elle's Reviews > On the Savage Side

“when a woman disappears, how is she remembered? by her beautiful smile? her pretty face? the drugs in her system? or by the johns who all have dope breath and graceless desires?”

what a heart shattering, gutwrenching book.

i had no idea about the chillicothe six murders before reading this, but i read with a pit in my stomach right after searching up the case. the narrative of on the savage side is brutal and unforgiving. i knew that mcdaniel was an incredibly gifted writer, but the way she simultaneously portrays the horrors of girlhood and being a woman through arc and daffy's bleak lives while showing them authorial kindness was evidence of that.

the novel follows the twins, arc and daffy, as they navigate destitute poverty while trying to escape generational trauma that haunts the women of their family. told in a dual time frame of when the twins are 10 and 20, the sharp parallel in how much they have changed is heartbreaking. from their childlike innocence in escaping the chaos of their home to almost mirroring their mother and aunt when they are adults causes us readers to grieve the loss of the naivete that protected them.

this book is not so much a whodunit as it is an empathetic tale of the victims and by extension, the women in the town. every man in the book has the capability of committing the grisliest of crimes, and has already done so. instead of writing a classic mystery/thriller formula, mcdaniel makes the main focus of her book humanizing the women that are historically always scapegoated and ignored in society.

one thing i particularly loved was how mcdaniel incorporated nature into the story. the landscape of the town, especially the river, became another main character. it really brought this entire book to life, from the setting to the characters.

just as referenced in the book, the savage side and the beautiful side are brilliantly balanced out. i will remember this book for a long time.

“under these ohio clouds, a river will keep flowing and a mother will cry out. in the currents forced by rain and fog, how far will a body drift from home?”

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc <3