The premise was extremely intriguing and in general the novel met my expectations; "Doll" is well-written, mildly graphic and touches upon themes of existence and consciousness.

“Sex, death, flowers-rivers, seas, sleep. They all have beds. This was my very first thought.” - Doll.


The first part is this story is told from the perspective of a sex doll. The second from the perspective of the man who owns her. The novel follows the thoughts of a sex doll as she comes into consciousness inside her crate and is about to be delivered to her owner, J. J opens the crate and what follows is a modern love affair, teetering between tragedy and the darkly comic, written in prose of hallucinatory beauty.

Thank you to NetGalley, Matador at Troubador Publishing, and Peter Leggatt for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I love reading books that are a bit on the unusual side, taboo, or a little mind-bending. When I saw the synopsis of this book I had to read it. This book does follow from the perspective of a sex doll, and her owner so there is a fair amount of sexual content but in reality the book is about so much more than that. The story is written with amazing, complex prose and is almost philosophical in nature. The narrative is written in a stream of consciousness style and debates topics such as one’s existence in life, purpose, and the way one changes or is changed by life and relationships. The main character also grapples with loneliness, insecurity, lost relationships, and longing. When you read into the story past the allure of the sexual content, there is a lot of deeper meaning and interesting aspects to ponder. This is a unique book and it will definitely stay on my mind for a while. This book is being released on January 28, 2021.

Among my favorite childhood book genres were ‘doll books’ about thinking dolls. So I was excited to read this book —. I think it really had the potential to be interesting. Unfortunately, for me it fell far short. The style of writing was very descriptive - almost florid in its detail — which isn’t my favorite, to be frank. But the worst thing was that the Doll never really came to life in the way that Hitty or Totty or Impunity Jane did in the books of my childhood. This was the major failure, the thing I could not overcome, although the fact that J was a repellent jerk just added insult to injury. In the end I found this book to be tedious, prurient and just unpleasant.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

Doll tells the story of a sex doll that gains consciousness. So you knew it was going to be a surreal story from the start. It is told from two point of views; the doll and its owner.

The book has a lot of complicated writing that goes into a lot of minute detail. I understood from the dolls point of view why they would go into so much detail, what else could you do when you're lying stationary all day. But by the time J's chapter came I was exhausted.

The novel does present an interesting POV but I just wasnt satisfied. Personally I dont like narrative styles so detail driven. Needless to say there are also elements that are extremely sexual in nature, so if you're of a sensitive disposition this book is probably not for you.

Thank you to netgalley for an ARC of Doll

Ugh...I was unable to get in to this book unfortunately I could not get past the dolls talking. From what I did read I'm pretty sure others will enjoy reading it and I still would recommend it to other readers, it just wasn't for me.

Doll by Peter Leggatt is about loneliness and love and purpose. Told from two perspectives: 1 - a sex doll gaining consciousness the day she arrives at her new location and 2 - from the owner of the sex doll.

Two chapters, told in an almost stream of consciousness from each 'person' - both express their loss, loneliness and about who we are when we are alone.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was intrigued by the subject of this book and fascinated to see how the author presented the perspective of a sex doll. It’s almost gruesome in its execution - very detailed and depressing. It’s when the perspective shifts to the doll’s owner that the book lost its way for me. The sentences became so carefully constructed as to almost parody themselves. “She sends the teapot to confess to your cup, spilling its guys briskly and resolutely.” Is this poetic or pretentious? It’s a book well worth reading, though. It makes you think about things differently, challenging your perceptions and reflecting on what we are all like when we are alone.

Doll is by far the most unusual book I've read in a long time. I was initially intrigued by the premise - a story told from the perspective of both a sex doll and her owner, and it did not disappoint!

There is a poetic beauty to the way Peter Leggatt writes, setting out this odd, unique and very modern relationship (of sorts) between the two key characters.

The story is captivating, heartbreaking and unsettling in equal measure, from the sadness for the Doll as she becomes conscious while still unable to move and begins to determine her limitations and purpose in life, to the insecurity and touch of madness from the owner whose perspective reminded me strongly of the narrator in Nabokov's Lolita.

The novel is split into only two chapters (one from each perspective) and it felt almost like a stream of consciousness, which made the story even more gripping - so much so that I devoured the whole thing in only 2 days! I do appreciate though that the complicated sentence structure may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Doll is a masterpiece of a debut novel and I would be very surprised if it wasn't on every Book Club reading list this Spring! Readers will go mad for it!

This is not the type of book I would normally choose to read, but I was part of a conversation about this book on social media and I became intrigued enough to give it a try. As expected, I was uncomfortable in some parts (call it the slightly prude part of me), but the intrigue and curiosity of the story still pulled at me to continue reading. The writing itself was also alluring; it was creative and descriptive, almost poetic. After a while, though, everything about the book changed - the flow, the writing, the story, the structure. It became fragmented and scattered and somewhat confusing. However, that aligns with what was happening in the book, it coincided with the metamorphosis and change. Definitely different, yet it displays immense imagination and talent.

This isn’t my usual genre. I chose it to try and expand my reading base.
It is a debut novel.
The sex doll develops conscious thought during the transportation to the owner. It goes from no thought to mind blowing Mensa philosophical debate level thinking. The doll develops hearing, vision, feel and taste, but no speech or movement.
The story is told from 2 points of view, the doll and the owner. There’s a lot of repetition between the 2 accounts.
I found the writing style difficult to follow. It lacks flow, It felt stilted, overly complicated sentence structure, with a frequent need to check the dictionary.
There are no chapters, no break, no respite.
The level of micro detailed description is far to much, and made it heavy going.
Small sections made me chuckle. Although I positively cringed when he introduced his friends to the doll.
I’m afraid this book isn’t for me.

This is an extremely interesting book. It’s sort of like Westworld. What if inanimate objects had feelings? Do you things that you do to them matter? I highly recommend this book I think a lot of people will enjoy it.