Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.
Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together — in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.
Exquisitely terrifying, beautiful, and strange, this fierce paranormal fantasy will sink its teeth into you and never let go.
Coming off of two somewhat disappointing werewolf stories, and having a surprise spot opened up for October, I decided to seek out another werewolf story to see if I could satiate my craving for fangs and fur. Enter What Big Teeth which happened to be available in both e-book and audio formats in my library. I remembered this book mainly from its enticing cover, its wolfish reference to Red Riding Hood, and seeing it doing the rounds on Facebook earlier this year, but otherwise had no idea what it was about. So, deciding not to question my luck, I went ahead and sank my teeth into this story.
Alas, this was still not a werewolf story. Well, at least the main character isn't a werewolf, and her family members who are werewolves are more akin to ye olden werewolves, who aren't cursed but rather are able to shift into a wolf whenever they'd like, and have some eccentricities to go along with it. So did I get my fix? Not really. But then, nothing about this book was quite what I expected.
First, there's Eleanor, our main character, narrator, and non-werewolf in a family filled with them. Coming home on the heels of something happening at boarding school, she's a bit apprehensive about seeing her family again after eight years away. A part of her knows and remembers they love her, but mostly she still feels the sting of being sent away in the first place and being completely cut off all these years. Now she's faced with the challenges of reacquainting herself, learning their business and history, and finding her own place within her far-from-normal family.
I really felt for Eleanor, not only as a typical teen trying to find her place in life, but as an estranged family member trying to reconcile her feelings of abandonment and pain within a "loving" family. She'll probably read fairly familiar as a YA protagonist, what with her inquisitive nature, feeling 'other,' and exploring new romantic feelings, but there's also a uniqueness to her as well with her family relationships and her own unexplored abilities.
The theme of "being other" runs not so subtly through this narrative. Even among her crazy family, Eleanor always feels at arm's length and alone. Knowing that the author is non-binary, my mind immediately started drawing parallels to LGBTQIA+ ostracization, but I'm sure the story will ring true to many in other circumstances. After all, teenagers as a group are often depicted (almost stereotyped) as feeling alone and misunderstood, even among the most loving families. Thankfully this depiction didn't feel stereotypical to me, as it did explore Eleanor's literal exile from her family for eight years, her memory returning in fractured bursts, and her clinging to any familiarity and understanding she could find, even if it came from a toxic relationship.
Yes, toxic relationships abound in this story, much to my surprise. I really had not expected a YA story to contain instances of abandonment, exile, bullying, toxic romantic relationships, toxic familial relationships, infidelity, slavery, murder, and LGBTQIA+ issues along with its promise of magic and monsters, but here we are. I was especially impressed by the successful juggling of Eleanor as an inherently inquisitive and logical character with her willingness to ignore red flags in her eagerness to find kinship. And when the perspective suddenly shifts to allow for others to show their motivations behind their decisions, it read beautifully for me.
I'll admit, the sudden perspective shift at 80% through the novel was extremely unexpected, but also welcome and, upon reflection, fitting that it didn't come earlier. One might expect a story that's going to shift perspectives to shift them throughout—but this isn't a shared story, it's Eleanor's story, and Eleanor isn't ready to think of others, to hear others out, until she reaches her lowest point. (Just like at the end of season one of The Legend of Korra) It's not that she doesn't care, but she's just not at a point that she can accept others' input until she's at the point of desperation, when she's searching for something—anything to help her situation. And that's when we get a new voice in the mix.
Admittedly, I wasn't sure about that character's second chapter of narration. I didn't dislike it, but I did feel it distracted a bit from Eleanor taking her agency back. Then again, I suppose it might have felt worse if the loose ends they introduced in their first bit of narration weren't sufficiently tied, so I can't really fault it either. Plus, while it didn't completely absolve them of their previous cruelties, it did help to further humanize them, earning a bit more sympathy, which I acknowledged and appreciated.
