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Deliver Me
At a meatpacking facility in the Missouri Ozarks, Dee-Dee and her co-workers kill and butcher 40,000 chickens in a single shift.
The work is repetitive and brutal, with each stab and cut a punishment to her hands and joints, but Dee-Dee’s more concerned with what is happening inside her body. After a series of devastating miscarriages, Dee-Dee has found herself pregnant, and she is determined to carry this child to term.
Dee-Dee fled the Pentecostal church years ago, but judgment follows her in the form of regular calls from her mother, whose raspy voice urges Dee-Dee to quit living in sin and marry her boyfriend Daddy, an underemployed ex-con with an insect fetish. With a child on the way, at long last Dee-Dee can bask in her mother’s and boyfriend’s newfound parturient attention. She will matter. She will be loved. She will be complete.
When her charismatic friend Sloane reappears after a twenty-year absence, feeding her insecurities and awakening suppressed desires, Dee-Dee fears she will go back to living in the shadows. Neither the ultimate indignity of yet another miscarriage nor Sloane’s own pregnancy deters her: she must prepare for the baby’s arrival.
The work is repetitive and brutal, with each stab and cut a punishment to her hands and joints, but Dee-Dee’s more concerned with what is happening inside her body. After a series of devastating miscarriages, Dee-Dee has found herself pregnant, and she is determined to carry this child to term.
Dee-Dee fled the Pentecostal church years ago, but judgment follows her in the form of regular calls from her mother, whose raspy voice urges Dee-Dee to quit living in sin and marry her boyfriend Daddy, an underemployed ex-con with an insect fetish. With a child on the way, at long last Dee-Dee can bask in her mother’s and boyfriend’s newfound parturient attention. She will matter. She will be loved. She will be complete.
When her charismatic friend Sloane reappears after a twenty-year absence, feeding her insecurities and awakening suppressed desires, Dee-Dee fears she will go back to living in the shadows. Neither the ultimate indignity of yet another miscarriage nor Sloane’s own pregnancy deters her: she must prepare for the baby’s arrival.
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First published October 3, 2023
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About the author
Elle Nash
26 books506 followersElle Nash is the author of the novel Animals Eat Each Other (Dzanc Books), which was featured in the 2018 June Reading Room of O - The Oprah Magazine and hailed by Publishers Weekly as a ‘complex, impressive exploration of obsession and desire.’ Her debut collection of stories, Nudes, was published in 2021. Her next novel, Deliver Me, is out from Unnamed Press in 2023.
Her work appears in Guernica, The Nervous Breakdown, Literary Hub, BOMB Magazine, The Fanzine, Volume 1 Brooklyn, New York Tyrant and elsewhere. She is a founding editor of Witch Craft Magazine.
Her work appears in Guernica, The Nervous Breakdown, Literary Hub, BOMB Magazine, The Fanzine, Volume 1 Brooklyn, New York Tyrant and elsewhere. She is a founding editor of Witch Craft Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 498 reviews
May 15, 2024
Deliver Me by Elle Nash
Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: This is my introduction
Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978195121...
Release Date: October 3rd, 2023
General Genre: Erotica, Literary, LBGTQIA+, Coming-Of-Age, General Fiction
Sub-Genre/Themes: Motherhood/pregnancy, patriarchal, evangelical, religious cult, identity, female agency, repressed sexuality, animal cruelty, unrequited (sapphic) love, physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, obsession, and desperation. TWs: animal cruelty/death, fertility issues (miscarriages), pregnancy, abuse, trauma
Writing Style: Psychological, introspective, character-driven, explicit, stylistically complex, flashbacks
What You Need to Know: The main character works at a meat-packing plant. Her job is processing chickens so if you’re a vegan or squeamish about meat processing, there are a lot of detailed descriptions. The main storyline is a detailed account of one woman’s struggle with not being able to carry a baby to term; miscarriages. There is a lot of psychological trauma because of the religious context she grew up in and the current romantic/sexual relationship she’s in. Strong themes of harmful Pentecostal/Evangelical doctrines include gender roles, identity, female agency/purpose, sexual predators in the church, and purity culture. The weight of all these themes is staggering. Having an Evangelical church background myself, this book is terrifying in its accuracy. If you’ve experienced religious trauma at any point in your life, especially as a woman, you might find this book as cathartic as I did.
My Reading Experience: This book is compulsive as fuck. Lately, I’ve gotten into the habit of reading the first page of all the books that come into my house so I know how to prioritize my reading list. I read the first page of this book and then just kept on reading. The prose is intentionally intimate, drawing the reader close as the MC, Dee-Dee runs through her thought-life.
It’s exceptionally painful. A strict, patriarchal, evangelical religious upbringing has damaged Dee-Dee’s sense of worth, purpose, and identity beyond repair. Now, she’s in a relationship with a live-in boyfriend she calls, Daddy. All Dee-Dee wants is to be pregnant. She fantasizes about motherhood. It’s horrifying how fucked up she is in her head.
Nash does an exceptional job presenting Dee-Dee exactly as she is, fully informed by the worldview/context she has been in while simultaneously giving space for the reader to witness all the ways this toxic, abusive environment has produced ignorance, immaturity, stunted growth, and ultimately, mental illness.
It’s frustratingly tragic yet, mesmerizing. I couldn’t put it down. This book had me in its grip until the final page and long after I finished. My thoughts were racing! The high of reading this book lingered.
Final Recommendation: Carve out exactly how much time you will need to finish this book--it demands one sitting. You won’t stop thinking about it if you have to interrupt the flow so I suggest downing the whole thing in one, satisfying gulp. Be mindful of triggers. Reach out to me if you need specifics. I’ll be reading Nash’s back catalog and hunting down new releases.
Comps: Has “Tiffany McDaniel vibes” with the grim tone and female-centric sense of desperation and despair. Similar themes to Conjuring the Witch by Jessica Leonard. Accessible, absorbing storytelling reminiscent of Ashley Audrain’s The Push.
Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: This is my introduction
Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978195121...
Release Date: October 3rd, 2023
General Genre: Erotica, Literary, LBGTQIA+, Coming-Of-Age, General Fiction
Sub-Genre/Themes: Motherhood/pregnancy, patriarchal, evangelical, religious cult, identity, female agency, repressed sexuality, animal cruelty, unrequited (sapphic) love, physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, obsession, and desperation. TWs: animal cruelty/death, fertility issues (miscarriages), pregnancy, abuse, trauma
Writing Style: Psychological, introspective, character-driven, explicit, stylistically complex, flashbacks
What You Need to Know: The main character works at a meat-packing plant. Her job is processing chickens so if you’re a vegan or squeamish about meat processing, there are a lot of detailed descriptions. The main storyline is a detailed account of one woman’s struggle with not being able to carry a baby to term; miscarriages. There is a lot of psychological trauma because of the religious context she grew up in and the current romantic/sexual relationship she’s in. Strong themes of harmful Pentecostal/Evangelical doctrines include gender roles, identity, female agency/purpose, sexual predators in the church, and purity culture. The weight of all these themes is staggering. Having an Evangelical church background myself, this book is terrifying in its accuracy. If you’ve experienced religious trauma at any point in your life, especially as a woman, you might find this book as cathartic as I did.
