Synopsis
Hanna is an angel in front of her father, but, when he’s not watching, she terrorizes her mother. She wants to live happily ever after with the person who understands her, but her mother is in her way. Hanna will do anything to get rid of her.
After years of staying at home, Suzette’s precarious health and sanity are weakening. Her husband is blind to how much she suffers at home with their daughter, no matter how many schools have expelled her and explained her behavior. No matter how much Suzzette explains her behavior. As Hanna’s attacks become more sophisticated, Suzette begins to fear for her life.
Review
The prose is good. Very accessible and easy to read.
The pacing is good. It’s slow, but it helps build up the suspense.
The themes are explored well. There’s a lot of commentary on parenting and how exhausting it is. How exhausting it can be for a mother to stay home with her child. It also offers commentary on how things change the moment children enter the picture.
The characters are well established and follow an arc that I enjoyed following. Hanna has to be my favorite. I don’t know. I just enjoy crazy characters. I was surprised I felt symathy for her before we get to the end. Suzette comes off as sympathetic and I felt for her. By the end, I understood the decision she makes.
There is one gripe I have with this book. There is a part in the story where Suzette refers to people with disabilities or those who need a more specialized education as “Imperfect children.” This kind of language is problematic to me because it suggests that only able-body children are perfect. There’s no such thing as perfect, so it sets a very bad standard. I consider this language to be ableist.
I say this with the caveat that there are people who think like Suzette. This may have been done intentionally by the author, so this might be a part of her character. I want to make it clear that I’m not saying the author is ableist. I don’t know them, so making that assumption would be wrong of me. I choose to separate the art from its creator, so I see it as Suzette being ableist. I’m simply pointing out the fact that it was written and that this is how I interpreted it.
Conclusion
Overall, this was a fun story. I read it in one sitting and, like my other books, I definitely had to be in the mood for it. It’s a great psychological thriller with an amazing amount of suspense. I rated it four stars. The ableist part of this book didn’t take away a star for me. It just didn’t feel like a five star.
Author’s Note
Hey, everybody! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this review.
I first heard about this book from BookTuber withcindy. She did a two part review on it, filled with spoilers. I knew exactly what I would be getting into, but I admit I thought it would be weird and hilarious to read. The premise sounded funny in a very dark way. It fits my enjoyment of dark humor. For reading about the dark side of humanity, not to mention the violence I love in books. If you want to see the reviews by withcindy, you can find both parts below.
I would love to take a moment to discuss ableism and disability representation, but that deserves it’s own post. It would make this one too long. I have a lot of opinions and I need some time to get everything together. Instead, I’m going to give you some writing advice that I very recently received.
My unwanted writing advice is to write what you want, but be aware of the message you’re sending out. Authors are not responsible for what their readers interpret, but, as the author, you should be aware if you’re writing something problematic, even if its small. Be aware that, if you write something problematic, it’s going to affect some people. You have an audience for it, so write it if you like. Your readers will love it.
I received this advice in a romance class that I’m currently taking. My professor told this to the class somewhere in the beginning of the semester. I fully agree with it and it’s one of the pieces of advice I believe in. I’ll make a post on writing advice I believe in, too.
In Baby Teeth, this applies to that small part where ableist language was used. As I mentioned previously, it’s possible that the author intentionally did this as part of Suzette’s character. Hopefully, the author was aware of the language they used.
On a happier note, my video review for this book will be coming out in 2023. To be the first to see it, subscribe to my channel. I post Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, usually at 5:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. That way, you have something to watch when you wake up.
Anexis Matos 