Sign in with Facebook
7th out of 20 books
—
3 voters
The Devil's Mixtape
by
Mary Borsellino (Goodreads Author)
In 1999, Ella was one of three students who arrived at her Denver school with a cache of weapons and a plan to use them. Years later, she sifts through accounts of other violent young women, writing letters to a little sister who had to grow up in the aftermath of that day.
In 1952, Sally was a runaway, hitch-hiking around Australia with a strange, secretive girl named Amy...more
In 1952, Sally was a runaway, hitch-hiking around Australia with a strange, secretive girl named Amy...more
Kindle Edition, First
Published
December 15th 2011
by Omnium Gatherum
(first published December 14th 2011)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
224)
Devil's Mixtape is a lyrical, at times mesmerizing reflection on gender, identity, and the complex sources (and far reaching results) of teenaged violence. I won't try to summarize the plot as it really involves the interwoven stories of three separate groups of characters (including what at first appear to be minor, sideline characters), but at it's core is the wonderfully realized voice of a teenaged school shooter (now in hell) writing letters to her now adult rockstar sister. I admit that I...more
THE DEVIL'S MIXTAPE is not the sort of book you read once and stow away on a shelf. It's far too multi-layered for that. Borsellino's writing works on several levels at the same time. With a story told from the alternating views of roughly half a dozen characters, the book explores variegated topics from gun control to the positive and negative effects of the internet to pop culture's influence on youth to how creative and artistic processes work. Yet, as serious as those themes are, THE DEVIL'S...more
I like a book that really makes me think, so a book with a title such as The Devil's Mix Tape isn't something that I could pass up on reading, not in a million years. Depending on your personal tastes, the subject matter might be a bit harder to swallow than that of your run-of-the-mill contemporary book. True, it may prove to be challenging for readers who prefer a more linear sort of story but I think the scattered style of storytelling makes The Devil's Mix Tape feel like a puzzle you just ha...more
I really wanted to like this book.
An Australian author, writing female characters and using an Australian setting? Indigenous, trans and queer characters? Music references? Sounds great.
Unfortunately, too much time is spent on some of the interweaving storylines (especially if you count the information about young female killers as a storyline) and not enough on others; ultimately, this book tries to do a lot of really interesting things but doesn't have enough time to make them as interesting a...more
An Australian author, writing female characters and using an Australian setting? Indigenous, trans and queer characters? Music references? Sounds great.
Unfortunately, too much time is spent on some of the interweaving storylines (especially if you count the information about young female killers as a storyline) and not enough on others; ultimately, this book tries to do a lot of really interesting things but doesn't have enough time to make them as interesting a...more
What this book is for me is Green Fried Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe meets the rock band AU of my dreams (of the fandom of my heart) -- and sprinkled with the transcedental beauty and intensity that lurks around the edges of Neverwhere, or American Gods.
The stories told in this novel are so personal, so vividly real, so there that before you know it you sort of think they were sent directly to you, meant for your eyes, written to speak to you personally. The unfolding of secrets, hurts, lov...more
The stories told in this novel are so personal, so vividly real, so there that before you know it you sort of think they were sent directly to you, meant for your eyes, written to speak to you personally. The unfolding of secrets, hurts, lov...more
Mary Borsellino's The Devil's Mixtape is the kind of book you will be physically unable to put down until you have read the last page and solved every mystery.
Told in a series of alternating points of view, this book masterfully takes a dozen different narratives from different times and weaves them together -- into a Cobweb, if you will -- and each story builds on the last so perfectly it stings with how brilliantly it's done. It's got a rich Australian voice, seamlessly blending history and ge...more
Told in a series of alternating points of view, this book masterfully takes a dozen different narratives from different times and weaves them together -- into a Cobweb, if you will -- and each story builds on the last so perfectly it stings with how brilliantly it's done. It's got a rich Australian voice, seamlessly blending history and ge...more
Mary Borsellino wrote the five-book The Wolf House vampire series, which I love. It's full of horror, cruelty, compassion, love, art and rock music. The Devil's Mixtape is her newest book, and it has all the power, passion, razorblade insights and sometimes shock value of her vampire novel, condensed into a single volume. Mary Borsellino does not choose safe, easy subjects - or protagonists - but she grabs everything in two fists and propels you to places you never saw coming. The other writer w...more
I had to tell myself that “a smorgasbord of nummy” is not an appropriate literary review, though in this case it might be the most apt and concise.
