Sweetbreads and Sweet Nothings by Evelyn Esrig

3.5 Stars

 

“What is it they say? You never forget your first love.”

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, this book blurb started spreading around the Goodreadsphere earlier this week. It became crystal clear there were only two camps – on one side of the room sat the normies who didn’t want anything to do with it and on the other side . . . .



Yeah, all of us freaks pre-ordered this sum bitch en masse.

For me I’ll admit as soon as I saw the title I may have let out a bit of a squee and offered up a tiny prayer to whatever freaky book god would deliver me a book about Sweetbreads and Sweet Nothings. When the blurb confirmed this story would be about cannibalism Mitchell practically knocked me out of the way to get it pre-ordered. We were both expecting something very particular in this “romance” . . . .



Mitchell was less-than-thrilled when it turned out there was less ewww in the form of the nomnomnom and more ewww in the form of the fact that it seemed like we were reading the equivalent of a Sam Smith record playing on an endless loop . . .



Now, if you are of the weak-stomached variety, you’ll probably still barf. However, if you’re like me (a/k/a totally normal) you’ll look past the potential gross-out factor and see this novella for what it is – how to find closure and move on with your life after you’ve lost a partner. Imagine if you could sit across the table from someone you loved who decided to take his own life . . . or if you could speak to cancer or heart disease or whatever else took your love away. If you could release all of your hatred, if you could be provided an explanation of why, if you could find peace. This story is obviously not for everyone and it’s most definitely not perfect (probably around 3 Stars as far as writing/character development/etc. and negative 1,000 Stars for that fug cover), but I’m giving it 3.5 Stars for originality and for the fact that I thought I was just reading something for a cheap October thrill and ended up experiencing something much deeper.

Okay, the review portion is over – now I’m going to hop on my soapbox for a second. This week I’ve seen lots of posts (about this and another story) saying “this is subject matter that should NEVER be written about” or “shame on the author.” Everyone has the right to opt not to read a book, to 1 Star it because you hated it, to rage review it because you found it offensive – but be careful throwing around those “NEVERS.” You may regret it someday if you find your right to speak freely taken away . . .



Alright, stepping of soapbox. Now on to the mad props for all my homies who jumped right into the fire with me on this one . . .



Rosa, really and Wart and Susan and JaHy and Shelby. You guys are all hilarious psychos and I love being friends with you on Goodreads.

ORIGINAL "REVIEW":

That awkward moment when none of your friends want to read a book because of the disturbing blurb which is the reason you want to read the book . . .