I also appreciated the LGBTQIA+ inclusion, more than just allegorically. There are multiple characters who show same-sex attraction, and though their relationships aren't the healthiest in general, I still appreciated the normalizing of their inclusion, especially in a historically-set novel. They don't mention the exact year, but they do reference "the war" multiple times, so I can only assume they're talking about WWI, so I'm guessing they're in the 1920s or 30s. I also thought it was a realistic depiction that Eleanor might not hold any ill will toward a gay family member, but she still feels the taboo of the subject, even discussing with another family member. I'm not saying her actions were correct, just that it felt real and understandable, especially considering who she was talking with and the prejudices she'd already observed.
One thing that may put readers off is the tone and pacing. As I alluded to earlier, there are a lot of darker concepts and themes present, things that have nothing to do with the literal monsters that make up Eleanor's family. Add in a slow, methodical pace and tons of introspection on the narrator's part, and this screams gothic. Obviously, this was perfect for my purposes, wanting a spooky/monstrous read for Halloween, but I can definitely see it putting off readers who were simply looking for a YA werewolf story (*cough* no idea who that could be...*cough*).
Keeping with the gothic atmosphere, I feel I aught to give a warning about the ending. This is a stand-alone book, so you might expect that everything wraps up all nice and neat. While I wouldn't say there are loose threads, this ending leaves a lot unanswered and open-ended. The story that's explored in this novel is complete, but some characters' fates are far from decided. That being said, I don't believe the author plans on continuing the Zarrin's story (though they might surprise me), so it is left up to the reader (and fanfiction) to decide the rest. I think it works well, but it took me a little time to digest everything, and I know not everyone seeks that kind of literature.
Overall, despite it not being anything like I was expecting, I really came to love this simultaneously familiar and unique story. There was so much here that made me feel like I wanted to dust off my literary analysis skills from high school/college, from the gothic tone, to the dark themes, deep characters, and possible allegories; I think this could easily be a new literary classic. I tried to be somewhat vague in my review, so as not to spoil anything, since I want other readers to be surprised at all the twists and turns the story takes, especially since the cover, title, and summary don't give nearly enough clues. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys gothic themes, young adult narratives, complex characters and relationships, LGBTQIA+ stories, or just monsters in general. Whether you're looking for a spooky gothic tale to fit the time of year, or are simply wanting something out of the norm, What Big Teeth might be just what you're looking for.
Read by Jasika Nicole
Unabridged Length: 12 Hours
Listened at 2.25x Speed
Unabridged Length: 12 Hours
Listened at 2.25x Speed
A solid production with a good narrator, though I personally found the voice to be a bit younger than I would have liked. Reading for Eleanor wasn't too bad, being about 15-or-so, but the voice for Luma sounded very young for being 21, and Rhys also seemed fairly juvenile for being an older teenage boy. But then, their countenance (and Eleanor's observations of them) also painted them as juvenile, so it's hard to say if the audio merely enhanced that feeling, or if it was the main contributor. I did especially enjoy the accented voices of the grandparents, though, so I'd say it all evened out in the end.
Also, fun fact that I did not know until right this minute, but the reader for this, Jasika Nicole, is also one of my favorite characters, Agent Astrid Farnsworth from the show Fringe! After recommending it over and over again on Likewise recently, it's funny that I happened to run across her in a completely separate medium. And I had absolutely no idea it was her—though it has been a few years since I saw the show... Anyway, small world.
I did catch one instance where a missed-take was accidentally left in towards the end of the book. It was clear that one word was mispronounced, so the narrator re-read the sentence again and then moved on, but both lines were accidentally left in the audio. But I'm willing to forgive the one flub, considering I forgave multiple in the Geekerella audio.
Overall, I enjoyed this production. I did find the reading speed slightly slower than normal, with noticeable pauses between sentences, causing me to increase my listening speed to 2.25x. But despite my personal preferences, I'd still recommend this for the wide variety of character voice-work, the helpful pronunciations of some names, and the overall tone and atmosphere Ms. Nicole helped evoke.
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