My Reading Experience: This book is compulsive as fuck. Lately, I’ve gotten into the habit of reading the first page of all the books that come into my house so I know how to prioritize my reading list. I read the first page of this book and then just kept on reading. The prose is intentionally intimate, drawing the reader close as the MC, Dee-Dee runs through her thought-life.
It’s exceptionally painful. A strict, patriarchal, evangelical religious upbringing has damaged Dee-Dee’s sense of worth, purpose, and identity beyond repair. Now, she’s in a relationship with a live-in boyfriend she calls, Daddy. All Dee-Dee wants is to be pregnant. She fantasizes about motherhood. It’s horrifying how fucked up she is in her head.
Nash does an exceptional job presenting Dee-Dee exactly as she is, fully informed by the worldview/context she has been in while simultaneously giving space for the reader to witness all the ways this toxic, abusive environment has produced ignorance, immaturity, stunted growth, and ultimately, mental illness.
It’s frustratingly tragic yet, mesmerizing. I couldn’t put it down. This book had me in its grip until the final page and long after I finished. My thoughts were racing! The high of reading this book lingered.
Final Recommendation: Carve out exactly how much time you will need to finish this book--it demands one sitting. You won’t stop thinking about it if you have to interrupt the flow so I suggest downing the whole thing in one, satisfying gulp. Be mindful of triggers. Reach out to me if you need specifics. I’ll be reading Nash’s back catalog and hunting down new releases.
Comps: Has “Tiffany McDaniel vibes” with the grim tone and female-centric sense of desperation and despair. Similar themes to Conjuring the Witch by Jessica Leonard. Accessible, absorbing storytelling reminiscent of Ashley Audrain’s The Push.
November 4, 2023
ethel cain book
September 19, 2024
Oh wow 😧
There is so much animal death/cruelty in this one it’s insane. Also, lots of miscarriages graphically described, as well as some weird sex stuff.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
It’s about Daisy, a woman working at a chicken processing plant where 10’s of thousands of chickens are processed every day, as she tries to overcome her religious trauma, deals with living with her boyfriend named Daddy (who has an insect fetish), as she becomes pregnant once more after a string of miscarriages, and as she deals with many other toxic relationships including ones with her mom and childhood best friend.
This didn’t go where I thought it was going, but it still made me feel extremely uncomfortable and filled me with dread because I was expecting the worst to happen at any given moment. The ending suspense builds and builds and builds, and ultimately I thought it was a *bit* anticlimactic (and I disliked the end because of how it was all tied in a bow, we should have been able to read what happened as it happened, which is kind of a spoiler but everything is summed up with a report of sorts and it was just strange).
Overall this is a no plots just vibes kinda book, and the vibes are all very off putting.
There is so much animal death/cruelty in this one it’s insane. Also, lots of miscarriages graphically described, as well as some weird sex stuff.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
It’s about Daisy, a woman working at a chicken processing plant where 10’s of thousands of chickens are processed every day, as she tries to overcome her religious trauma, deals with living with her boyfriend named Daddy (who has an insect fetish), as she becomes pregnant once more after a string of miscarriages, and as she deals with many other toxic relationships including ones with her mom and childhood best friend.
This didn’t go where I thought it was going, but it still made me feel extremely uncomfortable and filled me with dread because I was expecting the worst to happen at any given moment. The ending suspense builds and builds and builds, and ultimately I thought it was a *bit* anticlimactic (and I disliked the end because of how it was all tied in a bow, we should have been able to read what happened as it happened, which is kind of a spoiler but everything is summed up with a report of sorts and it was just strange).
Overall this is a no plots just vibes kinda book, and the vibes are all very off putting.
September 16, 2025
ARC for review. To be published October 5, 2025. However, this may have been published previously? Maybe a new edition?).
3.5 stars
This book has been described as body horror and there’s a bit of that but I found it more horror adjacent (though, to warn, there are some horrible animal scenes so if that is one of your triggers you should probably steer clear (had I known about them I wouldn’t have read the book, which is a shame, because I liked it, but there’s definitely one scene that is staying with me in the worst way.))
Dee-Dee works in a chicken rendering plant. She lives with boyfriend, Daddy, who won’t marry her and who has a serious thing about insects. Dee-Dee desperately wants to be pregnant, so much so that she nearly convinces herself she can manifest it into being.
Sloane lives in an apartment above Dee-Dee and Daddy. She and Dee-Dee were the best of friends growing up (or maybe a bit more) and both were raised up in a cult-like church. The story is told in flashbacks to the mid-1990s, when the girls were teenagers and sections that are present day.
As I said, despite the animal stuff this one kept me turning the pages. I would read more from this author.
3.5 stars
This book has been described as body horror and there’s a bit of that but I found it more horror adjacent (though, to warn, there are some horrible animal scenes so if that is one of your triggers you should probably steer clear (had I known about them I wouldn’t have read the book, which is a shame, because I liked it, but there’s definitely one scene that is staying with me in the worst way.))
Dee-Dee works in a chicken rendering plant. She lives with boyfriend, Daddy, who won’t marry her and who has a serious thing about insects. Dee-Dee desperately wants to be pregnant, so much so that she nearly convinces herself she can manifest it into being.
Sloane lives in an apartment above Dee-Dee and Daddy. She and Dee-Dee were the best of friends growing up (or maybe a bit more) and both were raised up in a cult-like church. The story is told in flashbacks to the mid-1990s, when the girls were teenagers and sections that are present day.
As I said, despite the animal stuff this one kept me turning the pages. I would read more from this author.
October 9, 2023
4.0 Stars
Have you ever finished a book and thought… what the heck did I just read!?!
Well I just finished this book and am wondering why I read such messed up books.
This is such a strange, uneasy read. I can't say I fully understand everything the author was trying to accomplish with this book, but it was certainly a memorable read. I loved the mash up of themes, exploring pregnancy through the lense of a mentally ill Evangelical Christian family. The story was so disturbing and gross, which are huge pluses in my books.
Overall I enjoyed this twisted messed up story. The narrative was a little messy at times but I feel that was an intentional choice. I would recommend this one to readers who share my love for a f*ck up story.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Have you ever finished a book and thought… what the heck did I just read!?!
Well I just finished this book and am wondering why I read such messed up books.
This is such a strange, uneasy read. I can't say I fully understand everything the author was trying to accomplish with this book, but it was certainly a memorable read. I loved the mash up of themes, exploring pregnancy through the lense of a mentally ill Evangelical Christian family. The story was so disturbing and gross, which are huge pluses in my books.
