
Suburban Monsters by Christopher Hawkins
1.0
thank you netgalley for sending me an ARC of christopher hawkin's "suburban monsters" anthology. as a horror lover, when i came across this on NG i had to give it a try!! however, at 64% i decided to DNF. despite me really wanting to enjoy this short story collection, i couldn't. i'm not sure if it was hawkins' writing style or the very lackluster and unoriginal plots for the stories, but it was very unenjoyable for me to read. i was hoping that it would get better or that there would be a story i would truly click with but alas, that was not the case. HOWEVER! i did write mini reviews for the stories that i did read.
green eyes: 2.5/5 - well that was just outright depressing. it kind of reminded me of the movie "antlers" with the whole neglected child, single parent with supernatural issue vibe. i noticed "leaves" was consistently spelled as "leafs", and i'm curious if that was deliberate or not due to the narrator being a young girl. everything else was spelled correctly though, so i'm not sure.
moonrise over water: 3/5 - honestly was unsure how i wanted to rate this one. i took a liking to the artistic elements, though i felt like there was no passion in the story, if that makes sense. it felt like a filler in-between other stories in this collection (little did i know... the ENTIRE collection was going to feel like filler)
storms of the present: DNF - i had to skip through this one because it truly did not sit well with me. MAJOR trigger warning for self harm, eating disorders. and body dysmorphia. definitely not a fan of this story by any means.
origin story: 1/5 - wasn't impressed. very predictable, with boring and unlikable characters.
poppy: 4/5 - this was a step up from the other stories in the collection!! it was honestly really interesting and kept me entertained.
interude: 1/5 - talk about corny... the concept as a story was not executed effectively; however, it may have been better if it were in the form of a short film!
the stumblybums: 2/5 - idk i feel like this concept has been used and recycled so many times before that it didn't have an effect on me. maybe i'm just overly critical... who knows
green eyes: 2.5/5 - well that was just outright depressing. it kind of reminded me of the movie "antlers" with the whole neglected child, single parent with supernatural issue vibe. i noticed "leaves" was consistently spelled as "leafs", and i'm curious if that was deliberate or not due to the narrator being a young girl. everything else was spelled correctly though, so i'm not sure.
moonrise over water: 3/5 - honestly was unsure how i wanted to rate this one. i took a liking to the artistic elements, though i felt like there was no passion in the story, if that makes sense. it felt like a filler in-between other stories in this collection (little did i know... the ENTIRE collection was going to feel like filler)
storms of the present: DNF - i had to skip through this one because it truly did not sit well with me. MAJOR trigger warning for self harm, eating disorders. and body dysmorphia. definitely not a fan of this story by any means.
origin story: 1/5 - wasn't impressed. very predictable, with boring and unlikable characters.
poppy: 4/5 - this was a step up from the other stories in the collection!! it was honestly really interesting and kept me entertained.
interude: 1/5 - talk about corny... the concept as a story was not executed effectively; however, it may have been better if it were in the form of a short film!
the stumblybums: 2/5 - idk i feel like this concept has been used and recycled so many times before that it didn't have an effect on me. maybe i'm just overly critical... who knows