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With Teeth
From the author of the New York Times-bestselling sensation Mostly Dead Things a surprising and moving story of two mothers, one difficult son, and the limitations of marriage, parenthood, and love
If she's being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son. Working from home in the close quarters of their Florida house, she lives with one wary eye peeled on Samson, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best—driving, cleaning, cooking, prodding him to finish projects for school—while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. As Samson grows from feral toddler to surly teenager, Sammie's life begins to deteriorate into a mess of unruly behavior, and her struggle to create a picture-perfect queer family unravels. When her son's hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess—and the possibility that it will never be clean again.
Blending the warmth and wit of Arnett's breakout hit, Mostly Dead Things, with a candid take on queer family dynamics, With Teeth is a thought-provoking portrait of the delicate fabric of family—and the many ways it can be torn apart.
If she's being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son. Working from home in the close quarters of their Florida house, she lives with one wary eye peeled on Samson, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best—driving, cleaning, cooking, prodding him to finish projects for school—while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. As Samson grows from feral toddler to surly teenager, Sammie's life begins to deteriorate into a mess of unruly behavior, and her struggle to create a picture-perfect queer family unravels. When her son's hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess—and the possibility that it will never be clean again.
Blending the warmth and wit of Arnett's breakout hit, Mostly Dead Things, with a candid take on queer family dynamics, With Teeth is a thought-provoking portrait of the delicate fabric of family—and the many ways it can be torn apart.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,546 reviews
July 12, 2022
It's 2 am and I am dead tired, but HAD to stay awake so I could know how the book ended.
Conclusion? That was something. Maybe even a good thing, but I also didn't like it. The entire story left me on edge, and those last fifty pages kinda sorta maybe had me in tears? Not like crying crying, but a little leaky.
Kristen Arnett wrote a fascinating portrait of a woman on the brink, unsatisfied with her role in the world but unwilling to make any changes for the better. Sammie's character really sunk her teeth into me (ha). Reading from her perspective was intensely interesting, but it hit a bit too close to home for comfort and made me feel lowkey terrible the whole way through.
It's been a hot second since I've felt this conflicted about my thoughts on a book. However, without the help of more caffeine, all I can say is that I know this one is gonna stick with me but I'm not so sure I want it to.
Conclusion? That was something. Maybe even a good thing, but I also didn't like it. The entire story left me on edge, and those last fifty pages kinda sorta maybe had me in tears? Not like crying crying, but a little leaky.
Kristen Arnett wrote a fascinating portrait of a woman on the brink, unsatisfied with her role in the world but unwilling to make any changes for the better. Sammie's character really sunk her teeth into me (ha). Reading from her perspective was intensely interesting, but it hit a bit too close to home for comfort and made me feel lowkey terrible the whole way through.
It's been a hot second since I've felt this conflicted about my thoughts on a book. However, without the help of more caffeine, all I can say is that I know this one is gonna stick with me but I'm not so sure I want it to.
May 12, 2021
Leaving a review for my own book LOL! Thanks everyone, I appreciate all of you reading!
June 9, 2021
Kristen Arnett’s new novel, “With Teeth,” is the perfect baby shower gift for someone you hate.
Absolutely captivating and scathingly frank, it’s a story of motherhood stripped of every ribbon of sentimentality. Arnett conjures up the disturbing mixture of devotion and alienation endured by anyone raising a child they don’t understand, don’t even like. And at its heart, “With Teeth” explores the way parenthood exacerbates our own vulnerabilities and delusions.
The novel opens in Orlando, with a moment of ordinary tedium and extraordinary terror: Sammie leaves her son, Samson, alone on the swing for just a moment while she throws away his half-eaten lunch. When she turns back around, a man is walking out of the playground holding Samson’s hand. She runs, she jumps a fence, she screams, but no one seems to hear her — not even her son. “Samson just stood there beside him,” Arnett writes. “She could see the man’s lips moving, but she couldn’t make out any of the words. Her son, quiet all day every day, looked up at the man and smiled. Actually smiled. Full-on toothy grin.”
That smile hurts because the boy never smiles at Sammie. Indeed, her only reward for saving her son from abduction is. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
Absolutely captivating and scathingly frank, it’s a story of motherhood stripped of every ribbon of sentimentality. Arnett conjures up the disturbing mixture of devotion and alienation endured by anyone raising a child they don’t understand, don’t even like. And at its heart, “With Teeth” explores the way parenthood exacerbates our own vulnerabilities and delusions.
The novel opens in Orlando, with a moment of ordinary tedium and extraordinary terror: Sammie leaves her son, Samson, alone on the swing for just a moment while she throws away his half-eaten lunch. When she turns back around, a man is walking out of the playground holding Samson’s hand. She runs, she jumps a fence, she screams, but no one seems to hear her — not even her son. “Samson just stood there beside him,” Arnett writes. “She could see the man’s lips moving, but she couldn’t make out any of the words. Her son, quiet all day every day, looked up at the man and smiled. Actually smiled. Full-on toothy grin.”
That smile hurts because the boy never smiles at Sammie. Indeed, her only reward for saving her son from abduction is. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
March 28, 2021
Though it starts with a lot of action, this isn't a plot book. It's a character study and a very good one, which also makes it hard to read a lot of the time. But by the end of the book you know Sammie so well that you can see her situation clearly. Maybe not all that much about Sammie has changed by the time the book is over, but as a reader your view of everything in Sammie's life changes a lot.
This change in perspective actually makes it hard to write about! The story I would have told you early on about what this book is and the story I would tell you now are quite different and I wonder which one is more useful to someone who hasn't read it yet.