Overall I enjoyed this twisted messed up story. The narrative was a little messy at times but I feel that was an intentional choice. I would recommend this one to readers who share my love for a f*ck up story.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
August 15, 2023
i had to take 3 ativan to finish this book
the tampon sucking was really one of the milder things that happens
the tampon sucking was really one of the milder things that happens
September 27, 2023
Shit, trigger warnings just for this REVIEW: loss of pregnancy. :/
“My body is a bloated corpse.”
As soon as I started reading this I realized this might be a book that was written for shock value. I don’t say that often, but this is about a woman that lives with an abusive husband, works in a meat factory killing chickens AND is repeatedly trying to produce a viable pregnancy but instead deals with many that end prematurely. It was immediately one of the most heavy handed books I had encountered in a while. Nothing about it is subtle. In fact, the main character refers to the man that she is in a relationship with as “Daddy,” and things get much worse from there. This is technically “literary fiction,” but it reads almost like an extreme horror.
"Deliver Me" is, to its credit, one of the grossest books I’ve ever read, which is saying something. It's not even the chicken factory stuff, it's everything else. (I don't know quite how to describe it, but this novel has terrible hygiene.) Sometimes there are stories that make me feel physically pained by what’s happening and this was one of them. The way Dee-Dee abuses her body because of her denial of losing the most recent pregnancy and the delusion of doing everything she can to try to fake it, (even if it's harmful to her), is tough to get through. At the same time, I saw Dee-Dee described in another review as a sympathetic narrator, but that statement is downright laughable. She’s kind of an idiot, she does cruel, repulsive things, and she’s beyond redemption. She’s also selfish and manipulative, constantly lying in desperate attempts to garner sympathy. And then there's the animal murder. (Again, I'm not even referring to the chickens.) Is she a victim of her environment? In some ways. But I couldn’t stand her and I wasn’t rooting for her, ever. Why would anyone?
I mentioned that the symbolism is heavy handed, and here's an example: There’s a part where Dee-Dee goes to the doctor’s office. Outside is a billboard with a digital counter showing how many babies that hospital has delivered. She remarks that her workplace “kills at least that many chickens in a single day.” Wow, WE GET IT. Or what about the part where the abusive husband is waxing philosophical about humanity while literally watching a documentary about Ted Bundy? A lot of the book just felt like it was laying it on too syrupy thick. Get ready for musings like, “I never understood the idea that pregnancy ruins a woman’s body. A woman has never looked more sexual.” Though, as I mentioned earlier, it can take a lot to be too much for me and there was a scene that made me legit nauseous. It was downright gag worthy, and not in the Drag way. So, kudos.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely think that Elle Nash can write. This was a very messy ARC that needed quite a bit of editing, and I think that was maybe a bit unfair to her. Hopefully a lot of updates will happen before the book is published, since this IS an ARC. Typos, odd white spaces where there shouldn’t be any, words crammed together, etc. There’s a section or two where the paragraphs suddenly jump back and forth between the present and the past and it’s a bit confusing. Those parts may have been on purpose, but I don’t know for sure. I can’t help wondering if reading a fully polished version of this book could’ve changed a few of my opinions, but I did have other problems with it.
I do feel guilty about this: there were a couple of parts where Dee-Dee is gorging herself on junk food and I think you’re supposed to be appalled and part of me was, but also the description of all the food made me hungry. Lol, definitely not what the author intended, I’m sure.
Proceed with caution if you love cats, (I had one sleeping next to me while a particularly awful part happened and it was awkward to say the least), OR dogs. (Remember what I said about shock value?) And also maybe don’t read this if you’ve had bad experiences with pregnancy in any way. It’s not exactly a topic handled in a sensitive manner. I wouldn’t recommend it either if you don’t want to read long, gratuitous passages about how gross chicken factories are. There's even awkward stuff that happens to insects, so maybe take that into consideration. I did appreciate the messaging about the dangers of overbearing Religious households, but also my eyes kind of glazed over during the long passages of ranting sermons. (That may have been the point, though.)
Some of the characters’ actions didn’t make any sense. Mild spoilers here, but Dee-Dee flat out drives off with a friend’s baby and blatantly tries to steal it at one point and the friend is not only barely mad about it but also throws Dee-Dee her own baby shower later. Like, what??? And even though Dee-Dee is faking a pregnancy throughout the story, she keeps mysteriously finding sonogram photos in her purse. This is NEVER EXPLAINED.
I think this book had potential and I would probably read something else by this author because she's pretty fearless when it comes to writing absolutely anything she wants, no matter how crazy or offensive it is, but I personally wouldn't recommend this particular book to anyone. It wasn't a good experience. (But not in the way that putting yourself through a harrowing, upsetting book can be, if that makes sense.) I'm still going to give it three stars because I did like the ending and I think there were some shining moments buried throughout, but I definitely got to a point where I was hoping to be done with it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this ARC!
TW: Animal cruelty/murder (graphic), miscarriage, domestic abuse, fat-shaming, misogyny, gay slurs, self-harm, Religious manipulation, children in danger
“My body is a bloated corpse.”
As soon as I started reading this I realized this might be a book that was written for shock value. I don’t say that often, but this is about a woman that lives with an abusive husband, works in a meat factory killing chickens AND is repeatedly trying to produce a viable pregnancy but instead deals with many that end prematurely. It was immediately one of the most heavy handed books I had encountered in a while. Nothing about it is subtle. In fact, the main character refers to the man that she is in a relationship with as “Daddy,” and things get much worse from there. This is technically “literary fiction,” but it reads almost like an extreme horror.
"Deliver Me" is, to its credit, one of the grossest books I’ve ever read, which is saying something. It's not even the chicken factory stuff, it's everything else. (I don't know quite how to describe it, but this novel has terrible hygiene.) Sometimes there are stories that make me feel physically pained by what’s happening and this was one of them. The way Dee-Dee abuses her body because of her denial of losing the most recent pregnancy and the delusion of doing everything she can to try to fake it, (even if it's harmful to her), is tough to get through. At the same time, I saw Dee-Dee described in another review as a sympathetic narrator, but that statement is downright laughable. She’s kind of an idiot, she does cruel, repulsive things, and she’s beyond redemption. She’s also selfish and manipulative, constantly lying in desperate attempts to garner sympathy. And then there's the animal murder. (Again, I'm not even referring to the chickens.) Is she a victim of her environment? In some ways. But I couldn’t stand her and I wasn’t rooting for her, ever. Why would anyone?
I mentioned that the symbolism is heavy handed, and here's an example: There’s a part where Dee-Dee goes to the doctor’s office. Outside is a billboard with a digital counter showing how many babies that hospital has delivered. She remarks that her workplace “kills at least that many chickens in a single day.” Wow, WE GET IT. Or what about the part where the abusive husband is waxing philosophical about humanity while literally watching a documentary about Ted Bundy? A lot of the book just felt like it was laying it on too syrupy thick. Get ready for musings like, “I never understood the idea that pregnancy ruins a woman’s body. A woman has never looked more sexual.” Though, as I mentioned earlier, it can take a lot to be too much for me and there was a scene that made me legit nauseous. It was downright gag worthy, and not in the Drag way. So, kudos.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely think that Elle Nash can write. This was a very messy ARC that needed quite a bit of editing, and I think that was maybe a bit unfair to her. Hopefully a lot of updates will happen before the book is published, since this IS an ARC. Typos, odd white spaces where there shouldn’t be any, words crammed together, etc. There’s a section or two where the paragraphs suddenly jump back and forth between the present and the past and it’s a bit confusing. Those parts may have been on purpose, but I don’t know for sure. I can’t help wondering if reading a fully polished version of this book could’ve changed a few of my opinions, but I did have other problems with it.
