NOS4A2 is smartly written, insightful, reflects an understanding of inner life... and is a spiraling well of darkness and depravity so deep that I had to take a several month break before finishing it. A horror novel, both damn good and deeply disturbing.

Horror is not my usual genre (and reading this book on my lunch break was a TERRIBLE idea), but I am glad that I read this book, and I am optimistic that I'll like more books by this author, as I hadn't read his work before. If you like horror, I recommend it. If you aren't sure, give it a try, but don't try to push through if it stresses you out too much because it will NOT let up.

*Updating my review to say that after thinking more about the ableism surrounding a secondary character's stutter (difficulty speaking is treated as part of the horror), and killing a character immediately after heavily implying that they're queer, I no longer highly recommend this, but if you already like horror you might enjoy it.