Review: Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz


Hannah Moskowitz
Publication Date: January 1,2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Page Length: 288
(Teeth)
A gritty, romantic modern fairy tale from the author of Break and Gone, Gone, Gone.

Be careful what you believe in.

Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.

Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes him question what he knows about anything. Rudy can’t remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being friends with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother’s life.


Review:

I regretfully say, I didn't enjoy this book. I wanted to, I really did but in the end I just didn't. Now I know I probably shouldn't of started out my review like that but hear me out. This book may not have been for me but that doesn't make it a bad book and here is why:

The Writing- This is my first book by this Author and I really liked her writing style. The narrative flowed effortlessly across the pages. In a way she had a very sing-songy way of writing it felt like I was seeing the book through the eyes of a child. I don't know if that makes sense but I rather enjoyed it.

Complex Characters- Rudy, wow that character is so complex. Just when I thought I had him figured out the Author takes me by surprise and pushes him into the complete opposite direction. Rudy is not a happy character, he is a very bitter,resentful young man and it shows in his actions. I liked that about him though, it made him more real in a sense. I also to an extent enjoyed the character teeth but I never connected on the level I did with Rudy. Maybe that is how the Author wanted us to feel in the end. Would be a stroke of brilliance if that was the plan all along.

Unfortunately the story itself brought about the biggest issues. It was just plain strange, hell I feel confused even writing this review and I read the book. Seriously, I feel even Tim Burton would look at it and go WTF is this?!?! I can appreciate metaphorical situations in small doses but an entire book of them is just to much to bear. Don't even get me started on the fishermen. I won't give it away but damn those bastards, Teeth no matter how strange and uncomfortable he made me feel didn't deserve the abuse he suffered from them.

Something that left me horribly confused was Rudy and Teeth's relationship. They seemed like lovers but the book makes it clear they aren't. Maybe it was just a really serious bro-mance since Rudy was having relations with Diana and all, either way I couldn't figure them out and I think that's at least part of the problem.

One last thing I felt needed mentioning was the separation between Teeth and Rudy's story and also that which he spent with Dylan or Diana. At times I felt transported to another book that was taking place at a different time. When Rudy was with teeth the story felt solid, I understood Rudy's intentions. When he wasn't around though I felt like I was reading another story entirely. I had a total disconnect during those scenes.

Overall I'm going to still recommend you pick up Teeth and give it a go. I feel it's a book a reader will either love or hate. I just happened to fall under the latter. If you do read it, I really would be curious to hear what you think. With that being said I'm going to be rating Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz ★★★.

*I received this book to review from Edelweiss. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any way for providing them.

Now for my questions:

Have you heard of this book before? If not, Do you plan on reading it now that you have? What fish based creature is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below, I love reading your responses!

Comments

  1. Wow, this is the first non five star review I've read about Teeth. It's good to hear about the shortcomings. I still think I'm going to check it out but now I know what to prep myself for. Thanks for the honest reviee!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's why I mention giving it a go yourself. :)

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  2. This seems like the type of book that you're either going to love or hate. I have a couple of the author's books, but I haven't yet picked them up. But I think I'll definitely read those before this one so I can get a better feel for the author's writing style. She seems to like to pick subject matter that might make the less open-minded feel a bit squicky. Thanks for the honest review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've read some pretty bizarre books and I feel I have quite an open mind in regards to content. Sometimes it just comes down to the book itself. Were not always compatible with 100% of the books we read no matter how badly we want to be. By all means give Teeth a shot, you might love it.

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