Don't get me wrong. This is a horror story, or many horror stories woven together. It's horror that fills your belly and leaves you glutted and a little drunk and still wanting more. In this novel, despite the terrible things that happen, and despite everything that is lost, there is a continuity beyond the final disaster, and the only things that ar...more
Don't get me wrong. This is a horror story, or many horror stories woven together. It's horror that fills your belly and leaves you glutted and a little drunk and still wanting more. In this novel, despite the terrible things that happen, and despite everything that is lost, there is a continuity beyond the final disaster, and the only things that ar...more
This is a book that I wish, I wish with all my heart had been around when I was a teenager. But even now, I get so much out of.
The Devil's Mixtape explores voices in fiction that rarely get heard, young women and men who are marginalised, or ignored. It tells the story of outcasts and rebels, breaks your heart, but also makes you laugh when you cry.
The characters are fully, richly realised, each with a distinctive voice, and you understand their motivations and ideas, even when they aren't somet...more
The Devil's Mixtape explores voices in fiction that rarely get heard, young women and men who are marginalised, or ignored. It tells the story of outcasts and rebels, breaks your heart, but also makes you laugh when you cry.
The characters are fully, richly realised, each with a distinctive voice, and you understand their motivations and ideas, even when they aren't somet...more
One of the best books I've read in a while. I love narratives that switch between different characters, and The Devil's Mixtape does this really, really well. All the point-of-view characters have strong voices, and my favourite character tended to change depending on whose voice I was reading at the time.
I also enjoyed the disparate narrative threads, and reading through to see how Borsellino was going to tie them all together.
The Devil's Mixtape is a great read, and I particularly recommend it...more
I also enjoyed the disparate narrative threads, and reading through to see how Borsellino was going to tie them all together.
The Devil's Mixtape is a great read, and I particularly recommend it...more
As human beings, we all share an innate curiosity, if not fear, of death. The theories abound as to what constitutes consciousness, and what happens to it after the cessation of the physical form. The ideas and mythologies are as varied as people themselves. In Mary Borsellino's “The Devil's Mixtape,” traditional notions of the afterlife are twisted into something wholly original and pleasantly strange.
The main focus of the narrative is an event referred to as “Cobweb” and the lives that were...more
The main focus of the narrative is an event referred to as “Cobweb” and the lives that were...more
This is a really, really beautiful book. I can't explain too much, or I'd give it away, but its about music and hell and teenage girls and violence and popular culture and being alone and making friends and how to survive adolescence, told through the eyes of (mostly) young women and with a delightful supenatural twist. Get you teenage daughter to read this, it seems dark on the outside but, unlike the other book about an awkward teenage girl looking to escape adolescence (Twilight) this one has...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Mary Borsellino, author of The Wolf House, has done it again. I stayed up till the wee hours, unwilling to put this book away until I had finished every last word.
Mary is very skilled at writing flawed, engaging characters who also come across as incredibly human (quite a trick when not all of them are).
I love the character of Ella, even thought I don't think I'm supposed to. After all, high-school spree-killers aren't supposed to be the characters you like hearing about. But her story, on of (...more
Mary is very skilled at writing flawed, engaging characters who also come across as incredibly human (quite a trick when not all of them are).
I love the character of Ella, even thought I don't think I'm supposed to. After all, high-school spree-killers aren't supposed to be the characters you like hearing about. But her story, on of (...more
A powerfully moving story that touches your soul or what's left of it. You get to know the characters and are able to understand them on several levels. The connection between the characters shows albeit a fictional view of how the tapestry of life weaves all our life threads into one grand patterned design. Very well written.
