Rating: ★★★
Genre: Horror/ Sibling Fiction
Format: ARC PDF
Pages: 275
Read: 07/26/22
Amazon Synopsis:
The Pain Eater is the story of two brothers from Michigan reunited after the death of their father. They’ve never been close, but now they have to live together—and it gets more difficult when one discovers a strange creature, vomited from the body of a dead cat. A creature that eats human pain. It feels good: too good. Soon he wants to hurt himself more, just so the pain can be taken away. But the more the creature becomes a part of his life, the more he damages everything around him. Some wounds are too deep to ever heal.
Review:
Michael and his brother Steven’s father has just passed away. After gathering for the funeral Steven decides to stay with his brother for a while. They do not have a good relationship and were never close to their parents. Haile is Michaels best friend and she spends a lot of time staying at the house, she also does not have a good relationship with her father, so she stays away as much as she can.
Throughout the whole story we are learning of all their grief and pain. Their resentment of a broken family. Their father was always angry and their mother was mostly absent.
Michael is also dealing with his own identity, sexually and his inner self. He has always felt as if he has never fit into the world or connected with anyone. He is quite reclusive and introverted.
Steven is the type that wants to fix everything.
Halie is a constant, always there, but her naivete plays a strong part in her character.
Now the creature from the cat, I don't even know what in the world it is. Metaphorically it takes away human pain, but only for short brief periods of time and its sucking on people must be repeated to continue the process. It causes a euphoria and a desire to want more of what it offers.
“That’s what it does though. It doesn’t change us, it just gets rid of the parts of us that are bad for us.”
This was not an easy read and I often wondered if I would continue it because it was just so bizarre, not saying that is a bad thing, but it is also very bleak and depressing. So much sadness. I think that a good mindset is needed for this one.
The writing surely stands out and the creativity is insane.
Intriguing enough to finish to see the outcome, but all in all, I guess I feel that this one just fell in the category of just too strange and a bit frustrating. As with any book, it deserves the right audience to fully enjoy it and I feel that many would!
I actually want to call this book a box of fruity pebbles, such a huge mixture of so many topics. A darkness in humanity and a peculiar creature that is actually really creepy when one ponders on it.
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Kyle-Muntz/e/
Review Links:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/
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