A Strand February 2021 Book of the Month “With a layered mystery, a haunting setting, and thrilling tension, What Big Teeth has an otherness to it that pulls you in and forces you to keep reading.” –Tricia Levenseller, Publisher’s Weekly-bestselling author of The Shadows Between Us Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a … family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.
Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together–in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.
Rose Szabo’s thrilling debut is a dark fantasy novel about a teen girl who returns home to her strange, wild family after years of estrangement, perfect for fans of Wilder Girls. This exquisitely terrifying and beautiful tale will sink its teeth into you and never let go.
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What Big Teeth delves into werewolf mythology as it stands apart from traditional fiction, creating a story of a girl struggling to find her place in her home.
Interesting
What Big Teeth is a fascinating debut novel, but the first half of the story takes some getting used to. Personally, after such a strong opening, I found the story’s pacing to be lackluster. It was not bad, but it was a struggle because it felt like much showing instead of telling.
Now, I say felt because as I was reading, I was seeing the story play out. There is much exposition to the storytelling, but it goes with the narrative that Szabo was building. What Big Teeth is a story about a girl sent away by her grandmother at a young age seeking refuge back home. However, unfortunately, Eleanor does not feel like she fits in anymore, which is relatable to the reader.
However, there is something sinister and captivating about the story. It did give off Addam’s family vibe, it was dark, mysterious, and cooky, and that is what drew me in ultimately. Intrigue is what kept me reading, especially once What Big Teeth introduces Grand’Mere. My need to unravel the mystery behind Eleanor hooked me.
Characterization
Now, while the story did give off Addam’s family vibes, it did lack the charm. I was reading the story for the story and not the characters. The problem is that the whole family dynamic lacked heart and Eleanor herself lacked substance, which is ironic.
Honestly, I just was not a fan. Everyone was cruel to one another, and I was not too fond of Eleanor’s grandmother, who did not welcome her home at all. Her sister and Rhys were vicious bullies, constantly doubting Eleanor and undermining her. To be blunt, they were awful to her. Eleanor is flawed, she makes mistakes that put the family in danger, but it is easy to understand why. The only person kind to her is Grand’Mere; she is the only one who shows her love and kindness, whereas everyone else dismisses her.
Final Thoughts
What Big Teeth was a struggle for me. It is unique, but the characterization fell short, and ultimately, I did not care for them; I only cared for the evolution of the story.
After an “incident” at her boarding school, young Eleanor Zarrin flees to her family’s peculiar home – which bears a superficial resemblance to the Munsters. She wonders why her relatives never expressed interest in her after sending her away to school, and tension reigns. Shifters and spirits, tarot cards and witchcraft, some undefined madness, and an enigmatic lead character who invites danger into their midst people this moody and torpid novel. Told from Eleanor’s perspective, “What Big Teeth” by Rose Szabo meanders through themes of family responsibility. Because its unique look into a slightly “off” family of would-be monsters is largely gore and bloodless, and since Eleanor (and many of the rest of the misfit cast) read as a bit peevish and younger, I felt comfortable reading it with my mature MG and YA kiddos. Some potential trigger warnings: Animal death (they are monsters, and they have to eat, after all), homophobia, bullying/abuse, enslavement, and death. So for fans of the “off” and lightly Gothic, and for anyone who’s struggled to fit in, this will be a fun book.
Book 116 towards my goal of 290! 4/5 stars for this YA fantastical read. Great for fans of Red Hood, with maybe some Addie LaRue vibes thrown in. I love a good family drama, this just happened to be….not your average family. Definitely recommend if you like family reads and don’t mind a little weird.
The cover of this one drew me in, I’m a little obsessed with it.
What Big Teeth started off really weird, and I kept trying to decide if it was my kind of weird as I read the beginning. It definitely turned into something I really enjoyed, especially as we got more back story and information filled in, so that it felt like I knew what was going on. I loved the ghost scenes, because I think it gave us interesting insight into what someone would have done differently with their life in hindsight, and really helped fill in that backstory.
I loved the dark vibes, and most of the characters – especially those who didn’t belong like Arthur, Eleanor, and Eleanor’s mother. I thought it was interesting to see what the big bad wolves were afraid of.
I started off confused, but ended up wanting more of this world. I recommend this for fans of Red Hood, it’s less… descriptive about blood and gore, I think, without the feminist focus on periods, but it had some of the same vibes for me.
When I read the synopsis for What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo, I was so excited! I love werewolf stories, and the idea of coming home from boarding school to a strange family sounds like a great plot to me. The opening chapters of the book were intriguing and made me want to know more. Here is an excerpt from Chapter One, after Eleanor arrives home and sees her family for the first time in a long time:
“What’s for dinner?” Father asked Rhys. “Show me what you
caught.”
Rhys grabbed the sack and pulled out a brace of young rabbits by the ears. Their heads lolled limply from their broken
necks. Their white throats were pink with blood.
Maybe my eyes were adjusting, I thought, since everything
seemed to be getting darker around me. And then I fainted.