I do feel guilty about this: there were a couple of parts where Dee-Dee is gorging herself on junk food and I think you’re supposed to be appalled and part of me was, but also the description of all the food made me hungry. Lol, definitely not what the author intended, I’m sure.
Proceed with caution if you love cats, (I had one sleeping next to me while a particularly awful part happened and it was awkward to say the least), OR dogs. (Remember what I said about shock value?) And also maybe don’t read this if you’ve had bad experiences with pregnancy in any way. It’s not exactly a topic handled in a sensitive manner. I wouldn’t recommend it either if you don’t want to read long, gratuitous passages about how gross chicken factories are. There's even awkward stuff that happens to insects, so maybe take that into consideration. I did appreciate the messaging about the dangers of overbearing Religious households, but also my eyes kind of glazed over during the long passages of ranting sermons. (That may have been the point, though.)
Some of the characters’ actions didn’t make any sense. Mild spoilers here, but Dee-Dee flat out drives off with a friend’s baby and blatantly tries to steal it at one point and the friend is not only barely mad about it but also throws Dee-Dee her own baby shower later. Like, what??? And even though Dee-Dee is faking a pregnancy throughout the story, she keeps mysteriously finding sonogram photos in her purse. This is NEVER EXPLAINED.
I think this book had potential and I would probably read something else by this author because she's pretty fearless when it comes to writing absolutely anything she wants, no matter how crazy or offensive it is, but I personally wouldn't recommend this particular book to anyone. It wasn't a good experience. (But not in the way that putting yourself through a harrowing, upsetting book can be, if that makes sense.) I'm still going to give it three stars because I did like the ending and I think there were some shining moments buried throughout, but I definitely got to a point where I was hoping to be done with it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this ARC!
TW: Animal cruelty/murder (graphic), miscarriage, domestic abuse, fat-shaming, misogyny, gay slurs, self-harm, Religious manipulation, children in danger
August 30, 2025
Deliver Me by Elle Nash
3.75 rounded up to 4 🔮🔮🔮🔮 orbs
Dear reader, picture this. You are standing in a crowd awaiting a special guest on stage. You have no idea who that person is. From the left, we encounter something that can only be described as unusual. Marilyn Manson prances onto the stage in the tightest red latex pants you have ever seen. While I may not be the biggest fan, Manson exudes quirkiness that invites attention. It is that very strangeness that will endear readers to this novel, Deliver Me by Elle Nash. Marilyn Manson’s rendition of Sweet Dreams hauntingly plays in the background, in tune with my review, perfectly moving in unison in tribute to a story ripe with an abundance of craziness.
Daisy, or Dee-Dee, is a misguided woman. Perhaps I should refrain from using the word "misguided"; she has been guided, just in an emotionally abusive way. Religion and its abuse of power have permanently damaged those young women attending with their parents, guaranteeing that praying more will bring salvation for their sins.
Everyone in Dee-Dee’s life seems to fit a certain narcissistic profile. Her mother seems to care more about her best friend, Sloane. Her present-day boyfriend, “Daddy.” With a nickname like “Daddy,” dare I say more? The icing on the cake is that Sloane, someone whom Dee-Dee has long admired and fantasized about, is back in town. Taxed with working in an obscene environment, where breaking the necks of those with beaks is the expectation. What could bring happiness to a woman who works in a chicken factory where death runs amok?
It can’t get much worse, but somehow, Elle Nash has found a way for Dee-Dee to experience more drama. If only she could conceive a child, then “Daddy” would stay with her, and her mom might pay attention to her and give her some of the nurturing she was missing as a child. In no way, shape, or form can this end well.
Manson suddenly turns his head, and his eyes are bludgeoned with black mascara and eyeliner; he is looking at you, or through you, rather, as if he can see straight through to your soul. The twisted lyrics permeate your skin as you try to make sense of this book.
I can liken it to a smell, something pungent and revolting, and simultaneously hearing an inner dialogue that won’t allow you to walk away without knowing what the cause is. Upon further inspection, you see it is the carcass of a small animal in the midst of decay. Now, yes, you need to leave; the scent is making you tear up, but you can’t. A humane side of your personality is coming forth, and you notice yourself crying, not from the stench, but simply from sympathy for the small beast, very much like my experience in this novella. Dee-Dee is the small dead animal, swallowed up and spit out by her environment. You will swear at her, and you will cry with her, but at the end of the day, I could find nothing but empathy for her.
The song ends, and Manson tips his top hat to the crowd. The concertgoers reach a frenzy. Some hate, some love, but there is no lack of a response. I have yet to scratch the surface of madness upon the pages of this book. If you are in the mood for a demented story sure to stir the pot like a mosh pit, read this. There is plenty of abuse—animal, emotional, and physical abuse—to go around. For that reason, I would issue a word of warning.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Unnamed Press for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
3.75 rounded up to 4 🔮🔮🔮🔮 orbs
Dear reader, picture this. You are standing in a crowd awaiting a special guest on stage. You have no idea who that person is. From the left, we encounter something that can only be described as unusual. Marilyn Manson prances onto the stage in the tightest red latex pants you have ever seen. While I may not be the biggest fan, Manson exudes quirkiness that invites attention. It is that very strangeness that will endear readers to this novel, Deliver Me by Elle Nash. Marilyn Manson’s rendition of Sweet Dreams hauntingly plays in the background, in tune with my review, perfectly moving in unison in tribute to a story ripe with an abundance of craziness.
Daisy, or Dee-Dee, is a misguided woman. Perhaps I should refrain from using the word "misguided"; she has been guided, just in an emotionally abusive way. Religion and its abuse of power have permanently damaged those young women attending with their parents, guaranteeing that praying more will bring salvation for their sins.
Everyone in Dee-Dee’s life seems to fit a certain narcissistic profile. Her mother seems to care more about her best friend, Sloane. Her present-day boyfriend, “Daddy.” With a nickname like “Daddy,” dare I say more? The icing on the cake is that Sloane, someone whom Dee-Dee has long admired and fantasized about, is back in town. Taxed with working in an obscene environment, where breaking the necks of those with beaks is the expectation. What could bring happiness to a woman who works in a chicken factory where death runs amok?
It can’t get much worse, but somehow, Elle Nash has found a way for Dee-Dee to experience more drama. If only she could conceive a child, then “Daddy” would stay with her, and her mom might pay attention to her and give her some of the nurturing she was missing as a child. In no way, shape, or form can this end well.
