Welcome to Litsy!

I liked this novel quite a bit. Bazterrica has a surprisingly light touch for such heavy subject matter. I love how skillfully she conveys the idea that the main character possesses secrets even from herself, recognizing, of course, that the book I experienced is a team effort between author, translator Sarah Moses, and narrator Imani Jade Powers. The oscillation between despair and hope, beauty and the grotesque is very well done.

Being in a cult and knowing you‘re in a cult can be two different things. Something has created a toxic world, but some have found shelter at the Sacred Sisterhood (but no men except Him..). As is typical with cults, there is a hierarchy, secrets, a mysterious leader. But what is the true price of shelter here? What does it really take to break free?

The book itself is under 200 pages but I struggled early on as the author has decided to start this book in the middle of everything and we slowly learn that it's a dystopian setting, with little context as to how it happened, set in a convent full of women of varying ages.

I might have to pause reading another from this author since I've read two back to back and each one has left me reeling in disgust and horrified.

3⭐️/5⭐️

Read some good spooky books in August :) Going to (hopefully) see all 3 authors next week at the National Book Festival!

@Blueberry

Reliably dark as hell. I thought Tender is the Flesh was much stronger but still had to finish this in a single day.

I was a bit scared of this novel because I read very mixed reviews but I really liked it. It was so so interesting and strong

I loved this weird dystopian horror novel. The narrator is a member of the Sacred Sisterhood convent a group that believes in undergoing pain and suffering for their God. The narrator is obsessed with writing down her story in ink, blood, whatever she can find. She also believes in going along with the Sisterhood until she meets Lucia, the newest member. Then things get more interesting 🖤
Warnings: for almost anything you can think of.

As wild as you would expect from the Author of “Tender is the Flesh”. 4⭐️

I recently decided to stop reading dystopian novels for a while and yet I read this. I should have stuck to my decision. One can only deal with so much post apocalypse in this crazy world. So it is partly me but then again, the story is definitely not as good as Tender in the Flesh, the reason why I picked it up.
It‘s at least as gory in its details but that‘s about it. Too bad 🤷🏻‍♀️

⭐️⭐️.5

Never has a novella taken me so long to trudge through. The premise was super up my alley, but it‘s so slow with lots of plot holes … which, fine, whatever. It‘s a style choice. I just didn‘t care about this story at all. Total disconnect.

#WeeklyForecast 17/25

Back home after spending Easter at the coast. My plans are to finish Where the Forest Meets the River and the tagged book. If possible I‘d like to make a start in a #NYRB classic: The Mangan Inheritance.

Because I loved Tender is the Flesh so much I went in with high expectations for this one, and I think that messed with my reading experience.

This is a bleak story full of things I normally like in a dystopian read. Plus, the addition of a creepy, religious cult just made me even more interested when I started this one. However, for such a short book, it took me forever to read this one, and I was just never fully invested.

Listened to the audiobook a few weeks back and WOW. I think this may be better than Tender is the Flesh, which I also loved. Post-apocalyptic nuns is an incredible vibe, and also this made me cry. All the content warnings apply, but this was so good.

This is pretty creepy. I devoured it.

#Aardvark @AardvarkBookClub

#BookSpin @TheAromaofBooks

I feel like I‘ll never finish this book. (That‘s my 11 year old in the yellow jersey. For the OGs: that‘s my youngest. He was 2 when I joined this lovely community).

More severe storms, including a very ominous rotating wall cloud, and a possible tornado, has left us without power. Book light to rescue. Readers are always prepared! It‘s supposed to rain all night. Flash flooding is the issue now. This spring really sucks so far. ⚡️☔️💡📖

I LOVED Tender is the Flesh, so I jumped on this when I saw it was the author‘s latest. I went in blind, so I at first enjoyed trying to puzzle out what was happening, but I eventually got a little bored and never quite recovered.

The first half was hard to get through. There wasn‘t too much going on, and everything had to be figured out with little to no context. Once the story started picking up (and by that I mean the characters started interacting) I began to enjoy it more. It‘s a very short story, so I wish it would have moved quicker and had more of a developed back story. It was a bit predictable, but otherwise still enjoyed the ending.

Written with a lyrical, beautiful tone, the content of this book is of a horrible dystopian society. The world has all but been destroyed by environmental disasters. The humanity that remains is not doing well and it brings out the worst in people. The story was very descriptive at the expense of plot. But the last half of the book became more intriguing with the arrival of a new character.

And yes, my dog tried to eat my book

4/5

In a post-apocalyptic world after climate change destroys civilization, a woman keeps a secret journal in the mysterious and brutal Sacred Sisterhood.

The writing is brutally evocative of the end of the world. The horror and narrators rushed secrecy permeate every line. It was an unsettling read that will stick with me.

So many content warnings on this one.

#netgalley

This one was very dark and will stick with me for a long time. This bleak look at what is left of humanity also offers a look at the importance of love. Add in the fact that this story is based around a cult, which made it a book I knew I would sink into. Bazterrica explores feminism, power, and morality in only the way she can, and this book feels highly fitting in the times we are currently in.

It‘s going to be a good month!! #aardvark

The author of Tender Is the Flesh returns with a post-apocalyptic cult of unholy terrors. As literary horror, I appreciate the disturbing and grotesque connections drawn between climate change, religious extremism, the oppression of women, the mutilation of the natural world, and the renewing and transformative power of love in action…but, as dystopia…to me, this felt derivative of The Handmaid‘s Tale and Oryx & Crake, without the political depth.