Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review. I love a good dystopian book and the blurb sounded perfect for me but unfortunately I have to say this book was not as good as I was hoping it would be. It definitely is not your typical end of the world story and I found it rather strange to be honest. I did not grasp the concept of the main characters and their relationship made me feel slightly uncomfortable. I can appreciate the quality of the writing and style but unfortunately it just isn’t my thing.

There’s nothing I like more than a good apocalyptic, end-of-the-world scenario novel, so I grabbed Whether Violent or Natural, interested in the premise of a world where antibiotics have failed (a plausible scenario).

But oh was I disappointed. I struggled to finish it, irritated by the voice of the narrator, Kit, and uneasy about the relationship between her and Crevan, with its underlying hints of some sort of weirdness between them. (Is it supposed to be some form of consensual sado-masochism? Or a man taking advantage of a vulnerable woman? Later events throw some light on this but in an unsatisfactory way.)

The novel has been praised for its writing style, noted as ‘lyrical’ and ‘strikingly original’. But writing style is something that one connects with in a deeply personal way; what you love I might hate, etc. And here my personal taste took over. I was just plain annoyed by the overblown prose, the lack of clarity, the weirdness (and not in a good way)…. It all struck me as rather self-indulgent.

And I found it annoyingly edited too. For example, in one early scene, Kit opens a door to half a wardrobe and describes the contents. She goes on and on about all the fabrics and colours and I’m thinking, wow, that’s one hell of a tardis of a (half-)wardrobe to fit all that stuff! An editor should surely have reined in that sort of hyperbole. Half a wardrobe and it’s got an entire household trousseau including quilt covers, as well as a huge variety of clothing — including tulle dresses (plural), which anyone could tell you would take up most of the space there already. All that to drop in the comment that the synthetics could be destroyed by a plastic-eating virus. Some might say that’s a neat, literary way to drop in an important piece of information like that (and again, another interesting scenario), but really, gimme a break. It took several pages and a tardis to get there. Needs a good dose of an editor’s red pen.

If you’re a fan of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, you might like Whether Violent or Natural. I am not, and I don’t, for much the same reasons. I’m not a fan of the approach to fiction that positions one novel as ‘LITERARY’ or ‘intelligent’ and another as ‘popular’ or ‘commercial’ fiction, based pretty much solely on the former using what are hardly more than literary gimmicks, such as overblown language or a weird narrative voice. What’s ‘literary’ and ‘intelligent’ for me is a novel (-ist) that builds a world convincingly, suspends my disbelief, nails my attention, stirs my emotions, pushes me to reflect on the human condition and/or gets my heart pounding. I need to connect. None of that is happening here. Kit’s rambling voice does not signal the deep emotional complexity I look for in a good novel, whether literary or commercial.

But tomato/tomayto. Perhaps some readers will like this.

My thanks to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing an ARC. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.

It’s rare that I give up on a book at the 80% mark (after slogging through it to get to that point) but here we are.

A post-apocalyptic novel about two people on an island where antibiotic resistance on the mainland has been reached, this was incredibly boring, overwritten and odd (and not odd in a good way). An intriguing premise but a distinct lack of intrigue meant this was torturously slow to read.

I love Emily St John Mandel (who this author is compared to in the blurb) but this doesn’t come close. Once I reached the part about the maggots, I closed the book, to forever remain closed.

WHETHER VIOLENT OR NATURAL by NATASHA CALDER

rating : 2.5 stars ⭐️⭐️✨

I’m really not sure how to put my feelings about this book into words: this was a 250ish page book but I genuinely thought it was closer to 400 by the way I completely slogged through it.

Kit and Crevan are living on an island while a bacterial infestation rages on the mainland. One evening a woman washes ashore, nearly drowned. Crevan wants to keep her alive, but Kit isn’t so sure.
The long winded lyrical prose really dragged away from the actual plot of the story- I did enjoy Calder’s writing style though. I think this book has a perfect place on someone’s bookshelf, however sadly not mine.

I really love the cover, its so pretty!

📖 Book details:
Page count: 224
Setting: Dystopian
Release date: 11th May 2023

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review is crossposted on Goodreads & my Instagram (@literarlo) 🪷

A darkly brilliant and twisted debut novel about secret, lies - and strange revenge.The author has a great gift for characterisation - nuanced, interesting, believable people.

I think this wasn't for me; I definitely think I know a person or two who would enjoy it a lot more than I did. I do feel the author writes well, and parts are definitely vivid. But I felt little connection to the characters, and when it comes to post-apoc, I personally really need that. I would be interested in other works by this author in the future though.

An interesting take on the post-apocalyptic novel with the young, turbulent Kit who lives on an isolated island with the enigmatic Creven. They live off the plentiful supplies of an emergency bunker and a fruitful greenhouse after catastrophic antibiotic resistance sweeps the world . Their strange, shifting relationship is challenged when an unconscious woman washes up on shore. Creven is determined to aid while Kit is unsure of letting someone into their haven who could bring disease with her. Their conflict brings deception and and secrecy to the fore.

There were parts I enjoyed, the nods to the Tempest, the strange and unsettling central relationship, the idea of the Backbiters, former physicians spreading more harm than good as they stick rigidly to old ways of thinking. But there are quite a few problems. Kit's voice grates after a while, her habit of waxing lyrical, using several metaphors where one would do, her penchant for repetition and flights of fancy. It's perhaps a Shakespearean-esque conceit but it clashes with the sparse worldbuilding, with small bits of information make understanding the context difficult. This is meant to be reflective of the gaps in Kit's own knowledge and memory but doesn't fit with the depth of knowledge and awareness of other subjects in her stream-of-consciousness narration. Further reason for this disconnect is revealed towards the end but the story still felt barely fleshed out, a working draft rather than a finished article.

I don't even know why I finished this. The twist ruins the only interesting part about the narrative. I was really intrigued at first, and even though I disliked Kit as a person, her inner monologue was so funny. Somewhere along the line, I got sick of the writing style. I felt exactly the same when I read Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan. It was full of pages and pages of useless information that just felt like the author showing off. This was my bed time read for a few weeks, and it sent me to sleep, without fail, every night... I wonder why👀 Nothing happens, and every time something interesting did happen, it ended up unsatisfying. I guess there might be an audience for this, but I'm not sure who that would be.

2.5 / 5

"Whether Violent or Natural" is a dystopian novel with a rather interesting premise: antibiotic resistance is purging the world of humans.

We follow most of the story through Kit's inner monologue and it is through this choice of perspective that my main critique comes about. Kit is borderline insufferable and the relationship between her and Crevan is disturbing. She continuously refers to Crevan as "daddy" and herself as "baby", and whilst there is no explicit sexual nature to this relationship, occasionally there are pieces of dialogue which definitely have slight sexual undertones. I also initially had a hard time discerning the ages of the characters due to this.

However, I thoroughly enjoyed the lyrical nature of the prose throughout this book and it is the reason that I continued reading even though I wasn't otherwise 100% sold on the book. I am a big fan of stream-of-consciousness writing and the fuzzy/daydream-like feeling that comes along with it. If you also enjoy this writing style, it might be worth a read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Natasha Calder, and Bloomsbury Publishing for the digital ARC!

I thought that this sounded like such an interesting read, especially after the recent pandemic and I wasn't disappoint. The writig is excellent full of rich imagery and vivid descriptions, the storyline is compelling and the characters are really well developed that I felt like I was right there with them.
There were so many twists that kept me guessing too