Manson suddenly turns his head, and his eyes are bludgeoned with black mascara and eyeliner; he is looking at you, or through you, rather, as if he can see straight through to your soul. The twisted lyrics permeate your skin as you try to make sense of this book.
I can liken it to a smell, something pungent and revolting, and simultaneously hearing an inner dialogue that won’t allow you to walk away without knowing what the cause is. Upon further inspection, you see it is the carcass of a small animal in the midst of decay. Now, yes, you need to leave; the scent is making you tear up, but you can’t. A humane side of your personality is coming forth, and you notice yourself crying, not from the stench, but simply from sympathy for the small beast, very much like my experience in this novella. Dee-Dee is the small dead animal, swallowed up and spit out by her environment. You will swear at her, and you will cry with her, but at the end of the day, I could find nothing but empathy for her.
The song ends, and Manson tips his top hat to the crowd. The concertgoers reach a frenzy. Some hate, some love, but there is no lack of a response. I have yet to scratch the surface of madness upon the pages of this book. If you are in the mood for a demented story sure to stir the pot like a mosh pit, read this. There is plenty of abuse—animal, emotional, and physical abuse—to go around. For that reason, I would issue a word of warning.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Unnamed Press for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
December 1, 2024
I’ve read Nash’s other three novellas about bulimia, Satanism, and creepy-close female friendships. This immediately starts way less teenage, more polished like a stake—but the MC’s involved in butchering steaks. No blood at first, just squishy, peachy fat to trim. The voice has a drawl when it comes to pace rather than spelling since the MC is a southern 30-something who grew up very religious. She believes she’s pregnant now (despite five miscarriages) to her shady boyfriend dubbed Daddy, but she’s more concerned about getting fatter than the logistics. When MC DeeDee’s mom is “tongue clucking” about not trying to conceive before marriage, I assume this book will be one about her toppling the pedestal she put her mom on (though that advice is obviously fair, hardly a pious opinion).
This prose is so gorgeous, stainless, sultry, it seems to have aged a decade in Italy to ripen in fields w/ the most peculiarly pretty creepy-crawlies. The Pentecostal rituals can be flummoxing to an outsider but that’s the point w/ the flashback POV of a child holding down young, pretty Sloane who’s pretending to snarl in tongues to be saved.
“This underpinning of anxiety showed up one day like a rock in my shoe.” There’s crying over chicken corpses, letting cockroaches crawl over her nakedness because her slow boyfriend loves them more than her. She is so naive but not at all contemptible, often wanting things to live despite the crushing forces of church-arrogant mothers, ex-con freak lovers, and the like. Wanting to care for a janky-eyed kitten, DeeDee discovers her long lost friend is her new neighbor, dragging up memories of jealousy, arousal, and reptilian preachers. I love how subtle and show vs tell all the commentary on Christianity, blue collar jobs, parenting styles, and government is. Not preachy at all, just presented in a way to make obvious inferences.
Something I always notice in Nash’s work is the beautifully obsessive nature towards food despite often writing characters with body image problems. This character is described as doughy and not all that pretty or youthful, which is a nice change up without being virtue-signaling like many people try to make a quota of. There’s also the good seesaw of thoughts foreshadowing what will come next. It’s suitable for the pauses that come, say, when waiting at the doctor’s office to get weighed.
The prose is also very tied to the body in fiercely realistic ways: the vicious description of passing blood clots, the constantly enflamed pits, the slapping of bra marks on the skin, the hard press of seasonal wind on hipbones and paper-toweled lips. Even when someone is sucking a bloated tampon, it’s poetic! What a feat, lol. Or on a smaller scale, so is the way shoveling in fast food to manifest pregnancy. Maybe it’s because I relate so much to the MC’s bi- and loneliness, her lack of motherhood despite wanting it so bad, or any familial connection at all, but it’s so rare to find a likable MC whose contradictions I don’t pick apart. Nor antagonists who walk the protagonist line, but are painted so I hate them exactly as I should for all their gray life decisions. The way the relationships are posed is realistic without being whiney, portraying the ping-ponging of “He’s bad at…but at least he…”
Even when the MC is unhinged I’m here for it because it’s hella entertaining and oftentimes darkly funny. It is so rare I read a five star book, something I have virtually no suggestions for. Sure, sometimes the dialogue doesn’t connect but I think that’s a me thing (not talking about the philosophical talks but the cold responses Daddy or Sloane give that don’t 100% match w/ the question asked). Yet these are complex, tortured characters from a part of the country I have no association with, so I think it has to do w/ growing up that way. 80% in, something unspeakable happens but I hold out hope it’s practice for the MC doing something worse to someone who actually deserves it. Holy Hell does 90% in get morbid (I understand the hair-trigger bad ratings now), but it’s a great metaphor. I can’t say I didn’t suspect how it would end but that is just a piece of the finale. Perhaps I would have liked a few more sentences once the POV shifts, but the reason for it is laid out plain enough.
This prose is so gorgeous, stainless, sultry, it seems to have aged a decade in Italy to ripen in fields w/ the most peculiarly pretty creepy-crawlies. The Pentecostal rituals can be flummoxing to an outsider but that’s the point w/ the flashback POV of a child holding down young, pretty Sloane who’s pretending to snarl in tongues to be saved.
“This underpinning of anxiety showed up one day like a rock in my shoe.” There’s crying over chicken corpses, letting cockroaches crawl over her nakedness because her slow boyfriend loves them more than her. She is so naive but not at all contemptible, often wanting things to live despite the crushing forces of church-arrogant mothers, ex-con freak lovers, and the like. Wanting to care for a janky-eyed kitten, DeeDee discovers her long lost friend is her new neighbor, dragging up memories of jealousy, arousal, and reptilian preachers. I love how subtle and show vs tell all the commentary on Christianity, blue collar jobs, parenting styles, and government is. Not preachy at all, just presented in a way to make obvious inferences.
Something I always notice in Nash’s work is the beautifully obsessive nature towards food despite often writing characters with body image problems. This character is described as doughy and not all that pretty or youthful, which is a nice change up without being virtue-signaling like many people try to make a quota of. There’s also the good seesaw of thoughts foreshadowing what will come next. It’s suitable for the pauses that come, say, when waiting at the doctor’s office to get weighed.