Sammie is unhappy, that's true no matter how you look at it. She's married to a woman, Monika, but they have that relationship structure common to a lot of strained straight marriages where Monika is the breadwinner and Sammie has stayed home and put her career aside to care for their son Samson. Sammie has lost herself in this caretaker role, which is a problem for many reasons, chief among them that Sammie is not much of a caretaker. She finds herself more and more alienated from Monika and more and more baffled by her son. We jump through time, from when Samson is quite young to when he's a teenager, and even though problems arise and Sammie tries to deal with them, you start to realize that nothing ever actually seems to change.
Sammie is absolutely frustrating in basically every scenario. As a reader all you want her to do is just tell people how she feels, be honest and open, to make a little effort, but Sammie is very determined not to do any of these things. The parenting scenes in particular made me cringe nonstop. Is Samson a messed up kid, maybe even sociopathic? Perhaps. But does Sammie handle any situation well? That's a no. And yet, you cringe because it's familiar. Because people get stuck in their marriage and stuck in their parenting and Sammie is someone you recognize.
This is a very queer novel that is not about being queer and does not have much by way of queer suffering. (There are references to Sammie's evangelical childhood and her estranged relationships with her parents.) While Monika and Sammie's marriage flounders in a way that's familiar, the way they deal with it is very queer, and that rings true for me. For me, Sammie was very relatable, as I am also a technically femme queer pushing middle age who doesn't fit into any of the categories femme queers are supposed to fit into.
I admit to being frustrated with this book sometimes because I just wanted Sammie to get herself together. But once you have that full picture, especially with its little gutpunch of an ending, you see that Arnett has been doing more than you realized all along. The longer I sit with it, the more I like it. Though it's so stressful to read that it's a lot easier to enjoy it when it's no longer stressing you out.
No real content warnings here though at one point Sammie responds to her child with not just force but (mild) violence. For parents or would-be parents, this can feel like a horror novel sometimes, a vision of your kid becoming a possibly terrible person you do not recognize at all.
This change in perspective actually makes it hard to write about! The story I would have told you early on about what this book is and the story I would tell you now are quite different and I wonder which one is more useful to someone who hasn't read it yet.
Sammie is unhappy, that's true no matter how you look at it. She's married to a woman, Monika, but they have that relationship structure common to a lot of strained straight marriages where Monika is the breadwinner and Sammie has stayed home and put her career aside to care for their son Samson. Sammie has lost herself in this caretaker role, which is a problem for many reasons, chief among them that Sammie is not much of a caretaker. She finds herself more and more alienated from Monika and more and more baffled by her son. We jump through time, from when Samson is quite young to when he's a teenager, and even though problems arise and Sammie tries to deal with them, you start to realize that nothing ever actually seems to change.
Sammie is absolutely frustrating in basically every scenario. As a reader all you want her to do is just tell people how she feels, be honest and open, to make a little effort, but Sammie is very determined not to do any of these things. The parenting scenes in particular made me cringe nonstop. Is Samson a messed up kid, maybe even sociopathic? Perhaps. But does Sammie handle any situation well? That's a no. And yet, you cringe because it's familiar. Because people get stuck in their marriage and stuck in their parenting and Sammie is someone you recognize.
This is a very queer novel that is not about being queer and does not have much by way of queer suffering. (There are references to Sammie's evangelical childhood and her estranged relationships with her parents.) While Monika and Sammie's marriage flounders in a way that's familiar, the way they deal with it is very queer, and that rings true for me. For me, Sammie was very relatable, as I am also a technically femme queer pushing middle age who doesn't fit into any of the categories femme queers are supposed to fit into.
I admit to being frustrated with this book sometimes because I just wanted Sammie to get herself together. But once you have that full picture, especially with its little gutpunch of an ending, you see that Arnett has been doing more than you realized all along. The longer I sit with it, the more I like it. Though it's so stressful to read that it's a lot easier to enjoy it when it's no longer stressing you out.
No real content warnings here though at one point Sammie responds to her child with not just force but (mild) violence. For parents or would-be parents, this can feel like a horror novel sometimes, a vision of your kid becoming a possibly terrible person you do not recognize at all.
October 30, 2022
4.5/5
so good!
it’s not often a book can really make me feel what the characters are feeling so intensely, but my god did i feel what sammie did.
this did mean i was frustrated the whole way through, because that’s how she is: frustrated. coupled with the fact she makes no effort to change things for herself, you’re in a constant circle of bad decisions/reactions to pretending it never happened to the bad decisions again. it’s hard to read.
as someone who doesn’t want children, this book confirmed that haha! it just highlights how easily situations can be interpreted wrong and with a lack of communication, it’s made 10x worse. i LOVED the one page descriptions at the end of each chapter that were from a random person in the chapter outside of the family. they emphasised how you may think someone feels a certain way, but if you don’t voice it, you’ll never know what they actually think (which is usually not even close to what you had in mind) ??
sammie just kept interpreting everything wrong and honestly was playing the victim a lot. i think because it was from her perspective it was hard not to agree with her, but then with those one pagers, you realised that maybe she’s an unreliable narrator and we can’t trust her interpretations on events.
samson was a nightmare, but also, i think he seemed like a pretty normal teenage boy. aren’t they all nightmares??
monika was … i don’t like her.
ughhh i could write so much more about this but i’ll stop so i don’t spoil anything. just know i loved it :))
so good!
it’s not often a book can really make me feel what the characters are feeling so intensely, but my god did i feel what sammie did.
this did mean i was frustrated the whole way through, because that’s how she is: frustrated. coupled with the fact she makes no effort to change things for herself, you’re in a constant circle of bad decisions/reactions to pretending it never happened to the bad decisions again. it’s hard to read.
