Paradise Rot
By: Jenny Hval
3.55
Format: 160 pages, Paperback
A lyrical debut novel from a musician and artist renowned for her sharp sexual and political imager…
Want to Read $ 7.99"I took a bite of a Bloody Ploughman. Even the flesh was red. 'Bloody,' Carral said. 'Nice colour,' I answered. 'It looks sinful. I bet that was the apple Eve ate, you know, in the Bible, the forbidden fruit.' 'Might be. But I've eaten some too now. Does that mean you have to kick me out of your house?' I held the half-eaten apple out to her. She burst out laughing and pointed out at the factory: 'Does this look like paradise or what?"-Jenny Hval, Paradise Rot
"I took a bite of a Bloody Ploughman. Even the flesh was red. 'Bloody,' Carral said. 'Nice colour,' I answered. 'It looks sinful. I bet that was the apple Eve ate, you know, in the Bible, the forbidden fruit.' 'Might be. But I've eaten some too now. Does that mean you have to kick me out of your house?' I held the half-eaten apple out to her. She burst out laughing and pointed out at the factory: 'Does this look like paradise or what?"-Jenny Hval, Paradise Rot
"I'll tell you the fairy tale of the apple. Eve ate the apple, and then Adam came and did so too. Afterwards the apple was forgotten, and it was assumed that it rolled away in the grass while Adam and Eve were chased out of the garden. But that's not true, because secretly the apple rolled in between Eve's legs, scratched open her flesh and burrowed into her crotch. It stayed there with the white bite marks facing out, and after a while the fruit-flesh started to shrivel, and mould threads grew from the edges of the peel. The mould threads became pubic hair and the bite mark became the slit between the labia. Soon all of Eden followed the apple's example and started to decompose and rot, and since then this has happened in all gardens and everything in nature, and honey mushrooms came into existence, and rot and parasites and beetles arose. But the apple was first, and it never stops rotting, it just gets blacker. The apple has no end, just like this fairy tale."-Jenny Hval, Paradise Rot
"I'll tell you the fairy tale of the apple. Eve ate the apple, and then Adam came and did so too. Afterwards the apple was forgotten, and it was assumed that it rolled away in the grass while Adam and Eve were chased out of the garden. But that's not true, because secretly the apple rolled in between Eve's legs, scratched open her flesh and burrowed into her crotch. It stayed there with the white bite marks facing out, and after a while the fruit-flesh started to shrivel, and mould threads grew from the edges of the peel. The mould threads became pubic hair and the bite mark became the slit between the labia. Soon all of Eden followed the apple's example and started to decompose and rot, and since then this has happened in all gardens and everything in nature, and honey mushrooms came into existence, and rot and parasites and beetles arose. But the apple was first, and it never stops rotting, it just gets blacker. The apple has no end, just like this fairy tale."-Jenny Hval, Paradise Rot
If you liked the horror plot in Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval , here is a list of 13 books like this:
1. Eileen
By: Ottessa Moshfegh
3.81
Format: None pages, Hardcover
The Christmas season offers little cheer for Eileen Dunlop, an unassuming yet disturbed young woman… read more
Want to ReadSimilar categories in Ottessa Moshfegh's Eileen book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
2. I Who Have Never Known Men
By: Ros Schwartz , Jacqueline Harpman
4.22
Format: 208 pages, Paperback
"As far back as I can recall, I have been in the bunker." A young woman is kept in a cage underg… read more
Want to Read $ 9.99Similar categories in Ros Schwartz's I Who Have Never Known Men book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- fantasy
- fiction
"Survival is never more than putting off the moment of death."-Ros Schwartz, I Who Have Never Known Men
"I thought it was unfair, and then I understood that, alone and terrified, anger was my only weapon against the horror"-Ros Schwartz, I Who Have Never Known Men
"Look at them. They’re pretending, they behave as though they still have some control over their lives and make momentous decisions about which vegetable to cook first."-Ros Schwartz, I Who Have Never Known Men
"Only now, I tell myself that what I'd felt for her, the trust that slowly built up, the constant preference for her company and the joy each time I was reunited with her after an expedition were prob…"-Ros Schwartz, I Who Have Never Known Men
3. Perfume & Pain
By: Anna Dorn
4.06
Format: 352 pages, Paperback
A controversial Los Angeles author attempts to revive her career and finally find true love in this… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Anna Dorn's Perfume & Pain book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- lesbian
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- queer
"I sit down wanting to write the great lesbian love story, but wacko bitches just keep coming out."-Anna Dorn, Perfume & Pain
4. Rouge
By: Mona Awad
3.56
Format: 383 pages, Kindle Edition
From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lone… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Mona Awad's Rouge book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- magical realism
- fiction
- horror
- contemporary
- fantasy
- audiobook
"If I had beauty, I decided then, I would never throw it away. I would never give it up."-Mona Awad, Rouge
"I mean, we all have our dark days. Very dark days, sometimes. When our demons come out to play. No one lives entirely in the light, right?"-Mona Awad, Rouge