The prose is also very tied to the body in fiercely realistic ways: the vicious description of passing blood clots, the constantly enflamed pits, the slapping of bra marks on the skin, the hard press of seasonal wind on hipbones and paper-toweled lips. Even when someone is sucking a bloated tampon, it’s poetic! What a feat, lol. Or on a smaller scale, so is the way shoveling in fast food to manifest pregnancy. Maybe it’s because I relate so much to the MC’s bi- and loneliness, her lack of motherhood despite wanting it so bad, or any familial connection at all, but it’s so rare to find a likable MC whose contradictions I don’t pick apart. Nor antagonists who walk the protagonist line, but are painted so I hate them exactly as I should for all their gray life decisions. The way the relationships are posed is realistic without being whiney, portraying the ping-ponging of “He’s bad at…but at least he…”
Even when the MC is unhinged I’m here for it because it’s hella entertaining and oftentimes darkly funny. It is so rare I read a five star book, something I have virtually no suggestions for. Sure, sometimes the dialogue doesn’t connect but I think that’s a me thing (not talking about the philosophical talks but the cold responses Daddy or Sloane give that don’t 100% match w/ the question asked). Yet these are complex, tortured characters from a part of the country I have no association with, so I think it has to do w/ growing up that way. 80% in, something unspeakable happens but I hold out hope it’s practice for the MC doing something worse to someone who actually deserves it. Holy Hell does 90% in get morbid (I understand the hair-trigger bad ratings now), but it’s a great metaphor. I can’t say I didn’t suspect how it would end but that is just a piece of the finale. Perhaps I would have liked a few more sentences once the POV shifts, but the reason for it is laid out plain enough.
March 29, 2025
shocking, dark, bleak, gross, disgusting. Trigger warnings ⚠️ for a whole bunch of stuff
.
.
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Reading notes along the way...
Only a few pages in and this already extremely bleak.
Graphic description of animal death/cruelty
Insect kink stuff . More animal cruelty.
I had dream last night about cutting chicken breast
Animal cruelty
70% shocking, dark, bleak, gross, disgusting
The part where she mixes vegetable oil with ice cream and eats it PUKEEEE
89% I will say the drama of not knowing how this is all going to turn out is good
90% MORE animal cruelty.
WHAT EVEN WAS THAT?
.
.
.
SPOILERS
There was never a scene where everyone finds out she's actually not really been pregnant this whole time. I feel like I was waiting for that shoe to drop moment that never came.
Kind of a let down.
.
.
.
Reading notes along the way...
Only a few pages in and this already extremely bleak.
Graphic description of animal death/cruelty
Insect kink stuff . More animal cruelty.
I had dream last night about cutting chicken breast
Animal cruelty
70% shocking, dark, bleak, gross, disgusting
The part where she mixes vegetable oil with ice cream and eats it PUKEEEE
89% I will say the drama of not knowing how this is all going to turn out is good
90% MORE animal cruelty.
WHAT EVEN WAS THAT?
.
.
.
SPOILERS
There was never a scene where everyone finds out she's actually not really been pregnant this whole time. I feel like I was waiting for that shoe to drop moment that never came.
Kind of a let down.
December 19, 2024
An entertaining, positively unique story that I really enjoyed, but at the same time I also unfortunately found myself getting slightly distracted by the unclear spontaneous time sequencing of the narrative at times.
Will most certainly be reading more from this author in future.
Rating: 4.1 stars.
Will most certainly be reading more from this author in future.
Rating: 4.1 stars.
December 11, 2024
Still digesting… I can’t decide if this is a great short story trapped in a novel, or a decent novel with a twisted ending.
Read
July 12, 2024Edit: idk I kinda no longer identity with this person who didn’t like this book and it’s been keeping me up at night
We all know how much I LOVEEEEE unhinged woman books. This one unfortunately missed the mark for me. This is about a woman who works in a meatpacking facility and has suffered from many miscarriages. When she finally becomes pregnant again she is determined to do everything she can to carry the baby to term. We also learn about her childhood growing up with a mother who forced her into the Pentecostal church, the girl she had a crush on, and her current ex-con boyfriend. TW for HEAVY HEAVY animal cruelty (cats, dogs, chickens, etc you name it) and pregnancy loss.
I constantly see reviews for people saying this is the “most disturbing book they’ve ever read” and….okay fair enough. But if you read extreme horror like I do…this book actually put me to sleep 97 times. It’s SO SLOWWWWW. I mean like…..absolutely nothing happens until the last 20 pages SLOW. This book I almost feel like should have been edited down to a novella. A lot of the book doesn’t make sense and there were scenes that left me so confused. There is a lot of commentary on religion, feminism, and the misogyny in religion. So much commentary that I was like omg okay I get it please just DO SOMETHING ALREADY. I absolutely loved the ending and it definitely gets into extreme horror territory but what it took for me to get there……..ugh. Also what was with the bf and his bug kink? I can’t.
Thank you SO MUCH to Unamed Press for sending this to me for review.
We all know how much I LOVEEEEE unhinged woman books. This one unfortunately missed the mark for me. This is about a woman who works in a meatpacking facility and has suffered from many miscarriages. When she finally becomes pregnant again she is determined to do everything she can to carry the baby to term. We also learn about her childhood growing up with a mother who forced her into the Pentecostal church, the girl she had a crush on, and her current ex-con boyfriend. TW for HEAVY HEAVY animal cruelty (cats, dogs, chickens, etc you name it) and pregnancy loss.
I constantly see reviews for people saying this is the “most disturbing book they’ve ever read” and….okay fair enough. But if you read extreme horror like I do…this book actually put me to sleep 97 times. It’s SO SLOWWWWW. I mean like…..absolutely nothing happens until the last 20 pages SLOW. This book I almost feel like should have been edited down to a novella. A lot of the book doesn’t make sense and there were scenes that left me so confused. There is a lot of commentary on religion, feminism, and the misogyny in religion. So much commentary that I was like omg okay I get it please just DO SOMETHING ALREADY. I absolutely loved the ending and it definitely gets into extreme horror territory but what it took for me to get there……..ugh. Also what was with the bf and his bug kink? I can’t.
Thank you SO MUCH to Unamed Press for sending this to me for review.
October 18, 2023
there's a lot of disdain in this book seemingly for its own subject matter, which is always a red flag to me. if you don't truly love your subjects, where they live, what they think, you can't really rot them out and fill them with meaning effectively. the southernness of Deliver Me is incredibly phony, exemplified mostly by the underdeveloped and underloved Pentecostal background. and yes, here i come, the Southern Reader, on my hick, backwards, grandpa-made soapbox, but someone has to!!! the southern suburban gothic aesthetic has gotten incredibly popular for sleek millennials with bad attitudes, and that to me is mournable. there used to be a reclamatory jouissance in chain smoking, gas station attendant drag, but that for me is gone because it's been coopted at levels that undermine it completely. i mean, blah blah blah, happens to everyone's culture right? even if it's an anticulture... but it still makes me sad. Deliver Me also hates fatness in a way that is left completely unexplored. like--aren't poor fat people gross? isn't it weird they have lives? isn't it sad they believe in god? there are moments of Deliver Me that sing a beautiful disgusting tune, but most of it feels hollow, like an empty bug cage.
June 15, 2025
2 ⭐️ i guess?
so… trauma porn. and almost everything in this book is really GROSS.
honestly, i have no idea how to rate it. i can’t relate to the main character (thank god), and all the characters are horrible people—in the worst way possible. the concept is interesting though, but it’s executed poorly, at least for my taste. the writing felt flat and overly simplistic. for something this dark and packed with adult themes, i expected it to be a little smarter, maybe even a bit pretentious (??), and was disappointed it wasn’t.
so… trauma porn. and almost everything in this book is really GROSS.
honestly, i have no idea how to rate it. i can’t relate to the main character (thank god), and all the characters are horrible people—in the worst way possible. the concept is interesting though, but it’s executed poorly, at least for my taste. the writing felt flat and overly simplistic. for something this dark and packed with adult themes, i expected it to be a little smarter, maybe even a bit pretentious (??), and was disappointed it wasn’t.
October 17, 2023
Not gonna lie, this was devastating.
In the best possible way, but devastating nonetheless. There's so many layers of distress to the protagonist Dee Dee: her desire to be loved, the few people in her life who see who she isn't instead of who she is, her idealization of motherhood, her grueling living conditions weakening her body, I could go on. If you have some triggers related to unresolved issues regarding motherhood, this will sneak under your skin and keep your awake at night. I'm a sucker for characters with problems they don't have the capacity to solve themselbes and the tragedy of Dee Dee worked a number on me.
Tragic, heartbreaking, devastating, call it whatever you want. If you like to be hurt by art (and I do), this is a book for you.
In the best possible way, but devastating nonetheless. There's so many layers of distress to the protagonist Dee Dee: her desire to be loved, the few people in her life who see who she isn't instead of who she is, her idealization of motherhood, her grueling living conditions weakening her body, I could go on. If you have some triggers related to unresolved issues regarding motherhood, this will sneak under your skin and keep your awake at night. I'm a sucker for characters with problems they don't have the capacity to solve themselbes and the tragedy of Dee Dee worked a number on me.
Tragic, heartbreaking, devastating, call it whatever you want. If you like to be hurt by art (and I do), this is a book for you.
February 19, 2024
I need a moment to let this book simmer in my brain. But good Lord that was bleak!
April 14, 2024
Motherhood is a scary notion when you put an actual thought into it and even worst when you're in Dee-Dee's position, who fled the Pentecostal church. Judgement still follows in the form of regular calls from her mom and being pregnant while doing a grueling job in the slaughter house must be stresshammering the whole day.
This is among the bleakest read I have experienced. It does read a little misery-porn-issh does but it's different in the way literary fiction writers write it. The horror isn't something big and otherworldly but that certainly isn't the point of the story or if it dwell too much of that aspect like recent literary fiction novels does.
Dee-Dee ran away from her conservative and thought motherhood would be something that's beyond her reach considering her upbringing and the thought that she's a fuck up thanks to years and years of feeling that she's wrong to be the opposite of her upbringing. Thus, she reacts in the way we would understand. She alienate people and created a lonely place that she herself couldn't understand or wanted to be in. She does a lot of fucked up shit throughout the novel, but the worse things she does are to herself.
I did not expect Deliver Me to hit me this hard. It's atmospheric and heavy and examine the human condition created by circumstances that are a commonplace in just around 300 pages.
This is among the bleakest read I have experienced. It does read a little misery-porn-issh does but it's different in the way literary fiction writers write it. The horror isn't something big and otherworldly but that certainly isn't the point of the story or if it dwell too much of that aspect like recent literary fiction novels does.
Dee-Dee ran away from her conservative and thought motherhood would be something that's beyond her reach considering her upbringing and the thought that she's a fuck up thanks to years and years of feeling that she's wrong to be the opposite of her upbringing. Thus, she reacts in the way we would understand. She alienate people and created a lonely place that she herself couldn't understand or wanted to be in. She does a lot of fucked up shit throughout the novel, but the worse things she does are to herself.
I did not expect Deliver Me to hit me this hard. It's atmospheric and heavy and examine the human condition created by circumstances that are a commonplace in just around 300 pages.
October 2, 2023
This just didn't come together for me. The surrounding characters felt too amorphous for most of the book, there was a lack of tension that I felt like had been promised, and I just felt like it dragged on. By the time we got to the the climax, I just didn't really care.
This could just be a case of right book/wrong person - I saw that this was meant to be a creepy, tense horror book (even that it was meant to be quite gory) but for the first nearly 70% it leaned more into an exploration of growing up in a small town and in the church. The disturbing undertones didn't come through enough for me and I was left wanting more.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC; this books comes out today (Oct 3rd) so if a slowburn is more your style then this might be for you.
This could just be a case of right book/wrong person - I saw that this was meant to be a creepy, tense horror book (even that it was meant to be quite gory) but for the first nearly 70% it leaned more into an exploration of growing up in a small town and in the church. The disturbing undertones didn't come through enough for me and I was left wanting more.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC; this books comes out today (Oct 3rd) so if a slowburn is more your style then this might be for you.
Read
September 14, 2023Nope.
June 17, 2024
*nervously laughing* what the fuck
June 6, 2024
I knew the trigger warnings about animal cruelty before I went into this, it's not something I enjoy or tolerate well (I don't think anyone enjoys it) but Nash is an author I love and I find her style to be challenging, unflinching and leaves me unequivocally changed by the sensory experience her writing is, intimate and raw prose held me captive untill the last page, much like our protagonists mental state the book starts slow and then becomes increasingly more deranged, theres no comfort to be found in these words, it's suffocating, the characters surrounding Dee Dee are callous and unlikable, theres no refuge in this story its bleak and depressing, a ticking time bomb of a book that is a grotesque and visceral response to womanhood, motherhood and the role religion plays in all of it, the quest of one womans desperation to be a mother, to be good, is truly terrifying and brutal.
January 28, 2025
This book wasn’t necessarily great, but it was the right kind of messed up for the mood I was in. It definitely falls into the 'I had a fun time' category more than the 'this was a good book' category.
If you're interested, be sure to look up the content warnings...it's FUCKED up.
If you're interested, be sure to look up the content warnings...it's FUCKED up.
February 9, 2025
i am nauseous
June 15, 2024
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy for an honest review. Please view trigger warnings if needed.
Deliver Me follows our tortured protagonist Dee-Dee who works in a meatpacking facility and is longing to be a mother.
The only other novel I have read by Elle Nash was Animals Eat Each Other; in Deliver Me Nash plunges her foot into the horror genre and she smashes it. Her writing's development is truly on show here.
Being in Dee-Dee's head means we see first hand how trapped she is and how dependent she is on toxic people. Nash manages to construct a web of toxicity that is both awful to read about but inescapable; all I wanted was for Dee-Dee to get better but there was just no way I could see her doing it. She transformed from the weirdo you'd avoid to a desperate girl, she turned into the reader.
Deliver Me explores a variety of cycles: mental health, poverty, relationships, and the passing on of the idea of what a women should be. I loved the insight on how pregnant women's bodies are viewed and treated compared to when they are not pregnant.
For me the novel felt slow paced in how Nash managed to pack so much detail into single sentences. I felt the dirt of the complex, the pain in Dee-Dee's back, the inescapable rut she was in. This was dense and damp. This was raw and real.
Jam packed with dark sadness, desperation, dirt and societal discussion, Deliver Me is a disturbing read that I definitely recommend.
Deliver Me follows our tortured protagonist Dee-Dee who works in a meatpacking facility and is longing to be a mother.
The only other novel I have read by Elle Nash was Animals Eat Each Other; in Deliver Me Nash plunges her foot into the horror genre and she smashes it. Her writing's development is truly on show here.
Being in Dee-Dee's head means we see first hand how trapped she is and how dependent she is on toxic people. Nash manages to construct a web of toxicity that is both awful to read about but inescapable; all I wanted was for Dee-Dee to get better but there was just no way I could see her doing it. She transformed from the weirdo you'd avoid to a desperate girl, she turned into the reader.
Deliver Me explores a variety of cycles: mental health, poverty, relationships, and the passing on of the idea of what a women should be. I loved the insight on how pregnant women's bodies are viewed and treated compared to when they are not pregnant.
For me the novel felt slow paced in how Nash managed to pack so much detail into single sentences. I felt the dirt of the complex, the pain in Dee-Dee's back, the inescapable rut she was in. This was dense and damp. This was raw and real.
Jam packed with dark sadness, desperation, dirt and societal discussion, Deliver Me is a disturbing read that I definitely recommend.
August 16, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC!
4 stars!
I finished this not long ago and my mind is still thinking about it. You can’t help but feel some sort of sympathy for Dee-Dee despite some of the stuff that happens. Don’t get me wrong, she isn’t innocent nor a character to be rooting for with some of the stuff she does, but reading how much she yearns to be loved, to be a mother, to have someone just show affection to her, her desperate attempts to make this pregnancy carry through, you feel for her. She reminded me of Pearl weirdly enough, you can’t help but feel for them both.
I clued in what the end was going to be like at one point of the book and thought. “OMFG This is really going to happen?!” I was compelled to know more about Dee-Dee and how her life would go and my interest was caught from the start.
Very descriptive of many different things: so please read TW before diving in to make sure this will be an okay read for you.
4 stars!
I finished this not long ago and my mind is still thinking about it. You can’t help but feel some sort of sympathy for Dee-Dee despite some of the stuff that happens. Don’t get me wrong, she isn’t innocent nor a character to be rooting for with some of the stuff she does, but reading how much she yearns to be loved, to be a mother, to have someone just show affection to her, her desperate attempts to make this pregnancy carry through, you feel for her. She reminded me of Pearl weirdly enough, you can’t help but feel for them both.
I clued in what the end was going to be like at one point of the book and thought. “OMFG This is really going to happen?!” I was compelled to know more about Dee-Dee and how her life would go and my interest was caught from the start.
Very descriptive of many different things: so please read TW before diving in to make sure this will be an okay read for you.
January 8, 2024
jesus christ
March 9, 2024
I LOVE UNHINGED WOMEN
May 4, 2024
at a loss for words here. gonna go stare at a wall.
June 26, 2024
It's a brutal, disturbing, wild, female-centred literary horror with great LGBTQ+ rep and Saltburn vibes 😯
[AD: thanks to VerveBooks for an advanced copy of this book!]
📕 Deliver Me by Elle Nash
📕 Contemporary, literary horror, LGBTQ+ rep
📕 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
📕 Published 27 June
What's it about?
Dee-Dee, a hardened worker at a Missouri meatpacking plant, grapples with a brutal job and a deep longing for motherhood. After suffering miscarriages, she finally becomes pregnant and clings to the hope of a complete life. However, her past choices, including leaving a strict Pentecostal church and an unstable boyfriend, complicate her present. With her mother's judgmental calls and a childhood friend's return stirring old desires, Dee-Dee navigates the challenges of pregnancy while fearing she might lose it all again.
What did I think?
- Wow this was my first book by Nash and it won't be my last, their ability to shock with purpose was outstanding.
- Dee-Dee is a character that Nash has created that I felt simultaneous waves of despair, disgust and empathy for, she's so complex and so much the victim of her world, upbringing and society.
- It's brutal!
- I was on a rollercoaster of emotions watching the despair Dee-Dee has trying & wanting to become a mum whilst surrounded by so much violence and a constant feeling of worthlessness when at the same time you are witness to her own violent behaviour.
- Sloane and Dee-Dee's past and present relationship is complex and lustful, there's a whole scene in their past that is very graphic, I will never forget it and it legit gave me Saltburn vibes (I loved that movie!)
- Given the nature of Dee-Dees job and another "incident", there is graphic animal torture in this book which jarred, in a pertinent way - why do we find that more disturbing than any of the violence towards humans? Even more so than the chickens she butchers every day? The author is making us reflect a lot on our feelings and perceptions.
- This book covers so much: desire for motherhood, the societal pressure and importance that is put onto women to become mothers, miscarriage, mental health, class, fundamentalist religion, familial connections, first loves and more...
- This book packs an absolute gut punch cleverly and intentionally.
- This story will stay with me for a good while after reading.
Horror fans, I highly recommend it! Just check out the content warnings!
[AD: thanks to VerveBooks for an advanced copy of this book!]
📕 Deliver Me by Elle Nash
📕 Contemporary, literary horror, LGBTQ+ rep
📕 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
📕 Published 27 June
What's it about?
Dee-Dee, a hardened worker at a Missouri meatpacking plant, grapples with a brutal job and a deep longing for motherhood. After suffering miscarriages, she finally becomes pregnant and clings to the hope of a complete life. However, her past choices, including leaving a strict Pentecostal church and an unstable boyfriend, complicate her present. With her mother's judgmental calls and a childhood friend's return stirring old desires, Dee-Dee navigates the challenges of pregnancy while fearing she might lose it all again.
What did I think?
- Wow this was my first book by Nash and it won't be my last, their ability to shock with purpose was outstanding.
- Dee-Dee is a character that Nash has created that I felt simultaneous waves of despair, disgust and empathy for, she's so complex and so much the victim of her world, upbringing and society.
- It's brutal!
- I was on a rollercoaster of emotions watching the despair Dee-Dee has trying & wanting to become a mum whilst surrounded by so much violence and a constant feeling of worthlessness when at the same time you are witness to her own violent behaviour.
- Sloane and Dee-Dee's past and present relationship is complex and lustful, there's a whole scene in their past that is very graphic, I will never forget it and it legit gave me Saltburn vibes (I loved that movie!)
- Given the nature of Dee-Dees job and another "incident", there is graphic animal torture in this book which jarred, in a pertinent way - why do we find that more disturbing than any of the violence towards humans? Even more so than the chickens she butchers every day? The author is making us reflect a lot on our feelings and perceptions.
- This book covers so much: desire for motherhood, the societal pressure and importance that is put onto women to become mothers, miscarriage, mental health, class, fundamentalist religion, familial connections, first loves and more...
- This book packs an absolute gut punch cleverly and intentionally.
- This story will stay with me for a good while after reading.
Horror fans, I highly recommend it! Just check out the content warnings!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 498 reviews