January 2022 Group Read #1 The Troop

[Daniel]

What Kimberly said…

[Alex]

So I finically managed to finish this book UF!
As vile and disgusting as this book is it is still very well written.
The descriptions made me wince and cringe.
That said I found it incredibly hard to like this book.
I just feel like there is some lost potential when it comes to the setting and characters.
Overall I enjoyed the beginning and very last pages the most as they were the darkest parts in my opinion.
The book had a more weird than grim/creepy tone for me which I wish would be different.
I disliked most how the children characters were written and what they were saying seemed unrealistic to me.
I will read more stuff from nick cutter in the future in hopes of finding stories I enjoy more!
Just my thoughts :)

[JasonA]

I read this a few months ago and liked it. It just seemed odd to me that (view spoiler)[in a book where people have an uncontrollable hunger, no one attempted to eat each other or the bodies. (hide spoiler)] I can understand wanting to avoid the trope or do something different, but some explanation or acknowledgement would have been nice. A fake out would have worked pretty well too.

[Sara]

JasonA wrote: "I read this a few months ago and liked it. It just seemed odd to me that (view spoiler)[ in a book where people have an uncontrollable hunger, no one attempted to eat each other or the bodies (hide spoiler)]"

Hahaha I thought of that too, and was actually a bit disappointed.

[sonya]

I’m not done yet.

[Dibs]

May be missing something vital here - has been sitting on my DNF shelf for months. Revisit?

[sonya]

I’d give it another chance

[Kasia]

Emilie wrote: "I do have a question for those of you out there. I’ve seen a lot of people say they struggled with the horror/gore parts with the animals. My question is this- what makes you be able to handle it with humans, but not animals? I’d think personally for me the stuff happening to the humans affects me more. I have some theories, but want to hear it from you why animal gore/horror isn’t appreciated or liked as much."

Probably because animals are better than people and they certainly deserve a better planet than the one we took from them for our own purposes.

[Kimberly]

Kasia wrote: "Emilie wrote: "I do have a question for those of you out there. I’ve seen a lot of people say they struggled with the horror/gore parts with the animals. My question is this- what makes you be able..."

:D

[Daniel]

I agree with @Kasia For me, animals are universally innocent creatures, incapable of good or evil. (view spoiler)[And most of the violence against them is in the form of torture (the drama with the turtle became torturous as they struggled with the poor thing) - I find human torture pretty icky too. (hide spoiler)]

[Elysa]

JasonA wrote: "I read this a few months ago and liked it. It just seemed odd to me that [spoilers removed] I can understand wanting to avoid the trope or do something different, but some explanation or acknowledg..."

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought about that! Though I feel there was one fakeout when (view spoiler)[Kent said something about getting the meat he was owed from Shelley. At least for me, cannibalism immediately came to mind. Even though Kent didn't end up trying that, I kept cannibalism in mind for the rest of the book, so it was very odd to me that nothing came of it. (hide spoiler)]

[sonya]

I dnf’d this one. Too gross for me

[Nick]

I read this at some point in 2020 after the pandemic started. It was so weird to read during the early days of the pandemic....I rated it 3 stars because the talk of teenage boy erections and the cat scene both made me really uncomfortable.

[Alex]

@Nick Silverstein same here. Just why?
Plus a lot of what the kids were saying seemed very odd.
I hate animal harm in horror one of my most hated things.(Besides SA)
So I’m shocked that I made it through this one in general.
I heard the deep by Nick Cutte doesn’t have this amount of animal harm in it.
Maybe I will enjoy that one more.

[Daniel]

@Nick and @Alex I’m with you two! I kind of put some things out of my mind and had forgotten this by the time I was finished - perhaps this is the one superpower of my advancing age… just don’t want to hear (nor read) it!

[Lisa]

Emilie wrote: "I do have a question for those of you out there. I’ve seen a lot of people say they struggled with the horror/gore parts with the animals. My question is this- what makes you be able to handle it w..."

