Wilder Girls (2019 original; edició 2019)

Not my kind of horror. The most compelling thing about this book was what was growing behind Hetty's sealed-up eyelid. Alas, we never find out. ( )

You know what? I really liked the voices who read this audiobook. Bumped it up from three to four stars for that. And I generally loathe first person present tense. I don't get some of the snippets you hear about this book. "Lord of the Flies." Uh, no. There are adults who remain in control without challenge and the students still behave like they're in a society. "Ending feels like the story is just getting going." Yes and no. Yes if you were starving for plot the whole book and the appetizer of the last chapters got you ravenous. I felt about 20% like this. I love plot and it drove me nuts wondering when we were going to learn more as I was listening to the first half.

But the no is because I think this book strives to be a character study and to be about friendship in the worst/weirdest of circumstances. And it does pretty well at that. And this is teenage friendships, which are weird to begin with. TBH Byatt is probably the most intriguing of the three main friends. Effortlessly manipulative, and a past that is teased at - I couldn't figure out the deal. Does she have a personality disorder?

What I really like in all this is that the author is unflinching with the horrors, with the relationships themselves or with the body horror they live with daily. No one really gets superpowers, or if they do, they die not long after. Your parents aren't coming to save you. You might dream of reunions, but if any come, you may regret it. In fact, maybe there's no one you can really trust. Getting sick hurts and getting deformed by sickness hurts a lot. There are no easy treatments. There are no easy ways out of anything.

While I was listening, I would recognize something being set up that could have been happy or easy. In fact, sometimes I was hungry for that, even though I knew it probably wouldnt be the right choice for the story. And every time, instead of making things simple or easy for the characters or the reader, the author makes it harder, cuts deeper, tears out your shriveled heart and tosses it on the ground.

And that's the way it should be. ( )

Going to be honest. I wasn't able to finish this book. It was well written in a way that hurt me physically, but I could not finish it because of this fact. I kept reading passages and then putting it down, then picking it back up, hitting another passage, and then stopping again. I think I made it about 50% through the book before having to put it down and not pick it back up. For those of you that like body horror, this book is for you! For those of you that, like me, cannot handle it don't even bother. I give it a 3 stars because while it was well written, I could not complete it. ( )

TRIGGER WARNINGS (as stated on Rory Power’s website):
Graphic violence and body horror. Gore.
On the page character death, parental death, and animal death, though the animals are not pets.
Behavior and descriptive language akin to self harm, and references to such.
Food scarcity and starvation. Emesis.
A scene depicting chemical gassing.
Reference to suicide and suicidal ideation.
Non-consensual medical treatment.

Raxter School for Girls went under quarantine after the TOX broke out a year and a half ago. Two surviving teachers and a few girls are all that is left at the island boarding school. The TOX affects everyone differently – an extra spine, a sealed eye with something moving underneath, a silver hand… The TOX has also turned the wilderness beyond the school’s gates wilder than before. Hetty and her best friends Byatt and Reese, must fight for survival with the others while they wait for a cure.
Firstly, I immediately fell in love with the cover of the book – HOLY COW IT’S BEAUTIFUL! I would have this as a poster hanging in my house. The art gives the book even more beauty once you know its secrets.
As I’ve seen many other describe it, I would say the genre is “dystopian feminist horror”. The horror wasn’t a scared, tense-filled horror, but more of an uncomfortable, skin crawling horror. It was gruesome in parts, but only because it would be describing what was happening with the girls.
“It’s like that, with all of us here. Sick, strange, and we don’t know why. Things bursting out of us, bits missing and pieces sloughing off, and then we harden and smooth over.”
The writing was a bit choppy in parts, but it worked because it was the character’s thought process. It was so well written I nearly read it all in one setting. I stayed with it and kept turning pages because I wanted to know what would happen to Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. I also wanted desperately to know how the TOX happened to begin with. ( )

Starting this book I thought I wouldn't like it because it wasn't really what I thought in terms of plot and the circumstances of the quarantine but after reading a bit more I was hooked. I grew to like Hetty's character and I felt invested in the future of these girls. It did not disappoint me and the ending was clarifying enough.
I didn't find too gory or scary and in this case it was fine. ( )