Coup de Grâce

Surprised myself and sped through this short horror the past couple days. Coup de Grace was bitingly sarcastic with an ego-driven and miserably depressed protagonist. Fair. I'm not a slasher or gore fan so horror can be a hard sell for me, but situational/survival stories like this set in nigh hopeless situations have a thrill I can't deny. The book was less about the horror of the rooms, and more about the progression of despair. Though, there were some very chilling descriptions of body horror here that will weigh on me like cement.

I would exercise caution if you're prone to spirals of nihilistic thinking and swayed by portrayals of helplessness. Unless you find comfort in the grotesque, and seeing someone suffer makes you feel less show more alone. I really truly was rooting for Vick, and the book knows it and loves to twist the knife.

"Press the Maintenance button, and think of home." show less

Ajram's prose is gorgeous, and I was immediately sucked into this slim work of dread and hopelessness. For most of the work, I was compelled to keep reading without stop, pulled along by the writing, the predicament, and the voice of the narrator. At the end of the book, though, the style changes, and while on some level I can see how it works with the book that's led to that point, and with the themes, I have to admit that the stylistic change threw me for a bit of a loop and left me less than engaged, to the point where I have to admit I was glad to finish.

I'd definitely pick up more of Ajram's work, and I think the lens used to examine depression here worked incredibly well. The more experimental aspect of the work and style just show more wasn't my cup of tea. show less

So weird and unsettling. Loved it.

It is very House of Leaves-esque in that our protagonist finds themself in a never ending labyrinthine structure that is harboring a dark entity.

Another resemblance to HoL is the author’s sharp turn into hard metafiction territory in the last third of the book. A brief dip into the ergodic. Which I was here for.

There’s visceral and grotesque body horror. ❤️

The author’s writing style might not resonate with everyone, but I loved it. Lovely long sentences that last nearly a page but sound like poetry.

And the ending.

A moving and gorgeously written novella, Sofia Ajram’s Coup de Grâce cycles through vertigo, claustrophobia, existential dread and body horror—and yet it’s not without a sense of hope. Immersive and strange, highly recommended.

I wanted to like this much more than I did. It just didn't click for me, despite the gruesome interpretation of utilitarian architecture and brief glimpses of interstitial horror. It got cute with the structure towards the end which honestly worked pretty well but felt like a hard left turn.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Content wise you really feel the dread and misery, and the hopelessness associated with luminal spaces. This is one of the only luminal space books that I really felt transported to and not bored? So that's a plus. It highlights that waking/dreaming feeling.

Hey what the F?

I'm going to need to lay on the floor to process everything about this one.

5 stars, loved it, will put on the staff recommendations shelf at work.