This is such an good question and interesting topic - so many people can't stand it when "the dog dies." I'm one of them, and I'm struggling with the animal cruelty in this book. Even the insects and crustaceans. I think, like others have said, it's the innocence and guilelessness of animals that make cruelty toward them intolerable. Also, their dependency on us, particularly with pets, invokes a sort of responsibility to care for them kindly. And wild creatures, particularly small ones, are dependent on our mercy and level of carefulness, something as simple as not stepping on a bug when it's so easy to do so. I think the easier it is to harm something, the more offensive and horrible it is if it's done. Also, I think that an animal's lack of comprehension, the thought of a creature feeling pain and not understanding why, factors in. It adds a level of sadness and confusion.

I like the differentiation between (view spoiler)[ Shelley and Max and Newton in the way they consider and behave toward animals in the book. Even when trying to kill the turtle, which was for survival, and therefore understandable, they struggled and felt sadness, and even felt respect for the animal. (hide spoiler)]

I'm so looking forward to reading everyone's spoiler comments...hoping to finish today!

[Kimberly]

Lisa wrote: "Emilie wrote: "I do have a question for those of you out there. I’ve seen a lot of people say they struggled with the horror/gore parts with the animals. My question is this- what makes you be able..."

This is so very well stated! I agree completely.

[Lisa]

Hey thanks, Kimberly 😊

[Lisa]

Finished last night. It was a pretty good read, but not my great for me. The grossness didn't work well in my opinion, it felt forced and overly descriptive to the point that it lost its effect. I like gross when it's fun or adds to the story. But, because what was going on here was so limited - worms, emaciation, gnawing hunger - it was like the same things described repeatedly, with the author reaching back in to that bag, again and again, to describe that worms are repulsive. Or that someone is impossibly thin, and how their lips look in this state. It ties in to what Gloomy, Anya, Noah, and others said - the language and description techniques felt unrealistic, and some of the dialogue did not feel like it would come from kids this age. There were also so many flashbacks that it diluted the story and broke the momentum a bit for me.

This all being said, I liked the premise, and I enjoyed the characters of Ephraim, Newt, and Max. (view spoiler)[ I was so hoping that Newt and Max would both make it out. I liked Newt's thoughts of his mom, and their relationship. And I liked the relationship that developed between Newt and Max, and the fact that Newt earned Max's respect and admiration after a lifetime of being bullied. (hide spoiler)]

[Lisa]

Sara wrote: "JasonA wrote: "I read this a few months ago and liked it. It just seemed odd to me that [spoilers removed]"

Hahaha I thought of that too, and was actually a bit disappointed."

JasonA and Sara and Elysa - I thought this same thing, and kept waiting for it to happen. I would have liked the grossness to have another outlet.

[Lisa]

Noah wrote: "So I finically managed to finish this book UF!
As vile and disgusting as this book is it is still very well written.
The descriptions made me wince and cringe.
That said I found it incredibly hard ..."

Noah, I agree, it was much more weird and gross than actually scary.

[LTJ]

Definitely one of the grossest books I've ever read!

[Kristen]

Lisa wrote: "Finished last night. It was a pretty good read, but not my great for me. The grossness didn't work well in my opinion, it felt forced and overly descriptive to the point that it lost its effect. I ..."

Well said and I think it’s similar with the kids. I don’t get disturbed easily, but I find it really hard to read about things happening to kids. Like you said, the innocence and inability to comprehend what is happening. Even here, where the kids were not super young and were at an age where they had it all figured out (view spoiler)[, I thought the whole “the adults will save us when they realize we’re not back” was heartbreaking. It showed how naive and innocent they really were (except Shelley of course). That part really hit me. (hide spoiler)]

[Elizabeth]

LTJ wrote: "Definitely one of the grossest books I've ever read!"

Yep! Totally agree. So far this is THE grossest book I have read. I am sure there will be more the longer I stay in this group! haha

[LTJ]

@Elizabeth: LoL oh for sure, I can pretty much guarantee that!

[Lisa]

Kristen wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Finished last night. It was a pretty good read, but not my great for me. The grossness didn't work well in my opinion, it felt forced and overly descriptive to the point that it lost i..."

Yes, I agree with your spoiler comment. Ughhh…