woolfinbooks's reviews
520 reviews

 Don’t trust anyone calling this extreme horror. It’s about people who work in an office where they watch videos posted online and determine if they need to be taken down or not. Racism, Nazism, Homophobia, death, murder, assault, suicide, etc. can still be allowed depending on the context. You get some insight into the rules and some stories about what happens in the videos, but most are briefly discussed with light to mild descriptions. The premise sounds interesting, but the whole book is shit.

The last 35 minutes (audiobook) has barely challenged antisemitism, Holocaust denial, racism, and homophobia. Sigrid acted as if she was being emotionally abused because Kayleigh said Holocaust denial is stupid. I guess I get what the author was trying to do by showing how online desensitization has changed them in the real world, but it was handled poorly and written fucking terribly. I'm not sure if the author or translator are to blame for that.

Sex addiction and its links to trauma were mentioned but never discussed. Coercion was mentioned but never discussed. It's like the author was stating what point they wanted to make and thinking that was enough. "Ahh isn't it bad she masturbated right next to her wife after she was denied sex?" Yes... but why isn't the character looking further into that? Why is it brushed aside like a fun little tidbit about their relationship?

Kayleigh was so use to Nazism that she was willing and begging Sigrid to get back together. That… was a choice the author made. The whole book built up to this big epic moment that never happened. Finding out that Sigrid was only pretending to be a Holocaust denier so Kayleigh would break up with her… that was meant to be the big twist? This book could have easily been another 200 pages and still not have had enough time to turn all of its crumbs into a meal.

And, of course, the white author trying to be edgy and controversial used racial slurs... How revolutionary.

I think whatever insufferable character said it best as far as I’m concerned it wasn’t that too much happened, if anything too little

Content / Trigger Warnings
animal cruelty
antisemitism
assault
coercion
homophobia
misogyny
nazism
racial slurs
racism
sex
suicide 

I had no reason other to read this other than trying to complete the 'read around the world' challenge. This was the only accessible book on Andorra I could find. While I don't have a need for a travel guide, I did find it interesting to read about the culture, mountains, and art history. If you do ever plan on visiting, this is a perfect short read for you! 

 I haven't read the short story this is based on, but it didn't translate well into a graphic novel. The art and text didn't match; like the text would say a lizard was a certain color but the art of the lizard was completely different. The story wasn't balanced. Some parts were way too wordy while others weren't wordy enough. It read like they inserted lines directly from the short story, but I'm not sure if they did or not? If they did, I think it would've worked a lot better if they allowed the dialogue and art to show rather than tell. While the art style wasn't my cup of tea I do think it fits the story incredibly well.

This was incredibly difficult to get through as the font and lettering were unreadable. I genuinely can't comprehend how anyone was able to read it. The distortion of the text hurt my eyes to the point I felt nauseous and made it extremely difficult to follow what line I was on. I hope one day there's an edition that's more accessible as this is probably the least dyslexic friendly thing I've ever read in my entire life. With how inclusive it seems to be, I don't understand how neurodiversity wasn't factored into the font and lettering. 

I don't feel comfortable giving it a rating as I wasn't able to 100% finish it and don't think my personal issues with reading it should really factor into it. From what I did read it was the exact type of graphic novel I would've loved. 

I read this for Jesse On YouTube's TBR cards challenge. Prompt:  SPEAK - featuring a talking animal. 

This was such a nostalgic trip back to some of the first book characters I ever loved. Their stories aree timeless, and Toad has become more relatable with age.