donutsweeper

Firstly, read the book if you haven’t, it’s awesome! Giant spoiler warning and giant TW for violence against children, sex, allusions to SA, death, child death, animal death.

Idk if this counts as a review, but my review would be like 4 stars, some stuff is touched on then never really explained or expanded on and the climax/ending came rather abruptly.

Holy fuck. I have not read a book for enjoyment in a while. This is like my third book since trying to get back into the hobby. I’m a Gen Z teenager, I’m supposed to be doomscrolling Instagram after all /s.

But uh, goddamn. Pun intended.

I wasn’t raised in a religious household. I don’t know anyone who’s incredibly religious. I knew that Catholics gon Catholic and their own thing and I’ll do mine, and that’s about that. I knew that traditionally women are used as objects for men and treated objectively worse because… jesus? Something like that.

What I never thought about was what that does to a Catholic woman’s psyche. And I feel terrible. As a non religious man especially, I cannot possibly fathom being told that I am to be submissive and powerless to a person/group, and that it’s actually *your* fault that you’re being treated that way because you’re innately worse that other people who are actually the exact same as you. Seeing Sophie having to grapple with that guilt was fucking heart wrenching all the way through. Terrible things happening to *her* and all she thinks about is how it’s her fault??? Fuck that.

Other than that, the themes of sexual maturity are amazing as a person having some of those fears that Sophie has myself. Minus the whole end of the world virus.

Speaking of the virus, probably a little bit on the nose 😂😂😂 not a bad thing at all mind you, it makes total sense being written post COVID. And, I’m not very good at context and looking into books outside of the baseline story, but I cannot help but feel the virus being about feral, animalistic, non-consensual sex is not there for no reason. Especially the scene with Sophie’s father. Personally I feel gross talking about it but I’m sure that scene says something about something.

Finally, the actual end of the world stuff was awesome too. Seeing vaccination centers and high schools set up as camps was neat because that’s what happened during COVID for me. Minus the detention cages where eventually they all maul each other to death. I liked Maro, and I’m still not sure if there was a sexual tension between Sophie or not???? Somebody tell me if I’m missing something but I was getting that he was walking the line between father figure and friend for Sophie. I believe he was 24 and Sophie 17, with her turning 18 right before the climax of the book. Which I also think says something? I personally think the entire time Maro was struggling with that in his head and I feel bad because I’ve been there.

Like, not the “I’m an adult cop and I’m starting to like a kid who I think is 16 but it’s the end of the world and I have trauma and am definitely horny” thing but the “well shit it’s obvious she likes this guy more than me, guess I know which path I’m taking”. He mentioned that early long when asked about his first love. He was like “yeah, but they liked someone else more”. HINT HINT.

Cleo and Wyatt were so sweet. It was nice how you had Cleo and Maro be the “parents” to the rest of the group. Plus, power couple!!! Only traumatizing Sophie a little bit but she should’ve knocked. And then Wyatt… poor fuckin Wyatt man. I feel like he was the “token quiet kid” that a lot of media has but there’s a reason why it’s so popular. Even though he doesn’t speak much or have an incredible amount of character because he’s a traumatized 10 year old, the fact he’s there raises the stakes.

Ben’s a stud. Real cool guy. Plus, we love a king asking if his advances are alright with the woman or not every step of the way. Good shit, Ben.

Then, everyone dying!!! Goddammit man. That got me pretty good. First up were Cleo and Wyatt. Terrible. Cleo went out like a badass though. Killed a cultist then told Sophie to give em hell. Wyatt… I think seeing Wyatt die as he did definitely pushed Sophie to do what she did more, just as much as Cleo’s death. Good on Maro, going out like a hero. Great call by Sophie to lie and say everyone was okay just so he could die happy. I don’t wanna talk about the dog.

Finally, Sophie and Ben. I guess the book only could’ve ended one way, Sophie realizing her worth and her body are hers and hers alone. And her body is saying she wants to be with Ben. Just because it’s more soul crushing and thematically appropriate I’m going to choose to believe Ben’s infected and they both die. They wanted each other so bad that they didn’t care if they died or not. Worth it…?

Bonus shitty ending theory for your viewing displeasure: Ben and/or Sophie were actually turning “feral” in that moment 😬😬😬 just a thought. I just hate *“delirious, tears streaming down my face and the wind on my neck”*. I dunno. Maybe Sophie just has fever symptoms and that’s why she’s delirious.

That's the best way I can explain what I'm looking for

I loved Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng and I was wondering if there were any books that have Japanese urban legends such as the Kuchisaki-onna, Red Room, Solo Hide and Seek, etc?