as someone who doesn’t want children, this book confirmed that haha! it just highlights how easily situations can be interpreted wrong and with a lack of communication, it’s made 10x worse. i LOVED the one page descriptions at the end of each chapter that were from a random person in the chapter outside of the family. they emphasised how you may think someone feels a certain way, but if you don’t voice it, you’ll never know what they actually think (which is usually not even close to what you had in mind) ??
sammie just kept interpreting everything wrong and honestly was playing the victim a lot. i think because it was from her perspective it was hard not to agree with her, but then with those one pagers, you realised that maybe she’s an unreliable narrator and we can’t trust her interpretations on events.
samson was a nightmare, but also, i think he seemed like a pretty normal teenage boy. aren’t they all nightmares??
monika was … i don’t like her.
ughhh i could write so much more about this but i’ll stop so i don’t spoil anything. just know i loved it :))
January 3, 2023
“Forse l’amore è sempre al confine con la violenza”, pensa Sammie, protagonista queer, mamma e casalinga, intrappolata in un matrimonio sempre più soffocante e messa sotto scacco da un figlio da cui è letteralmente ossessionata, dandogli, in un senso inquietantemente frankenstiano, persino un nome molto simile al suo (SAM/SAMSON). L’inaffidabilità di Sammie come narratrice induce il lettore a pensare che a tenerla in ostaggio di una casa sempre più estranea non sia solo la sua relazione tossica ma anche la sua psiche.
A metà strada tra horror domestico alla Shirley Jackson e romanzo familiare disfunzionale, Kristen Arnett ci racconta di un amore che ha effettivamente i denti, specialmente l’amore materno che mostra qui il suo lato più mostruoso. Un figlio può consumarti, risucchiare la tua identità e mescolarla alla sua, fino a isolarti e farti cadere in una spirale di autodistruzione. Ecco il segreto di cui nessuno vuole parlare tra le pareti di casa, specialmente se cerchi di dare l’immagine di una famiglia gay perfettamente felice, benestante, “normale”.
Questa è una quieta storia dell’orrore che riesce persino a essere umoristica e sagace, mentre ci accompagna in una storia di progressiva scissione della personalità.
Sammie è donna insicura, esausta, prostrata in una sensazione di disagio perenne, per cui nutriamo compassione e allo stesso tempo irritazione per la sua incapacità di cambiare e di nascondere sempre la polvere sotto il tappeto. È quasi deprecabile nel suo perenne rifugiarsi in uno spazio dove “non è successo niente” e fingere di essere guarita dalla sua infanzia, trascorsa in una rigida famiglia conservatrice. Sammie fatica a sviluppare un rapporto sano con il figlio perché non ha mai instaurato una relazione sana con i genitori ma invece di affrontare la questione, inventa giustificazioni e versioni alternative della realtà che avvallano le sue paranoie. Come Zerocalcare insegna, non si guarisce mai dalla propria infanzia.
“La loro vita era una sequenza di nodi aggrovigliati che Sammy non aveva l’energia di sbrogliare”. Tuttavia i nodi vengono al pettine in un finale spiazzante che porta a compimento la parabola distruttiva della famiglia. Eppure, nonostante il dramma, la storia riserva notevoli dosi di umorismo e ironia brutale. Un racconto crudele e mostruoso che inaugura il mio anno di letture perturbanti.
A metà strada tra horror domestico alla Shirley Jackson e romanzo familiare disfunzionale, Kristen Arnett ci racconta di un amore che ha effettivamente i denti, specialmente l’amore materno che mostra qui il suo lato più mostruoso. Un figlio può consumarti, risucchiare la tua identità e mescolarla alla sua, fino a isolarti e farti cadere in una spirale di autodistruzione. Ecco il segreto di cui nessuno vuole parlare tra le pareti di casa, specialmente se cerchi di dare l’immagine di una famiglia gay perfettamente felice, benestante, “normale”.
Questa è una quieta storia dell’orrore che riesce persino a essere umoristica e sagace, mentre ci accompagna in una storia di progressiva scissione della personalità.
Sammie è donna insicura, esausta, prostrata in una sensazione di disagio perenne, per cui nutriamo compassione e allo stesso tempo irritazione per la sua incapacità di cambiare e di nascondere sempre la polvere sotto il tappeto. È quasi deprecabile nel suo perenne rifugiarsi in uno spazio dove “non è successo niente” e fingere di essere guarita dalla sua infanzia, trascorsa in una rigida famiglia conservatrice. Sammie fatica a sviluppare un rapporto sano con il figlio perché non ha mai instaurato una relazione sana con i genitori ma invece di affrontare la questione, inventa giustificazioni e versioni alternative della realtà che avvallano le sue paranoie. Come Zerocalcare insegna, non si guarisce mai dalla propria infanzia.
“La loro vita era una sequenza di nodi aggrovigliati che Sammy non aveva l’energia di sbrogliare”. Tuttavia i nodi vengono al pettine in un finale spiazzante che porta a compimento la parabola distruttiva della famiglia. Eppure, nonostante il dramma, la storia riserva notevoli dosi di umorismo e ironia brutale. Un racconto crudele e mostruoso che inaugura il mio anno di letture perturbanti.
June 1, 2021
What the hell was that????
September 18, 2021
was expecting a lesbian we need to talk about kevin instead i got a lesbian marriage story
May 14, 2021
One, this book is so fucking stressful (not a criticism, just a thought), two, why did no one ever tell me they made spicy Funyuns? How long have they made spicy Funyuns???
May 11, 2021
This book tells the story of a woman's journey as a mother and partner in central Florida. Neither her son nor her marriage have turned out how she expected them. The first person narrative has a strong voice and is punctuated by occasional glimpses into the perspectives of strangers which, without fail, completely diverge from the narrator's assumptions of how others see her or the situations.