Such a horrifying scene! After I read the first chapter, I was pumped and ready to go wherever this story would take me. Unfortunately, it didn’t really take anywhere. I soon lost interest, and I felt like nothing was happening. It’s true that the family members say strange things and do strange things, but it’s not very exciting. There was some love drama, a new villain was introduced, a character’s secret is revealed, and Eleanor explores her powers. However, the plot didn’t really maintain my interest. At the climax of the book, I was thinking, “That’s it?” The book is marketed as “horror” and “thrilling,” but I really didn’t get that sense from the book. Overall, What Big Teeth is a tame, YA fantasy with gothic undertones. It wasn’t the werewolf story I was expecting, but I’m sure some readers of YA fantasy will appreciate its uniqueness.
This book is so damn interesting and that is a breath of fresh air. Seriously, What Big Teeth pulled me in by its amazing cover but kept me listening because I was fully engaged and genuinely interested in what the heck was going on.
Nowadays being 100% fully engaged in anything is a struggle. There are so many distractions so when a book grabs my full attention you can bet it’s a whopper of a tale.
What Big Teeth is weird. At times you want to slap the protagonist Eleanor. She seems almost dim-witted in the fact that she just doesn’t “get” what’s going on. BUT, you won’t care because you’ll be too interested in knowing what comes next!
I enjoyed this book quite a bit! I marked this book as currently reading weeks ago but it really only took me a few days to read it once I had time to sit down with it. I have to admit that one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book was the fabulous cover. The story sounded promising so I was eager to give it a try. Once I started reading this book, I was hooked and ended up having a fantastic time with it.
Eleanor goes back home to her family after being away at school at the start of the story. It becomes immediately apparent that Eleanor’s family isn’t your normal family. Her grandfather and several other members of the family turn into wolves and her mother spends most of her time in a tub. I immediately had so many questions that I needed answers to which kept me turning the pages as fast as I could.
The book is told from Eleanor’s point of view. Eleanor was an interesting character. I liked her but I wanted to know more than I felt like she was sharing. I wanted to know why Eleanor left the family to go to school in the first place but the big mystery for me was finding out what Eleanor was and what she could do. I had similar questions about some of the other family members and Arthur who was more of a family friend.
This book was rather weird. I like weird books so that worked out well for me but I am not sure that this will be the right book for every reader. I really liked the writing and found myself pulled in the story right away. I liked the fact that anything could happen at any time and I was on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what would happen.
I would recommend this book to readers looking for something different. I had a great time with this book and look forward to reading more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a review copy of this book from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group via Bookish First.
Eleanor Zarrin is from a family of werewolves (though they’re never referred to as such), and her grandmother Persephone sent her away to boarding school when she was young for reasons she doesn’t remember or understand. She’s never been able to transform into a wolf the way her grandfather, father, sister, and cousin can… Coming back to them after she hurts another girl at school, she feels like she doesn’t belong, even fears her family.
“What Big Teeth” was a weird and fascinating book, and I think I loved it. Szabo’s writing was wonderfully descriptive, and the progression of the story was well-paced and kept me reading. I say “I think” because I have mixed feelings about certain parts, and because there are other elements I consider weaknesses, mostly having to do with Eleanor as the protagonist. Her naivety and some of the assumptions she makes in the story were frustrating to read (not to the point where I disliked or was sick of her, though). Also, the ending definitely could have been stronger, and it’s a bit frustrating that one character’s fate was left up in the air.
I mostly loved it though. The whole mystery surrounding Arthur and the family was a surprise, and uh dark and messed up and good. I also adored its overlapping themes of hunger and obsessive love and possession and how no matter how much you love someone you will never own them.
“…love starts out as something you want to bite into, and ends as something that swallows you up.”
So good.
*I received a finished copy from FSG via BookishFist
This is a horror-mystery-love story that you don’t want to miss!
I can’t say that I actually enjoyed this story, but it was entertaining. Kind of. I could actually see this story playing out as a movie, and I think I would have liked it much better if that was the case. It gave me a bit of a Beautiful Creatures vibe, but this story wasn’t quite as fleshed-out as BC was, sadly. I felt like we were just thrown in to Eleanor’s family’s world, without any context, and I never quite caught up, and then it just ended. I didn’t like that we weren’t ever really given an explanation of Eleanor’s “abilities”. It definitely felt as if something was missing.
I appreciate the idea of this story, and I was excited to read it, especially because of that cover!, but sadly this one didn’t work for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.
What Big Teeth was a surprisingly excellent book! I was expecting a much more tame big bad wolf type of story. Boy was I wrong. What I found instead was a story that was full of horror, mystery, lust, longing, and even love.
The writing style immediately drew me in and I stayed glued to this book until I finished reading it. A good book gives you closure, but a great book will keep you wanting more. This is one of those great ones, because I am desperately hoping that there will be a sequel.
I love the verity of characters and I felt that each character was written with depth. There is an evolution of the family dynamic and I enjoyed the way that they come together in the end.
I think that there is much more to this world that Szabo has created and I would love to see where the Zarrin family ends up and who or what they will meet in the future. My fingers are crossed. I hope to see this family again!
