Let's Talk Books

Thank you to NetGalley, Anna Bogutskaya, and Faber for a Galley of this in exchange for an honest review.

I. Loved. This. Book.

I am not really a non-fiction person, generally, but the description of Feeding the Monster really caught my attention. I am so glad I gave it a shot! Bogutskaya is a fount of horror knowledge and weaves together film criticism, a love of horror, a few personal details, and a whole lot of feminist and social commentary, into a deeply readable and utterly un-put-down-able book.

I have an MA in English Studies, and my favourite part of reading literary criticism (I can sense I am losing some people at this point in the review, please stay with me) was when you hit a point where it all sings. The ideas just work, the information flows from the page. Those are the ideas you never forget, the things that stay with you forever, and impact how you read everything forever. I have experienced that most often with works surrounding supernatural fiction, and feminist and / or queer reading, so I was hopeful I would get that with this book. What I wasn’t expecting, was for Bogutskaya to have distilled that sensation, and somehow written and entire book that sings off the page.

If you have any interest in film, horror, women, women’s experiences of the world, true crime, or, honestly, if you just have 3- 4 hours to spare, read this book. Now, if you’ll excuse me I am off to watch several dozen horror movies!

5 stars. No notes.