At times this book was frustrating. The chardonnay-loving mom cliche and climatic screaming match were especially eyeroll inducing, and occasionally while reading I just wanted to scream do better. Superficially this book presents as a story of a woman who is dissatisfied with her life. However, this dissatisfaction isn't accompanied by any critical analysis of the world or thoughtful introspection. She is simply tired and wants everything to be easier. This book would have benefited from some widening of context while decreasing scope. The story takes place over 18 years with few meaningful encounters beyond the familial unit.
At times this book was frustrating. The chardonnay-loving mom cliche and climatic screaming match were especially eyeroll inducing, and occasionally while reading I just wanted to scream do better. Superficially this book presents as a story of a woman who is dissatisfied with her life. However, this dissatisfaction isn't accompanied by any critical analysis of the world or thoughtful introspection. She is simply tired and wants everything to be easier. This book would have benefited from some widening of context while decreasing scope. The story takes place over 18 years with few meaningful encounters beyond the familial unit.
December 5, 2023
I spent most of this weekend with a beleaguered but happily married couple and their three children. On the way home, I listened to this audiobook about an unhappily married couple, separated but living in the same house to co-parent a difficult child.
Most of this weekend, I played with the kiddos (for which I was richly rewarded by way of fridge art), had oft-interrupted adult conversations, during which we broke up kid fights and put clove oil on a teething baby’s tender gums, and cleaned the kitchen while mom and dad divided and conquered, putting the kids to sleep with bedtime stories and snuggles.
Then we sat up late, yawning and rubbing our eyes but connected and engaged: how do parents do this non-stop?
"It's late, I should go," I said. The male half of my friend couple met my eye, "You can stay as late as you want," he said, with a catch in his throat that meant he wanted me to stay, and I loved him for loving me while exhausted. Then we all talked about things other than children, and then about children, and then things other than children...
Most of this audiobook, there was little giggling or playing or sharing of chores or bedtime stories or sitting up late talking about grownup things and sweetly non-grown up things. Most of this book was every member of the family scratching out fleeting, separate pleasures while also doing what they could for each other, and the protagonist trying to navigate the complexities of loving a once-romantic-partner, and a child, while not liking either one very much.
In a quiet moment alone, I asked the female half of my friend couple, “How did you know your marriage would be a safe bet? Like, a good situation?”
Her: I didn’t. I mean, how many people do we know who thought they married one person, but got a totally different one a few years in?
Me: Half. I mean… honestly. It’s about half.
Her: Yeah. [long silence] I knew I felt… safe. I knew I felt peace. But…
Me: A risk.
Her: Yes. But this has been good. I mean, we don’t fight, we still like each other…
*Cue child crying, end of conversation*
Book/Song Pairing: Where The Trees Stand Still (Bebo Norman)
Most of this weekend, I played with the kiddos (for which I was richly rewarded by way of fridge art), had oft-interrupted adult conversations, during which we broke up kid fights and put clove oil on a teething baby’s tender gums, and cleaned the kitchen while mom and dad divided and conquered, putting the kids to sleep with bedtime stories and snuggles.
Then we sat up late, yawning and rubbing our eyes but connected and engaged: how do parents do this non-stop?
"It's late, I should go," I said. The male half of my friend couple met my eye, "You can stay as late as you want," he said, with a catch in his throat that meant he wanted me to stay, and I loved him for loving me while exhausted. Then we all talked about things other than children, and then about children, and then things other than children...
Most of this audiobook, there was little giggling or playing or sharing of chores or bedtime stories or sitting up late talking about grownup things and sweetly non-grown up things. Most of this book was every member of the family scratching out fleeting, separate pleasures while also doing what they could for each other, and the protagonist trying to navigate the complexities of loving a once-romantic-partner, and a child, while not liking either one very much.
In a quiet moment alone, I asked the female half of my friend couple, “How did you know your marriage would be a safe bet? Like, a good situation?”
Her: I didn’t. I mean, how many people do we know who thought they married one person, but got a totally different one a few years in?
Me: Half. I mean… honestly. It’s about half.
Her: Yeah. [long silence] I knew I felt… safe. I knew I felt peace. But…
Me: A risk.
Her: Yes. But this has been good. I mean, we don’t fight, we still like each other…
*Cue child crying, end of conversation*
Book/Song Pairing: Where The Trees Stand Still (Bebo Norman)
June 6, 2021
This is a brutal book. Hard to read if your life is remotely stressful. It will raise your blood pressure. The protagonist Sammie's life is so terrible, and it just hits her while she's down over and over and over for nearly 300 pages. You think it can't get any worse. She's this completely lost person, and to me, there's no arc or redemption or anything, which maybe that's fine, but there's nothing different from the first page to the last, no growth. I read 123 pages and then skimmed the rest, and it didn't get interesting until TWENTY pages from the end. I really love Kristen Arnett so much, but I don't know the point of this book other than giving me angst. I guess it made me grateful that I don't have Sammie's life. But I sort of wish I hadn't read this one at all. I'm really disappointed. I still really love Arnett, and you should follow her on social and read her debut "Mostly Dead Things" instead.
June 13, 2021
What? I’m sorry, did I read the same book as all the reviews?
The characters are across-the-board awful. There is no redemption here. If this is a character study it’s a character study of someone extremely boring and one-dimensional. I’m queer, I have a (now 21 yo) son who was difficult, I know what it means to feel ambivalent often about raising a boy and the intricacies of queer parenthood, and almost none of this seems believable. Not because motherhood is less sentimental than most other books would have you believe but bc it is SO not sentimental that not a bit of Sammie’s ambivalence felt like it had anything new to say.
All of this “grittiness” is also wrapped up in some kind of bizarro-world “oh but also she’s CrAzY about a baby girl she may or may not have miscarried kinda maybe” which undermines any kind of “stark reality” her attitudes about motherhood are supposed to convey.
The bits of POV from peripheral characters fell flat and felt desperately like amateur writing devices for building out characters made of sand.
On the queer relationship front: Why on earth would actually queer people wait 20 years to be honest about the most mundane, human things and/or be even remotely truthful with each other and/or to call each other out on their bullshit?
GTFO HERE.
OMG also: lately I feel like I’ve read a couple duds based on the recs of authors I really like and admire and I am begging you, authors of the world, please don’t mislead us like that when your friends write only okay or bad books. Just... I dunno, put your kind words on close friends only or something. Don’t do us like this.
The characters are across-the-board awful. There is no redemption here. If this is a character study it’s a character study of someone extremely boring and one-dimensional. I’m queer, I have a (now 21 yo) son who was difficult, I know what it means to feel ambivalent often about raising a boy and the intricacies of queer parenthood, and almost none of this seems believable. Not because motherhood is less sentimental than most other books would have you believe but bc it is SO not sentimental that not a bit of Sammie’s ambivalence felt like it had anything new to say.
All of this “grittiness” is also wrapped up in some kind of bizarro-world “oh but also she’s CrAzY about a baby girl she may or may not have miscarried kinda maybe” which undermines any kind of “stark reality” her attitudes about motherhood are supposed to convey.
The bits of POV from peripheral characters fell flat and felt desperately like amateur writing devices for building out characters made of sand.
On the queer relationship front: Why on earth would actually queer people wait 20 years to be honest about the most mundane, human things and/or be even remotely truthful with each other and/or to call each other out on their bullshit?
GTFO HERE.
OMG also: lately I feel like I’ve read a couple duds based on the recs of authors I really like and admire and I am begging you, authors of the world, please don’t mislead us like that when your friends write only okay or bad books. Just... I dunno, put your kind words on close friends only or something. Don’t do us like this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2021
This insightful intensity novel crackles with dark-humor!!!
….Two lesbian mothers….
….One challenging son….
equals a lot messiness:
….struggling marriage, struggling parenthood, struggling love, loss, and life…..
equals struggling familiarity….
It’s an Audiobook-listeners delight!!!
….8 hours and 45 minutes — read by Kristen Sieh
“With Teeth” inspires emotional reactions….similar to a Florida Orange 🍊….
a love it or hate in fruit … and love or hate it color ….
In “With Teeth”, there are reasons why we have dramatic responses.
This story is not easy to ignore.
One of my closest friends was married to a woman for 10 years. My friend gave birth to their two children. She has now been married to a man of 10 years.
I’m a witness to the fact that every family member involved (divorced wives, too)…lives are flourishing beautiful….
But….
In “With Teeth”…..the author presented us with some bold issues to explore - ( things aren’t so beautiful- it’s fucking hard!!)
Author Kristen Arnett gave us compelling characters to spend time with (primarily the story belongs to Sammie - one of the mothers)…. but ‘each’ of the 3-main characters give a solid couple of hours of book club discussion.
I’m afraid I’m going to be thinking about this book… Talking to a couple of friends of mine about it for a little while longer.
4.5 stars from me! Rating Up
(I feel this novel is important as well as compulsively engaging)
….Two lesbian mothers….
….One challenging son….
equals a lot messiness:
….struggling marriage, struggling parenthood, struggling love, loss, and life…..
equals struggling familiarity….
It’s an Audiobook-listeners delight!!!
….8 hours and 45 minutes — read by Kristen Sieh
“With Teeth” inspires emotional reactions….similar to a Florida Orange 🍊….
a love it or hate in fruit … and love or hate it color ….
In “With Teeth”, there are reasons why we have dramatic responses.
This story is not easy to ignore.
One of my closest friends was married to a woman for 10 years. My friend gave birth to their two children. She has now been married to a man of 10 years.
I’m a witness to the fact that every family member involved (divorced wives, too)…lives are flourishing beautiful….
But….
In “With Teeth”…..the author presented us with some bold issues to explore - ( things aren’t so beautiful- it’s fucking hard!!)
Author Kristen Arnett gave us compelling characters to spend time with (primarily the story belongs to Sammie - one of the mothers)…. but ‘each’ of the 3-main characters give a solid couple of hours of book club discussion.
I’m afraid I’m going to be thinking about this book… Talking to a couple of friends of mine about it for a little while longer.
4.5 stars from me! Rating Up
(I feel this novel is important as well as compulsively engaging)
June 20, 2021
I've been holding off on this review for a week because I do not know how to talk about this book!!!! So here's a bulleted list of my thoughts--
- I couldn't stop reading it.
- I still don't know if I liked it?
- But as soon as I finished I immediately wanted to reread.
- So then I was like, I guess that means I liked it.
- But is it really necessary to like a book? I mean, why is that the most important question here? Why am I boiling the messiness of this novel down into a question with a simple yes/no answer?
- Like I said, it's compulsively readable. It's nothing like I expected it to be -- it's way darker and fast-paced and covers a lot more ground than I anticipated. I think I expected this to be about two moms and their kid over the course of like, a month or two. But it's so much more than that.
- I'm kind of furious at how well that Flannery epigraph works. It's not even what the epigraph SAYS, it's just that it's Flannery O'Connor and no one but Kristen Arnett has made me feel as squirmy and ambiguous as Flannery makes me feel. Quoting her at the start should have told me everything I needed to know about this book. The only book I've had a harder time parsing my thoughts/feelings for is Wise Blood.
- I loved the introspection Sammie gets into re: evangelicalism and queerness. And evangelicalism and parenting. I'm queer and exvangelical, but I'm not a parent, but I am dating a queer exvangelical parent, so it was really interesting to read that specific take on it. I've said it once and I'll say it again: I am desperate for a book of KA nonfiction.