Wow I did not know what to expect, but a glance at the cover there will be some creepiness and gothic ambiance. Eleanor Zarrin heads home one night after leaving the Saint Bridgid Boarding School. It is as though her family was expecting her home. Eleanor has been estranged from her family for years, you will soon see why. Her family is a big one with so many secrets and little by little it all comes out!
Eleanor is welcomed home with a dinner party, there’s her grandparents, parents, siblings, and cousins. They are all mystical creatures, eating flesh and other things. Everyone is having a good, weird time. It is a scene that would be great to see on film! But Eleanor is taken aback she has not been around her family for awhile.
This is a great debut from author Rose Szabo, the characters are well developed, it is definitely creepy, and entertaining.
Comparing this to the Addam’s Family was pretty spot on. It reminds me of the one where Fester comes home but that is just about where the similarities end. This is definitely a weird and frustrating novel. I personally enjoyed the heck out of it but can see where others may not get the same enjoyment that I did.
Szabo puts you into the perspective of Eleanor as she returns home after running away from boarding school. She fears her family and their strangeness after being sent away for so long. But why was she sent away? Why does her family fear her when they are the more obvious monsters? The dark and dangerous air that clings to the plot line kept me hooked. The secrets make you want to know what is going on and what everyone is hiding. Not knowing which shifter family member would embrace their animal instinct and go in for the kill. The constant debate on who or what the odd, spider-fingered gentleman in the household is. Let alone what is beneath the cowering surface of the MC. This and the utter craziness of everything wouldn’t let me go.
Eleanor was not a likeable character for me and it stems from the fact she is basically a child being thrust into maintaining and running a household of monstrosities. Her decisions and actions are very juvenile at best and I had mixed feelings that fluctuated between pity and annoyance. It wasn’t just her though. All of the characters act childish and petulant with a sprinkle of cowed. Even through all of the character-driven chaos it is still a family and through the broken, taped together pieces the reader sees this shine through. What I came away with was the sense of finding your inner self and embracing who you are no matter how different you may be. Sometimes you can only find acceptance within and for some that is where you need to start to bring everything together harmoniously.
This dark and gender-bending novel has a captivating opening, a slow middle and a rushing ending. You’ll want to know the end, the characters will get under your skin in more ways than one and you’ll probably debate the plot direction a few hundred times. It’s kooky, it’s spooky and it’s truly all together ooky but don’t get it twisted this feral family is far from the tame Addam’s.
Thank you to Bookishfirst for the opportunity to win this copy and thank you to Fierce Reads for another page-turning mind bender of a read!
I finished What Big Teeth, and I’ve gone back and forth in my head several times trying to decide how I felt about it.
3-5 stars
This book isn’t necessarily a bad book, but there is very little explaining and you’re just thrown into the story. This was one of the most wild and twisted books I have ever read, and my stomach is still in knots because I don’t know that i liked it, but I couldn’t stop reading.
Our main character Eleanor is different from the rest of her family of werewolves. I still don’t understand what’s going on with her mother. I still don’t understand why she’s mad at everything and constantly being scolded for being “rude” in the beginning even though she wasn’t. And the side plot with the plants that never comes to anything. I’m still so confused by so much of this book. The reveals at the end were completely obvious by the time we got there, and I wasn’t shocked. I wouldn’t call this a horror novel, but I do read a lot of horror and this was maybe like a goosebumps type horror, it would’ve been scarier when I was younger.
It’s very rare that I have a hard time putting into words my opinion on a book. This wasn’t good, but I couldn’t put it down, and I don’t know what I feel about it.
”I’ve been alone for so long that I can’t remember what it feels like to belong,”
What Big Teeth is YA gothic fantasy perfection. It’s dark and dreary and full of metaphors for love, loneliness, self worth, and relationships. I love how Eleanor and the Zarrin family are sort of revealed to us slowly and layer by layer. We meet werewolves, witches, and others surface level, but eventually learn a deeper story for most.
Eleanor is the main character for sure, and we follow her journey from fleeing her boarding school to trying to relearn her own family. She’s terrified of them, but she has nowhere else to go. It’s been years since she’s seen them, and they are monsters! “She’s nothing like them,” or is she?
This book for sure nails that spooky kooky gothic vibe. A gothic old house, a cast of monsters, ghosts, wary townspeople, and other things. There’s nothing light about this book in my opinion. It’s dark and sort of sad, and has its own unique vibe even if it’s reminiscent of other fictional monster families. Eleanor is trying to fit in with and have meaning in her family, and while doing so she’s putting them in boxes in her head that aren’t right. Eleanor sort of discovers who she is and what is right and what is wrong. I kind of wanted to shake her for most of the book, and tell her to open her eyes, but in the end I understood her and her journey a bit better.
There’s some mystery and some thrills, but simply put this story is just an entertaining YA gothic fantasy following a sort of creepy teen girl, trying to understand and fit into her seemingly mismatched family. I think that there are plenty of messages and deeper meanings in this story that people will be able to pull out and feel a connection to. I know I highlighted so many lines that just felt like they had deeper meaning than the context they were said in.
I’d say if you enjoyed the Addams Family films, and wish they were a little more emo, then you’ll LOVE this book. I did. Can’t wait to read more from this author.