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This is not your typical horror novel. Yes, it is gruesome and quite scary. But if you're expecting something like Stephen King or Lovecraft or even Anne Rice, you will be very disappointed and confused. Melanie Tem's book are all dreamy and strange and her scares are harder earned.

This book is an allegory about familial relationships, being female, cycles of abuse, tradition, sexuality, loss and the point when one becomes so broken their is absolutely no chance of being healed. I think it's hard to really "get" this book unless you know about the author's history as a social worker and foster mom. She really captures the sad and peculiar part of our culture that allows the perpetual mastication of young woman, who give give birth to children that grow up to do the same things. However, Tem takes the biggest swipes at families--the dysfunction, abuse and grotesqueries families perpetuate, either from mental illness, lack of understanding or just a plain old mean streak.

You might not love or even like this book, but it's one that tells a story no one wants to hear. There are no heroes and the villians are legion, and though not blameless, they are the natural consequence of how we willfully chose to allow our society to function the way it does. The end does a great job of tying everything together, but it's a book that makes you work.