"That I can’t protect you from my terrible places that I still go, can’t help but go because no one protected me, no one saved me, no one ever held out their hand and walked me away. But I’m trying to…"-Mona Awad, Rouge
5. Our Wives Under the Sea
By: Julia Armfield
3.78
Format: 240 pages, Paperback
Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ende… read more
Want to Read $ 11.99Similar categories in Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- lesbian
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- horror
- queer
"El océano profundo es una casa embrujada: un lugar donde se mueven en la oscuridad cosas que no deberían existir."-Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea
"She refused almost every aspect of my help, the way women will when they've been bred to accept little more than the baset civility."-Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea
"I don't know why I expected you to read my mind,' I say, when I call back to leave her a message, 'I was just doing what I always do, assuming the world revolves around me."-Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea
"The space around us is a claw half grasped, holding tight without quite crushing, and I wish, in the idle way I always wish these days, that I felt more confident in my ability to breathe."-Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea
6. Monstrilio
By: Gerardo Sámano Córdova
4.14
Format: 336 pages, Hardcover
A literary horror debut about a boy who transforms into a monster, a monster who tries to be a man,… read more
Want to Read $ 8.99Similar categories in Gerardo Sámano Córdova's Monstrilio book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- magical realism
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- horror
- fantasy
- queer
"The world was scary. Worse, I was scary in it."-Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Monstrilio
"I wanted him to snap, to finally and absolutely lose it. To break. He was withering. To wither is not the same as to break; to break is to have pieces to put back together, and to wither is to dry up…"-Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Monstrilio
7. Lapvona
By: Ottessa Moshfegh
3.53
Format: 313 pages, Kindle Edition
In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds h… read more
Want to Read $ 6.99Similar categories in Ottessa Moshfegh's Lapvona book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- magical realism
- fiction
- horror
- contemporary
- fantasy
- audiobook
"But such was death - it had nothing to say."-Ottessa Moshfegh, Lapvona
"Blood was the wine of the spirit, was it not?"-Ottessa Moshfegh, Lapvona
"What scared her were other people and their immovable selfishness"-Ottessa Moshfegh, Lapvona
"But Jude's piety was a kind of violent urge and not the love and peace it ought to be"-Ottessa Moshfegh, Lapvona
8. Paradise Rot
By: Jenny Hval
3.55
Format: 160 pages, Paperback
A lyrical debut novel from a musician and artist renowned for her sharp sexual and political imager… read more
Want to Read $ 7.99Similar categories in Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- lesbian
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- magical realism
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- horror
- fantasy
- queer
"I took a bite of a Bloody Ploughman. Even the flesh was red. 'Bloody,' Carral said. 'Nice colour,' I answered. 'It looks sinful. I bet that was the apple Eve ate, you know, in the Bible, the forbidde…"-Jenny Hval, Paradise Rot
"I'll tell you the fairy tale of the apple. Eve ate the apple, and then Adam came and did so too. Afterwards the apple was forgotten, and it was assumed that it rolled away in the grass while Adam and…"-Jenny Hval, Paradise Rot
9. Penance
By: Eliza Clark
3.90
Format: 336 pages, ebook
Do you know what happened already? Did you know her? Did you see it on the internet? Did you li… read more
Want to Read $ 14.99Similar categories in Eliza Clark's Penance book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- fiction
- horror
- contemporary
- audiobook
"Do you know what happened to her already? Did you catch it in the papers? Are you local? Did you know her? Did you see it on the internet? Did some website the trawls local news for the worst details…"-Eliza Clark, Penance
10. Motherthing
By: Ainslie Hogarth
3.67
Format: 288 pages, Paperback
A darkly funny domestic horror novel about a woman who must take drastic measures to save her husba… read more
Want to Read $ 5.99Similar categories in Ainslie Hogarth's Motherthing book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- audiobook
- horror
- fiction
- contemporary
"Too much human touching will change a thing."-Ainslie Hogarth, Motherthing
"A Good Woman butchers her meat properly, without cruelty."-Ainslie Hogarth, Motherthing
"I can save you. With Secrets of a Famous Chef I can save you."-Ainslie Hogarth, Motherthing
"I bubble again with blinding-hot, spine-severing cumshitkill."-Ainslie Hogarth, Motherthing
11. Earthlings
By: Sayaka Murata
3.60
Format: 247 pages, Hardcover
Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witc… read more
Want to Read $ 2.99Similar categories in Sayaka Murata's Earthlings book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- magical realism
- fiction
- horror
- contemporary
- fantasy
- audiobook
"Sobreviver, haja o que houver."-Sayaka Murata, Earthlings
"O senso comum é uma doença contagiosa e é difícil manter a infecção sozinho."-Sayaka Murata, Earthlings
"I thought that when I grew up society would brainwash me, but it didn't work."-Sayaka Murata, Earthlings
