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A review by bigtiddygothgf
Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
a modern retelling of persephone and demeter's relationship set against a scene of a secluded island, drugs, and serious mental health issues.
'fruit of the dead' was very well done in what it is tried to portray. the heart of the story is a complicated mother daughter relationship with a cycle of hurt and repression that keeps repeating. this was done very well and the writing was awesome.
my gripe with the book comes in three ways;
1) the hades and persephone angle- now, one really big pet peeve i have with h&p retellings is the age gaps that are often and unnecessarily large and creepy. most retellings make her either underage or barely legal, looking at you 'lore olympus'. while yes the original characters in the mythos did have an age gap, they are also GODS aka NOT HUMAN, and most of these retellings do this to satisfy the author's age gap kink (NO SHAME! just not in my mythos). the difference between 'lore olympus' and 'fruit of the dead' though, is that in 'fruit of the dead' this relationship is SUPPOSED to be creepy. it is SUPPOSED to be predatory because it is supposed to pass the message of a young girl being prayed upon by an old man, which is the cycle repeating from what happened to the main character, Cory's, mother. we are supposed to be disgusted by the hades stand in, rolo, as the writing describes him as gross (constantly mentioned how egg shaped he is) and with his actions. while i understand this angle and how it does suit the story, it just irritates me personally for no solid reason. i'm tired of seeing the h&p retellings done egregiously bad, and while i can see why the author wrote it like this, it doesn't mean i have to like it. i've thought about it and realized there is no real reason for me to rate it lower for this reason, i've even pointed out it hammers home the author's message. but then i remembered that reading is subjective, my opinion of this book with not affect the author in any way, and i run this review, so i do what i want.
2) lack of an emotional punch- knowing this is a persephone and demeter retelling, we can all imagine that there is a tearful reunion. cory is taken to a place that is not safe for her, being fed highly addictive drugs and cut off from service, internet, and by extension, her mother. the demeter stand in, emer, has been searching for her all book, losing her mind with worry and regret. when they finally reunite, it is in the LAST THREE PAGES. we are given almost nothing imo, and mother and daughter do not talk about ANYTHING. throughout the book we are told of their rocky relationship and the miscommunication that caused rifts. in the conclusion they do NOT talk about these issues to the depths that i was hoping, and that stopped the punch for me. by the end of the book emer is treating cory the same way she was at the beginning; she went on a whole journey where she realized what she did wrong, and then was back to square one at the end! and the end is so abrupt we don't get a chance to reflect on ANYTHING. the ending overall fell really flat for me, which made me feel removed from the story.
and 3), the worst one. THERE WERE NO QUOTATION MARKS IN THE DIALOGUE. NO ITALICS. NOTHING. ZILCH. NADA. there were no quotation marks! or anything! to show what was dialogue and what was text! i understand we are a literary novel and we are trying to be cool and emo and shit BUT PLEASE. i cant function under these conditions!! it made nothing feel solid of real! i couldn't stand it!
overall, it's a book that i probably wont remember in a month. i think the subject matter was handled well, and the author knew what she doing it and executed it fairly well, it just wasn't my cup of tea. i didnt feel any connections to the characters and had some gripes. the writing was fantastic and i can tell the author put her heart and soul into it. great writing, overall mid for me tho. (also rolo,🫵 when i catch you rolo🫵, count your days 🫵, GET AWAY FROM THE FRESHLY TURNED 18 YEAR OLD🫵, PUT UR PANTS BACK ON🫵)
'fruit of the dead' was very well done in what it is tried to portray. the heart of the story is a complicated mother daughter relationship with a cycle of hurt and repression that keeps repeating. this was done very well and the writing was awesome.
my gripe with the book comes in three ways;
1) the hades and persephone angle- now, one really big pet peeve i have with h&p retellings is the age gaps that are often and unnecessarily large and creepy. most retellings make her either underage or barely legal, looking at you 'lore olympus'. while yes the original characters in the mythos did have an age gap, they are also GODS aka NOT HUMAN, and most of these retellings do this to satisfy the author's age gap kink (NO SHAME! just not in my mythos). the difference between 'lore olympus' and 'fruit of the dead' though, is that in 'fruit of the dead' this relationship is SUPPOSED to be creepy. it is SUPPOSED to be predatory because it is supposed to pass the message of a young girl being prayed upon by an old man, which is the cycle repeating from what happened to the main character, Cory's, mother. we are supposed to be disgusted by the hades stand in, rolo, as the writing describes him as gross (constantly mentioned how egg shaped he is) and with his actions. while i understand this angle and how it does suit the story, it just irritates me personally for no solid reason. i'm tired of seeing the h&p retellings done egregiously bad, and while i can see why the author wrote it like this, it doesn't mean i have to like it. i've thought about it and realized there is no real reason for me to rate it lower for this reason, i've even pointed out it hammers home the author's message. but then i remembered that reading is subjective, my opinion of this book with not affect the author in any way, and i run this review, so i do what i want.
2) lack of an emotional punch- knowing this is a persephone and demeter retelling, we can all imagine that there is a tearful reunion. cory is taken to a place that is not safe for her, being fed highly addictive drugs and cut off from service, internet, and by extension, her mother. the demeter stand in, emer, has been searching for her all book, losing her mind with worry and regret. when they finally reunite, it is in the LAST THREE PAGES. we are given almost nothing imo, and mother and daughter do not talk about ANYTHING. throughout the book we are told of their rocky relationship and the miscommunication that caused rifts. in the conclusion they do NOT talk about these issues to the depths that i was hoping, and that stopped the punch for me. by the end of the book emer is treating cory the same way she was at the beginning; she went on a whole journey where she realized what she did wrong, and then was back to square one at the end! and the end is so abrupt we don't get a chance to reflect on ANYTHING. the ending overall fell really flat for me, which made me feel removed from the story.
and 3), the worst one. THERE WERE NO QUOTATION MARKS IN THE DIALOGUE. NO ITALICS. NOTHING. ZILCH. NADA. there were no quotation marks! or anything! to show what was dialogue and what was text! i understand we are a literary novel and we are trying to be cool and emo and shit BUT PLEASE. i cant function under these conditions!! it made nothing feel solid of real! i couldn't stand it!
overall, it's a book that i probably wont remember in a month. i think the subject matter was handled well, and the author knew what she doing it and executed it fairly well, it just wasn't my cup of tea. i didnt feel any connections to the characters and had some gripes. the writing was fantastic and i can tell the author put her heart and soul into it. great writing, overall mid for me tho. (also rolo,🫵 when i catch you rolo🫵, count your days 🫵, GET AWAY FROM THE FRESHLY TURNED 18 YEAR OLD🫵, PUT UR PANTS BACK ON🫵)