[Edit after 2nd read]
- Still do not know what to do with Samson!!!! Sammie's thinking is super ableist in a lot of places, that was difficult to read, but this time through I was able to lean into the characters a little better than the first time, and I just...really appreciate how fucked-up they are. They made me so goddamn uncomfortable, and I'm trying to sit in that discomfort.
- TL;DR -- this book tied me in knots and I really fckin enjoyed it. Thank you, Kristen Arnett, for the domestic horror novel I didn't know I needed.
- I couldn't stop reading it.
- I still don't know if I liked it?
- But as soon as I finished I immediately wanted to reread.
- So then I was like, I guess that means I liked it.
- But is it really necessary to like a book? I mean, why is that the most important question here? Why am I boiling the messiness of this novel down into a question with a simple yes/no answer?
- Like I said, it's compulsively readable. It's nothing like I expected it to be -- it's way darker and fast-paced and covers a lot more ground than I anticipated. I think I expected this to be about two moms and their kid over the course of like, a month or two. But it's so much more than that.
- I'm kind of furious at how well that Flannery epigraph works. It's not even what the epigraph SAYS, it's just that it's Flannery O'Connor and no one but Kristen Arnett has made me feel as squirmy and ambiguous as Flannery makes me feel. Quoting her at the start should have told me everything I needed to know about this book. The only book I've had a harder time parsing my thoughts/feelings for is Wise Blood.
- I loved the introspection Sammie gets into re: evangelicalism and queerness. And evangelicalism and parenting. I'm queer and exvangelical, but I'm not a parent, but I am dating a queer exvangelical parent, so it was really interesting to read that specific take on it. I've said it once and I'll say it again: I am desperate for a book of KA nonfiction.
[Edit after 2nd read]
- Still do not know what to do with Samson!!!! Sammie's thinking is super ableist in a lot of places, that was difficult to read, but this time through I was able to lean into the characters a little better than the first time, and I just...really appreciate how fucked-up they are. They made me so goddamn uncomfortable, and I'm trying to sit in that discomfort.
- TL;DR -- this book tied me in knots and I really fckin enjoyed it. Thank you, Kristen Arnett, for the domestic horror novel I didn't know I needed.
June 4, 2021
Coming from someone parenting a son who can be extremely difficult and is very in favor of not sugarcoating the struggles of motherhood, I should be the target audience here. The positives of the book were outweighed by the intense loathing I developed for Sammy. I viscerally HATE her helplessness and incompetence and the way she just wallows in it over two full decades. I feel like punching a fictional character.
May 31, 2021
This very queer and very Florida book is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying in its depiction of domestic chaos. Also the author is hot.
September 27, 2021
not all people are meant to be mothers, and all people are terrible and miserable
August 25, 2021
I was really conflicted about this one, 4 stars feels generous but it was too interesting to warrant a 3.
Anyway, this was definitely a unique book on parenthood and relationships. A bit more specifically, it’s about an unlikable couple (I honestly couldn’t tell if I was supposed to like them) who are a mess and feel extra pressure to present the perfect image as a gay couple under additional scrutiny just for said gayness, and their sort of monstrous child who doesn’t help matters.
It was easy to empathize with their general situation and relationship issues, but once you get down in the weeds with the main characters, it’s hard to muster any feelings other than ones about wanting to slap them all in the face.
The pacing was also a little wonky, with the passing of time being uneven. It was a little disorienting and things were pretty dramatically different after every shift, and I think more detail could have been given in terms of foreshadowing or just fleshing out general issues and making them less of a surprise after the jumps.
Anyway, this was definitely a unique book on parenthood and relationships. A bit more specifically, it’s about an unlikable couple (I honestly couldn’t tell if I was supposed to like them) who are a mess and feel extra pressure to present the perfect image as a gay couple under additional scrutiny just for said gayness, and their sort of monstrous child who doesn’t help matters.
It was easy to empathize with their general situation and relationship issues, but once you get down in the weeds with the main characters, it’s hard to muster any feelings other than ones about wanting to slap them all in the face.
The pacing was also a little wonky, with the passing of time being uneven. It was a little disorienting and things were pretty dramatically different after every shift, and I think more detail could have been given in terms of foreshadowing or just fleshing out general issues and making them less of a surprise after the jumps.
June 11, 2021
This is an absolute masterclass in writing self-delusion and unreliability. So, so good.
May 6, 2021
Our narrator is Sammie, a stay-at-home mom who is married to a successful business woman. Their relationship is strained from the outset. Sammie is resentful. Resentful of the fact that she is the one stuck at home dealing with the day-to-day struggles. Resentful of her wife Monika and her ready excuses and her absence. Resentful of her son. At times she feels like she hates him. Feels like he hates her. At times she fears him. Samson is a handful and whatever the situation is it's more than just teenage angst. I don't know if Samson is on the Autistic/Asperger's scale or if he's some type of sociopath or if Sammie's instability has fed his dysfunction.
Cleverly, Arnett inserts little snippets of view that allow us to see other people's perspectives of events. This way we can see the contrast between Sammie's version of events and how the rest f the world sees her. Sometimes they see her as this poor fragile woman who needs their help. Other times they just don't like her and would rather deal with Monika. But one thing is clear - Sammie is depressed and she is struggling to hang on.
With Teeth is organized into sections named for the seasons. It takes place over many years so this is a metaphorical reference. But once you read the ending you realize that the book has come full circle. We are brought back to the terror of that opening scene. For those of you who have read Samanta Schweblen's Fever Dream you will be reminded of the "rescue distance". If you are compelled as I was to turn back the pages and start from the beginning again, you will realize that we readers had been forewarned.
