first, big thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
One sentence plot summary: Hanna, the seven year old daughter of Alex and Suzette, is not as sweet as she appears.
I don't even know how I feel about this one.
On one hand, it was not boring, which is a huge plus. I don't like it when I have to force myself to read something or when I feel like it's lagging in a pretty major way, and that didn't really happen in Baby Teeth. It was horrifying and kept me turning the pages most of the time (the only piece of the plot that did kind of slow the read down was Suzette's struggle with Crohns Disease; I totally get that it was supposed to serve as character development because it showed how the neglect from her mother intensified some of her selfish tendencies. I get it. It just didn't always work and it felt like the replay of the whole fistula situation and the repetitive shit oozing from the stomach commentary were both a little dull at a certain point).
On the other hand, the characters often sucked. And I don't mean I didn't like them as people and didn't want to be friends with them--in the debate on whether fictional characters should be likable, I fall strongly on Mohsin Hamid's side of the argument (and if you don't know what argument I'm talking about, I encourage you to read this: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/books/review/are-we-too-concerned-that-characters-be-likable.html). I'm not auditioning a new best friend when I read fiction.
No, what I mean is that the characters just don't strike me as completely believable, especially Suzette and Hanna.
With Hanna, aka this chick:
it's hard to describe the way I view her character because I'm so ambivalent about Stage's creation of this tormented little soul. In one way, she's done very well. She is complicated. Her inner monologue is incredibly insightful at times and incredibly innocent at other times. This works for me as a reader because I think most young kids share this combination of behavior. Sometimes, though, it felt forced. One specific instance was when Hanna watches her parents having sex and her inner monologue is supposed to be very childlike and confused (referring to genitalia as a "thing," for example, which I doubt she would do; these parents DEFINITELY seem like the proper names for parts type of parents), but then the metaphors used to describe the sexual acts, while in Hanna's perspective, are metaphors commonly used by adults. I won't get into specifics here, but think riding, thrusting language in a seven year old's voice. Yeesh. Similarly, when Hanna tries to terrify her mother by simulating a sex act and she talks about the Devil having sex with her, the language does not sound realistic coming from a sheltered, homeschooled seven year old.
Another issue I have with this book is that it's a little problematic. Yeah, yeah, don't hate me for using Millenial speak, I'm just not sure we need another gay character described as speaking with a lilting voice or non-Neurotypical Kid in a red helmet that hits his head against the wall. Not that it doesn't happen with certain special needs, but come on. It's a bit played out.
Still, I liked reading it. It was really interesting, kept me engaged, made it hard for me to go to sleep because I wanted to see what was going to happen next. Overall, it's one to read, but I don't know that it would be on the top of my list, especially with all the really stellar stuff out there right now.
3/5
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