Baby Teeth

Product Information

Behe, Rege. "Expect supernatural events and at least one "ruthless" surprise in Squirrel Hill writer Zoje Stage's latest novel Wonderland". Pittsburgh City Paper. Archived from the original on 2020-10-02 . Retrieved 2020-09-23. Hannah is twisted and brilliant. Suzette is trying to be the wonderful parent that she never had, while battling an autoimmune disease. The sheer evilness of this child trying to push Suzette to the edge, while sweetly manipulating her father, is pure evil. But, for me, I landed on three stars because the story had good writing, the author definitely shows promise as a writer. Though the seven year old voice was off, I could take it because it wasn’t bad writing, just not perfect. I’m telling you it doesn’t matter. Obviously if you didn’t like any of those stories you should probably save your dollars and refrain from buying this one. Zoje Stage is quite the wordsmith, but I don’t think she has a magic wand that will make you like things you normally hate . . . (But maybe Marie-Anne does????) If you did enjoy those others, Baby Teeth will be a sure winner. And there is a fresh take here because Hanna isn’t a cookie cutter of those other children. Neither is her mother. I’d love to say more, but I’m pretty sure my next communication from St. Martin’s Press would go a little summin like . . . . I was so excited I didn’t even remember to update my status that I was reading it. Since I never put it down until I was finished, there wasn’t much point. *shrug*

Trussoni, Danielle (2020-07-22). "Where Evil Lurks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-09-28 . Retrieved 2020-09-23. Coulee: a term applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley. a b "Meet a NYFA Artist: Zoje Stage". NYFA. 2009-10-26. Archived from the original on 2021-03-15 . Retrieved 2020-09-23.Zoje Stage Thank you so much, Renee! Maybe not surprisingly, it's a bit of a long story. I'll give you the highlights...

This book is trying so hard to be controversial. Instead, it's an epic fail. I'm not in the HATE it or LOVE it camp. I'm in the incredibly bored and what is the point camp?. She wants Hanna to go to school like other children. She wants her to learn how to play nice and interact with others. One of my pet peeves in fiction is when entire plot lines hinge on implausible circumstances. I heaved this book into that metaphorical pile pretty early on and it will remain there forever. Baby Teeth was kin to those horror movies where the pretty blonde girl is running through the night in her heels and instead of running outside of the house for safety, she runs upstairs to the collective annoyance of the audience. Like, the plot didn’t make ANY sense! Why, you may ask? Because the entire narrative would have been different if one of two SIMPLE things had happened: If Suzette had had the common sense to a) video record her daughter’s bad behavior to show her husband as proof or b) if she’d actually tried her hand at disciplining her. *side eye glance inserted here*. That’s why I say I must be too much of a Southerner for this book, because I don’t know anyone, of any color or creed, who would let their kid get away with the things little Hanna got away with – and then crawl and grovel on their knees for this child’s forgiveness after THEY, the PARENT, have been assaulted. Seriously, implausible. And, so weak-willed that I started to really despise Suzette's spinelessness. Spine. Less.

One final note: You may be wondering why I haven’t talked about “Daddy” more. Here’s what I have to say to him . . . . I believe I’m going to bust out my complement sandwich for this review... as a refresher a complement sandwich is good/bad/good.... so in short the bad is sandwiched in between the good..... I also want to make it very clear that I read this with a group and I was in the true minority on this.... so the opinions in this review are absolutely my own and my review should be read with the understanding that this book is unquestionably not for everybody.... The writing style was gripping. I adored that the father was Swedish, and he usually used a Swedish word. It was special. I like that he calls Hanna his lilla gumman. THIS BOOK seems to me - to be an intentionally disturbing novel - for the pure pleasure of the thrill. It’s ugly and non-inspiring. It ‘is’........absorbing.....but I’m not proud of myself reading it.

Even without finishing this book - I can already see the author isn’t accomplishing any attempts to portray what might lead a child to kill —- such as Lionel Shriver did in “We Need To Talk About Kevin”. It’s bumblegum chewing for the sake of chewing mindlessly. I’m not a fan— but many readers probably will be: It remained disappointing that Daddy hadn’t let mommy wither and die when he had a chance”. ( note.. Hanna saw her parents having sex - she was hoping with dad on top of mom, he would kill her). Oh well!A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. Dennis asked me how I was feeling this story. My answer = “it’s nuts, weird, strange but I love it”. For real, this was one wild story and I ate it all up! It made me FEEL so many feels. I was pissed, grossed out, felt creeped out and had me looking at my own child like, huh🤔. This book fulfils Topic #4 (Title/Author Beginning with Q, X, or Z) of the A Book for All Seasons (Equinox #2) Book Challenge. Baby Teeth is electrifyingly creepy. It calls to mind the great monster children of The Fifth Child or We Need to Talk About Kevin, but has a devilish tension all its own. Twisted, playful, and deeply unsettling, Zoje Stage's debut announces her as a new voice worth celebrating." - Colin Winnette, author of The Job of the Wasp This book is well written. It’s a tense, disturbing read. So, if you’re in the mood for that, you might enjoy this.