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." - Flannery O'Connor
Powerful book and stunning ending!
Cleverly, Arnett inserts little snippets of view that allow us to see other people's perspectives of events. This way we can see the contrast between Sammie's version of events and how the rest f the world sees her. Sometimes they see her as this poor fragile woman who needs their help. Other times they just don't like her and would rather deal with Monika. But one thing is clear - Sammie is depressed and she is struggling to hang on.
With Teeth is organized into sections named for the seasons. It takes place over many years so this is a metaphorical reference. But once you read the ending you realize that the book has come full circle. We are brought back to the terror of that opening scene. For those of you who have read Samanta Schweblen's Fever Dream you will be reminded of the "rescue distance". If you are compelled as I was to turn back the pages and start from the beginning again, you will realize that we readers had been forewarned.
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." - Flannery O'Connor
Powerful book and stunning ending!
June 2, 2021
Kristen Arnett's sophomore novel doesn't disappoint. While both are excellent, On a personal note I loved With Teeth more. I think there's sometimes an impulse to make queer characters 'good,' by which I mean boring and performing good, like they're upstanding citizens. I'm thrilled this story is concerned with messy characters and how complicit they own problems. It's a character study about loneliness and personal failure and how complicated relationships between loved ones can be.
December 16, 2021
Ever feel like you’re a crappy parent??? Well then this is the book for you!!!! Sammie will make you feel like a mother of the year candidate and Samson will make you realize your children are angels. I loved Mostly Dead Things and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this new release. I’m so happy to say it didn’t disappoint. I live for an author who is willing to tackle cringey subject matter and Arnett is a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ example of one who pulls no punches.
June 27, 2021
Why do people like this book?? There is no character growth from anyone, the plot is boring, it's way too long, and made of a million examples of White privilege. The main character blaming everyone for her own problems made me want to stab her with her own dull kitchen knife. Maybe this character's problematic view of actions and consequences (and lack of self awareness of her own) could be a great point to the book if there was any indication that the writer knew it was a problem. Instead it reads like an exhaustingly pointless narration of one lesbian's life in Florida.
January 1, 2022
i have so many conflicting feelings about this book but my biggest qualm is WHO NAMES A CHARACTER SAMANDRA
July 2, 2021
I am saying two stars, but really TBH it is more of a 1 star book for me. It started off pretty strong, but about halfway through it just started feeling very repetitive. Sammie is the main character, and she is a hot, damn mess. She is mom to Sampson, a clearly troubled kid. But is he troubled because SHE is so troubled? He "goes to therapy" in the book, but we never get a definitive diagnosis for him. In fact, his therapist tells Sammie and her wife that she does not think there is a lot wrong with him. Even though he sloshes his hands around in her aquarium in the waiting room and steps on a fish. Even though he bit a chunk out of a kid's face and his mom's arm (and she bites him back -- explains the title, yo). I feel like I should have been paid to read this book, because I am a therapist, and these fictional characters all need serious help. Throughout the book we watch as Sammie makes one poor decision on top of another. I finally started skimming it, because I could not continue to watch this car wreck of a story. And that ending! I wish I could get my Friday evening back. I will stick with the two stars, though, because it was well written and took an honest, raw look at motherhood when there is a disconnect between parent and child. But it left me feeling really super bummed out.
July 7, 2021
what did i just read!?!!??!
this book is super weird. and super good!
i would NOT read this if you are a queer person about to have a child, or strongly considering it. (i saw this book referred to as birth control, lol)
with teeth centers around sammie, a lesbian parent and wife. her marriage is crumbling and her relationship with her son is a mess, if not downright scary at times. sammie is under a lot of pressure to be perfect, because who she is is already considered 'wrong' by a lot of straight parents. plus, her queer community is nonexistent since she had her baby.
arnett writes about things that a lot of people would never say, like that they dislike their kid, that they wished they had a different child etc, because of their very difficult relationship. its heartbreaking, but really well done especially as the novel progresses and you learn more about sammie.
i wish we would've learned more about samson, especially in the end.
highly recommend this!
thank you riverhead books for the review copy :)
this book is super weird. and super good!
i would NOT read this if you are a queer person about to have a child, or strongly considering it. (i saw this book referred to as birth control, lol)
with teeth centers around sammie, a lesbian parent and wife. her marriage is crumbling and her relationship with her son is a mess, if not downright scary at times. sammie is under a lot of pressure to be perfect, because who she is is already considered 'wrong' by a lot of straight parents. plus, her queer community is nonexistent since she had her baby.
arnett writes about things that a lot of people would never say, like that they dislike their kid, that they wished they had a different child etc, because of their very difficult relationship. its heartbreaking, but really well done especially as the novel progresses and you learn more about sammie.
i wish we would've learned more about samson, especially in the end.
highly recommend this!
thank you riverhead books for the review copy :)
January 19, 2021
I was a huge fan of Mostly Dead Things and gave that five stars. This seems like it’s written by a different person at times and all of the characters are so incredibly unlikable.
November 23, 2021
*****SPOILERS*****
TW: Child abduction, rape, cheating, strong sexual descriptions, toxic relationships, toxic parent and child relationships, blood, murder
About the book:If she's being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son. Working from home in the close quarters of their Florida house, she lives with one wary eye peeled on Samson, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best--driving, cleaning, cooking, prodding him to finish projects for school--while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. As Samson grows from feral toddler to surly teenager, Sammie's life begins to deteriorate into a mess of unruly behavior, and her struggle to create a picture-perfect queer family unravels. When her son's hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess--and the possibility that it will never be clean again.
