Shannon Miz's Reviews > Cuckoo

The basic premise of Cuckoo is this: a bunch of queer young folks are sent to this horrific camp by their asshole families because of their aforementioned queerness. Their families have all found out about their gender identities and/or sexualities, and just... shipped 'em out to this conversion camp on steroids. We see the perspectives of quite a few of the victims (because they are not, under any circumstances, "campers"), and at times it was a wee bit hard to keep track of all of the POVs (we're talking at least a dozen kids here, so it was a big cast of characters), but I really did appreciate their stories, so I understood the choice.

And look, I did not have a clue as to what was going on with the "Cuckoo" aspect- is it a parasite? Just symbolic for evil? Who knows. But the story itself was good, and I did understand most of the symbolism and commentary. So that is obviously what is important here. Since it is a book by Gretchen Felker-Martin, you can expect some very gnarly stuff. Lots of body horror, sexual depravity, etc. That is just how she rolls, so if you aren't down, this is likely not the book for you. But I think that if you can handle that sort of thing, the story is certainly worth it. The story eventually takes a turn that I did not expect, and I really enjoyed it, though I don't want to talk about it because spoilers. 

Bottom Line: Always, always here for calling out (loudly and very creatively, in this case) the vile atrocities some parents force on their kids. 



You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight