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gxuosi's Reviews (390)
Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Alcohol, War
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Death, Violence, Murder
Minor: War
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, Classism
Minor: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Alcohol, War, Classism
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Pregnancy
Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Rape, Alcohol
Minor: Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Trafficking, Death of parent
Graphic: Body horror, Blood
Moderate: Death, Racism, Sexual content, Murder
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Gun violence, Infidelity, Dementia, Pregnancy
“sour cherry” is a surrealist descent through the branches of a family tree that evokes a true gothic horror from the prose-like lines to the atmospheric weight of a ghost filled mansion. theodoridou, through women that go unnamed and our all knowing narrator telling a fairy tale, maps the lives of the men in a lordly family and the pestilence that clings to their bones, leeches out into the world around them. the men seemingly carry an unnatural curse that springs up decay from their very existence down to birthing stones, festering hardwood floors, throats full of forests, and women wasting away into nothingness. “sour cherry” uses allegory and symbolism to seek to answer what makes a man a man and what makes men monsters? built around the ever cyclic nature of domestic violence, theodoridou opens the discussion of the entrapment the unnamed women experience at the hands of the man who manages to make them stay.
this book was captivating and all consuming. the atmospheric setting and format drew me in and didn’t let go. the format and narrator’s voice were also unique and i haven’t read another book formatted like this before. i felt that the pacing was at times a bit too stunted or whip-quick, with seemingly pointless diversions into subplots for which there are no answers—but this did not decrease my enjoyment or understanding of the story. “sour cherry” nestles neatly alongside the similarly surrealist generational trauma stories “the invisible hotel”by yeji y. ham and “woodworm” by layla martínez—if you liked those, read this and if you like this read those!
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Alcohol
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Gore, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Death of parent
Minor: Racism, War
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, War
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Sexual content, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent
Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Dementia
Minor: Suicide attempt