Release Date: June 1st, 2021
Genre: LGBTQ
Pages: Fiction
Rating: ⭐ 0.5
What I Liked:
• After an interaction with a character I like the the perspective from them
What I Didn't Like:
• The bait & switch plot
• The over the topic sex scenes
• The blood
Overall Thoughts: I guess what I thought I was getting with this book was a creepy book about a woman who felt as though her relationship with her son was hell, but what I got was an over-sexed erotic story about a horny lesbian. Talk about a bait and switch!
This book started out pretty good. A mother with a son who seems a little off on the emotional department when it comes to loving his mother. I was hoping for a story in the same vain of We Need to Talk About Kevin sadly this book was NOTHING like that. It feels more like Samson is more of an afterthought to Sammie's sexual conquests and over the top sex scenes. Monika is almost non-existent in this book showing up only to prove how fucked up these two women are and toxic they can be to one another, including their own child.
It's disgusting how Sammie treats Samson when it comes to sexual moments almost treating him as though he is more of a friend than her own son. Like driving around the kids for the swim met and staring at a picture of a vagina with a car full of boys. I can almost guarantee that if roles were reversed a man was doing the same thing but girls were in the car this book would be rated way lower. Sammie then goes on to tell Samson that yeah she has and loves sex and it's okay.
I seriously don't know what I was reading at that point. Like why?
Oh and I am sorry but I don't want to read about period blood dripping out of another woman's mouth. Like spare us this. Instead of trying to stun us with these over the top antics why not put that energy into a good story that is about what the plot is supposed to be about.
The ending is all tied up but not really it's a confusing ending. Did Samson make it up? Is Sammie lying to cover her trail.
Final Thoughts: This book is so far from what it says its about. It's about a woman who's in a loveless marriage and who is a terrible mother. This book is 200 pages too long. Nothing happens in the middle. Could have made a good short story.
IG | Blog
TW: Child abduction, rape, cheating, strong sexual descriptions, toxic relationships, toxic parent and child relationships, blood, murder
About the book:If she's being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son. Working from home in the close quarters of their Florida house, she lives with one wary eye peeled on Samson, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best--driving, cleaning, cooking, prodding him to finish projects for school--while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. As Samson grows from feral toddler to surly teenager, Sammie's life begins to deteriorate into a mess of unruly behavior, and her struggle to create a picture-perfect queer family unravels. When her son's hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess--and the possibility that it will never be clean again.
Release Date: June 1st, 2021
Genre: LGBTQ
Pages: Fiction
Rating: ⭐ 0.5
What I Liked:
• After an interaction with a character I like the the perspective from them
What I Didn't Like:
• The bait & switch plot
• The over the topic sex scenes
• The blood
Overall Thoughts: I guess what I thought I was getting with this book was a creepy book about a woman who felt as though her relationship with her son was hell, but what I got was an over-sexed erotic story about a horny lesbian. Talk about a bait and switch!
This book started out pretty good. A mother with a son who seems a little off on the emotional department when it comes to loving his mother. I was hoping for a story in the same vain of We Need to Talk About Kevin sadly this book was NOTHING like that. It feels more like Samson is more of an afterthought to Sammie's sexual conquests and over the top sex scenes. Monika is almost non-existent in this book showing up only to prove how fucked up these two women are and toxic they can be to one another, including their own child.
It's disgusting how Sammie treats Samson when it comes to sexual moments almost treating him as though he is more of a friend than her own son. Like driving around the kids for the swim met and staring at a picture of a vagina with a car full of boys. I can almost guarantee that if roles were reversed a man was doing the same thing but girls were in the car this book would be rated way lower. Sammie then goes on to tell Samson that yeah she has and loves sex and it's okay.
I seriously don't know what I was reading at that point. Like why?
Oh and I am sorry but I don't want to read about period blood dripping out of another woman's mouth. Like spare us this. Instead of trying to stun us with these over the top antics why not put that energy into a good story that is about what the plot is supposed to be about.
The ending is all tied up but not really it's a confusing ending. Did Samson make it up? Is Sammie lying to cover her trail.
Final Thoughts: This book is so far from what it says its about. It's about a woman who's in a loveless marriage and who is a terrible mother. This book is 200 pages too long. Nothing happens in the middle. Could have made a good short story.
IG | Blog
June 13, 2021
Here are the first two words that come to mind upon finishing this book: stressful, & engrossing. This is a very character-driven novel (which I’m coming to realize might be my favorite?), & my god, these characters are bananas in a way thats both aggravating & kind of delicious. When I was only about 50 pages in, I said “so far the vibe is Damien from The Omen if his parents were lesbians,” but what ended up surprising me is how much this isn’t a novel about Sammie’s son & his scary behavior, but about Sammie herself. Her failures, her insecurities, her inability to take control back of her life even though she knows she’s miserable & needs a change. Arnett writes with her trademark dry humor, & in some parts a surprising yet necessary tenderness.
I will say that something doesn’t sit right with me about the portrayal of Samson & his behavior, & we don’t really get a lot of answers about it. But overall, I was completely captivated by this story. If you can handle messiness & Uncut Gems-levels of stress, give this one a go.
(& I just have to say on a craft level, this book is so subtly brilliant. We get these little vignettes from the POV of completely minor characters, but they drive the story forward & give some necessary perspective in a story where unreliability is basically a character in & of itself. I’ve never read a book that has something like that, & really admired it!)
I will say that something doesn’t sit right with me about the portrayal of Samson & his behavior, & we don’t really get a lot of answers about it. But overall, I was completely captivated by this story. If you can handle messiness & Uncut Gems-levels of stress, give this one a go.
(& I just have to say on a craft level, this book is so subtly brilliant. We get these little vignettes from the POV of completely minor characters, but they drive the story forward & give some necessary perspective in a story where unreliability is basically a character in & of itself. I’ve never read a book that has something like that, & really admired it!)
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