>:) Yes I am adding an as-yet-unpublished book by this author to my list of read books; this is because I want to flaunt it in everyone's face! Mwaha! I mean, er, because it was really, really good.
This was one of those rare books that as soon as I finished seemed to be something that had always existed. A much more honest look at what it's like to be a messed up kid than you see in most stories that try to talk about them, even with the supernatural elements. 10/10
I have an ARC of The Devil's Mixtape in .pdf, .mobi, and .epub and I want to pass them on-- if anyone would like a copy, just comment!
This was a wonderfully original read! Borsellino's prose is intelligent, inventive, and true. The Devil's Mixtape has a non-traditional plot line in which many story lines weave together and intertwine in unexpected ways - but coherency is never lost and, as you start to learn the connections, your appreciation for the book only grows. All the characters had unique voices - no cliches here - and were awesome portrayals of figures underrepresented in most stories out there. My favorite POVs were...more
Dec 14, 2011
Bunny
marked it as to-read
Another The Girl Who Was on Fire essayist.
ARC for review from Sally.
This book might not be for everyone (just a guess based on the murder that forms one of the building blocks of the narrative) (which is not so much a spoiler, and is something you should know before going in just in case that bothers you!), but it's certainly everything I love in a novel. My primary reaction consists of the word "amazing" repeated many times, interspersed with "holy crap"s and "I'd never thought of that!"s and other such exclamations.
Complicated narrative and tough to keep characters straight, but a very enjoyable book. She weaves the plot beautifully and I love the social commentary that lies beneath the story. Will give it a second read so I can thoroughly enjoy it, having already been accustomed to the story.
May 13, 2013
Rohayna
marked it as to-read
May 13, 2013
Kathleen
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2013
Levi
marked it as to-read
Apr 21, 2013
Jasmine
added it
Apr 11, 2013
Kaethe
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Mary Borsellino says:
I am an Australian writer in my thirties with a day job in the not-for-profit sector. I have a bunch of tattoos and a tendency to get passionately involved with things I believe in and love.
--from the author's website
More about Mary Borsellino...
I am an Australian writer in my thirties with a day job in the not-for-profit sector. I have a bunch of tattoos and a tendency to get passionately involved with things I believe in and love.
--from the author's website
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“As soon as teenage girls start to profess love for something, everyone else becomes totally dismissive of it. Teenage girls are open season for the cruelest bullying that our society can dream up. Everyone's vicious to them. They're vicious to each other. Hell, they're even vicious to themselves. It's terrible.
So if teenage girls have something that they love, isn't that a good thing? Isn't it better for them to find some words they believe in, words like the 'fire-proof and fearless' lyrics that Jacqui wrote? Isn't it better for them to put those words on their arm in a tattoo than for them to cut gashes in that same skin? Shouldn't we be grateful when teenage girls love our work? Shouldn't that be a fucking honor?
It's used as the cheapest, easiest test of crap, isn't it? If teenage girls love a movie, a book, a band, then it's immediately classified as mediocre shit. Well, I'm not going to stand for that. Someone needs to treat them like they're precious, and if nobody else is ready to step up, I guess it's up to us to put them on the path to recognizing that about themselves.”
—
8 people liked it
So if teenage girls have something that they love, isn't that a good thing? Isn't it better for them to find some words they believe in, words like the 'fire-proof and fearless' lyrics that Jacqui wrote? Isn't it better for them to put those words on their arm in a tattoo than for them to cut gashes in that same skin? Shouldn't we be grateful when teenage girls love our work? Shouldn't that be a fucking honor?
It's used as the cheapest, easiest test of crap, isn't it? If teenage girls love a movie, a book, a band, then it's immediately classified as mediocre shit. Well, I'm not going to stand for that. Someone needs to treat them like they're precious, and if nobody else is ready to step up, I guess it's up to us to put them on the path to recognizing that about themselves.”
“Schools teach kids the greatest love story of all literature is the one where a 19-year-old guy and his 13-year-old girlfriend rack up a body count and then kill themselves together. Then when kids learn the lesson, everyone blames pop music.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
Jan 11, 2012 11:15pm