The Slob

Definitely a wild ride. Big huge trigger warnings. Beauregard does not shy away from descriptors or leave things up to the readers imagination. He describes things, in great gory gross detail. I enjoyed the story, for the most part. But it definitely has issues.



SPOILERS BELOW

The first being, as a woman, you can absolutely tell a man wrote this. Some of Vera's actions are unbelievable and just kind of feel like, guessed?

The second, I was not the biggest fan of the “ending”, the big “twist”. Vera is our narrator, main character. It's told from her perspective, “I”, “My”, etc. To be pulled out for the last two chapters and suddenly be in the body of one of the delivery men who pick and farm the TYG was jarring. It really interrupted the flow of the story and even more so because the last chapter we're back in Vera.

Third, which goes along with the second, these chapters are so unnecessary in this book. It felt rushed and out of place. Leave the reader in the dark because Vera's in the dark. She sees, and thus we see, the TYG cans getting filled and labeled. It was unsettling knowing they were essentially being turned into food but then also canned?! Plus knowing the story continues in “Son of the Slob”, this could have been a better way to tie in this secondary side to the story if wishing to tell it. Maybe this group of bad people comes after Vera/her son? I will be sure to read and see how the story continues.

Fourth, I really felt that it was unnecessary, maybe even harmful, to make the bad guys gay. And I don't want this to come off as if gay characters cannot be bad guys or written to be also evil. It was just the way these chapters were written. It felt weird and off. Like they were almost caricatures of gay men. It kind of felt like they were being made fun of? I don't know how to best explain it. They were a group of rich gay men consuming women in hopes to absorb their beauty, characteristics, and otherwise femininity to better attract men while also effectively thinning the herd of competitor suitors. Just feels so weird.