Baby Teeth

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This first thing I’m going to say about “Baby Teeth” is that it won’t be for everybody. And that’s OKAY! I’m not going to judge anyone for liking it OR not liking it. It’s a fiction book!

Sshh, lilla gumman…Daddy’s squirrely girl…”He cooed so softly Suzette couldn’t hear everything he said. But Hanna quieted. She looked so tiny in his arms, a rag doll. I received a copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Coulee: a term applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley. a b "Meet a NYFA Artist: Zoje Stage". NYFA. 2009-10-26. Archived from the original on 2021-03-15 . Retrieved 2020-09-23. For Milla, it’s a headlong rush into first love. Like her character, Scanlen makes every moment count – a single loaded look, which sweeps between her parents and Moses, contains a symphony of emotions, starting with adolescent defiance and ending with an ache of uncertainty and longing.

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First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Zoje Stage, and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review. As Hanna grew stronger she could take it advantage of Mommy’s weakness. Could mommy die if cleaning too much – – could she scrubbed to death? And The pivotal moment in Hannah and Suzette's relationship is when Suzette is inappropriately candid with two-year-old Hanna. She doesn't consider how much Hanna can understand or how a young child with limited experience might process the information. It's a frustrating scene to witness, because of all the miscommunications that ignite the toxic cycle of Hanna and Suzette's relationship: Hannah is stressed out because Mommy is acting weird→Hanna tries to get her Mommy's attention the only way a two-year-old can→ Suzette interprets it as yet another one of her maternal failings, when Hanna is actually just being a normal toddler→The situation spirals out of control. Hanna is seven years old and lives with her mom, Suzette and father, Alex. She has never spoken a word until one day she tells her mom she is a witch. The story takes a crazy turn. All throughout this book I was left wondering what was really happening with this child. Perhaps my only complaint is that I think Hanna was a little too young for some of the things she was doing. I think it would have been a bit more believable had she been a little older.

This novel is described as a thriller. I think it would be better categorized as horror. It’s told from the point of view of an exasperated stay-at-home mom, Suzette, and her seven-year=old daughter, Hannah. Hannah refuses to speak. When Dad is home, she is smiley and delightful. When he’s at work, she does her best to make her mom’s life a living hell. When Suzette tries to enroll her first in preschool, then kindergarten, then first grade, Hannah snarls at teachers and starts fires and hurts other children. Suzette has no choice but to do her best to home school her. She has battled debilitating health issues of her own since high school and having this out-of-control child is not helping her physical or mental health. Maybe it had been a mistake, trying to set Mommy on fire. If only she’d known how long it took for things - or people - to fully ignite. Then there is Hannah, who refused to talk even though she is physically capable of doing so and does so as her alter ego. Her thoughts and actions are those of a much older person, not those of an isolated, mute seven year old. Hannah thinks that life would be perfect if she could murder her mom and have dad all to herself and her attempts to do so escalate until Alex finally has to believe that his daughter is a sociopath/psychopath. Once appropriate action has taken place, the book abruptly ends, just when I was hoping we could learn more. We do learn one thing from Hannah and that is that her mom had better watch out! It is unnerving in the reality of it. This could happen and probably does. I know there are parents out there who are afraid of their children.This book is well written. It’s a tense, disturbing read. So, if you’re in the mood for that, you might enjoy this. This book fulfils Topic #4 (Title/Author Beginning with Q, X, or Z) of the A Book for All Seasons (Equinox #2) Book Challenge. I choose to stop this nonsense- I don’t want to be a stand for books where children are evil — for the sake of psychological pleasure reading. Her debut novel, Baby Teeth, has been optioned for film by Village Roadshow and Valparaiso Pictures. [3] Bibliography [ edit ] Novels [ edit ]

Suzette, Hanna’s mother, loves her daughter – as well as she can. She didn’t grow up with a loving mother so struggles with the parenting role. But she finds Hanna exhausting. When her husband Alex isn’t around Hanna speaks to Suzette. As Hanna becomes more and more aggressive toward her mother while her father continues to see her as his little angel, Suzette suspects there is something seriously wrong with their daughter. Can her little girl really be so manipulative?Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. Baby Teeth' Has Some Growing To Do". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on 2022-08-26 . Retrieved 2020-09-23. THIS BOOK seems to me - to be an intentionally disturbing novel - for the pure pleasure of the thrill. It’s ugly and non-inspiring. It ‘is’........absorbing.....but I’m not proud of myself reading it. Baby Teeth is a "psychological" thriller focusing on a dysfunctional family and their child with disturbing behavior. Alex, the father, does not want to see or believe that his daughter has behavioral/emotional problems. His daughter behaves around him, she is loving and, although she does not speak, she has her own way of communicating with him. Suzette, the Mother, is homeschooling her daughter while dealing with the symptoms of her Crohn's disease. Suzette is the target or her daughter, Hanna’s, "bad" behaviors. Hanna begins to speak to her Mother and really wants her father all to herself. She is clever, manipulative, and unwilling to speak. She does not like going to traditional schools and engages in behaviors which result in her leaving the traditional school environment. Born bad? Interestingly enough, Hanna has to conjure up a demonic pal to help her with her worst acts. Hanna feels more comfortable putting herself out there when her friend around. (Hanna's imaginary pal was a victim of self-preservation and other peoples' misinterpretations of the world around them.)

Suzette's life and body are in constant turmoil, so it's important that she takes care of the things she does have control over. She's obsessed with keeping a sterile house and making sure her family appears well taken care of. She finds comfort in completing mindless tasks. Suzette is tormented by her physical scars and she's terrified that she'll have to get an ileostomy bag. She thinks that if she lets herself go, Alex might leave her. Stage fuses horror with domestic suspense to paint an unflinching portrait of childhood psychopathy and maternal regret. As the house starts to become increasingly volatile and claustrophobic, Suzette begins to wonder if she will ever feel safe in her own house, alone with her “baby daughter.” The screenplay is adapted by Rita Kalnejais from her own play, but the storytelling here does not feel rooted in the theatre. Murphy grasps every means of cinematic expression available to her. Her use of colour sings, subliminally reinforcing this unlikely bond between a dying girl and a junkie: the way that Milla’s teal wig matches the too-big shorts that engulf Moses’s unsteady twiglet legs; on a stolen night out, their lilac shirts accidentally harmonise, like a shared private joke. The connection between them is real and tangible. The symbiosis of craft and character extends to the dancing, uninhibited camera and to the editing, which has a teenager’s headlong impatience and lurching attention span. I wondered if a seven-year-old was capable of some of the acts committed. Could a child be that diabolical and manipulative? I think this is one of those books that if you look at it closely, yes you will probably see a lot of things that push the believability envelope…right off the table. However, it ended up not mattering if things were all possible or believable…. I was pulled right into the story.

Baby Teeth

Of course any story of this nature is going to be an uncomfortable read and I was very aware of that hurdle from the onset. That said, no doubt I would have found this more unsettling than I did, had I bought into any of it. I did not. a b "2012 Project Forum Slate". IFP. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2020-10-01 . Retrieved 2020-09-23. The synopsis here is straightforward. Hanna loves Daddy. Hanna does not love Mommy. In fact, things would be perfect if Mommy wasn’t in the picture at all.