"Até quando eu teria de sobreviver? Será que algum dia poderia apenas viver e não sobreviver?"-Sayaka Murata, Earthlings
12. A Certain Hunger
By: Chelsea G. Summers
3.77
Format: None pages, Audible Audio
Food critic Dorothy Daniels loves what she does. Discerning, meticulous, and very, very smart, Doro… read more
Want to Read $ 10.49Similar categories in Chelsea G. Summers's A Certain Hunger book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- horror
- fiction
- contemporary
"Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac."-Chelsea G. Summers, A Certain Hunger
"I enjoy a man who’s kissed with a yeasty beastliness."-Chelsea G. Summers, A Certain Hunger
"Junk food was rebellion, rebellion was femininity, femininity was junk."-Chelsea G. Summers, A Certain Hunger
"I knew from a young age that motherhood was a cage I never wanted to inhabit."-Chelsea G. Summers, A Certain Hunger
13. Chlorine
By: Jade Song
3.72
Format: 256 pages, Hardcover
In the vein of The Pisces and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between… read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in Jade Song's Chlorine book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- lesbian
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- horror
- fantasy
- queer
"Nearly every human memory is corrupted by the fact that it is a memory of being human"-Jade Song, Chlorine
"Would a mermaid who stays at home, much-loved, with two beautiful parents and loving sisters who share everything, be worth memorializing? No."-Jade Song, Chlorine
"Humans break so easily. They break their bones, their bodies, their hearts. I, too, as a girl, once broke. My head. And when this happened, I, like many other humans, did not allow myself the time an…"-Jade Song, Chlorine
14. Death Valley
By: Melissa Broder
3.49
Format: 240 pages, Hardcover
A woman arrives alone at a Best Western seeking respite from an emptiness that plagues her. She has… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Melissa Broder's Death Valley book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- magical realism
- fiction
- contemporary
- fantasy
- audiobook
"My body is the real problem here. If I could be bodiless - or at least, senseless - I’d be better off."-Melissa Broder, Death Valley
"This is the problem with human relationships: you come to a person with one feeling and they’re having another."-Melissa Broder, Death Valley
"I am going to die out here. I might. I could. Die. All this time I should have been practising for dying. What was I doing instead? Reading reviews for sweatpants."-Melissa Broder, Death Valley
"Stop placing so much value on the known, I tell myself. Fake like this is the hero’s journey. It’s good to get lost. Good for the soul. But how lost is the good amount of lost? If I die here, is that…"-Melissa Broder, Death Valley
15. Brutes
By: Dizz Tate
3.18
Format: 304 pages, Hardcover
The Virgin Suicides meets The Florida Project in this wildly original debut—a coming-of-age story a… read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in Dizz Tate's Brutes book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- fiction
- horror
- contemporary
- audiobook
"to be loved, was just to be watched"-Dizz Tate, Brutes
"We feel chased. It doesn't matter if it's only by our own shadows."-Dizz Tate, Brutes
"and now I think that to humiliate a woman is the only way some men know how to love one."-Dizz Tate, Brutes
"To be loved was just to be watched, or in my case, to imagine you are loved is to imagine you are watched all the time."-Dizz Tate, Brutes
16. Cursed Bread
By: Sophie Mackintosh
3.28
Format: 184 pages, Kindle Edition
From the Man Booker-nominated author of The Water Cure comes an elegant and hypnotic new novel of o… read more
Want to Read $ 8.99Similar categories in Sophie Mackintosh's Cursed Bread book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- fiction
- horror
- contemporary
- audiobook
"Pain becomes an animal, walking at your side. Pain becomes a home you can carry with you."-Sophie Mackintosh, Cursed Bread
"The world is only ever one breach away from being unpeeled entirely, one tragedy, one glimpse behind the curtain."-Sophie Mackintosh, Cursed Bread
"I've been looked at in pity and in fear and I've learned that the only way to really be seen is through desire. To be looked at and found whole. Found alive."-Sophie Mackintosh, Cursed Bread
"I don't want a book, I don't want the trouble of it, he said. I don't want to get involved, I just want to watch what's going on. I know what's going to happen and then it happens, and I can go outsi…"-Sophie Mackintosh, Cursed Bread
17. A Good Happy Girl
By: Marissa Higgins
3.01
Format: 256 pages, Hardcover
A poignant, surprising, and immersive read about a young professional woman pursuing an emotionally… read more
Want to Read $ 14.99Similar categories in Marissa Higgins's A Good Happy Girl book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- lesbian
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- queer
18. Big Swiss
By: Jen Beagin
3.68
Format: 336 pages, Hardcover
Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house is … read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in Jen Beagin's Big Swiss book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- lesbian
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- queer
"¿Habla más de un idioma?"-Jen Beagin, Big Swiss
"You bullied other bullies,"-Jen Beagin, Big Swiss
"she’d always been less of a shit-talker and more of a shit-thinker"-Jen Beagin, Big Swiss
"At least I know where the hell I am and what’s happening. Which way is north?"-Jen Beagin, Big Swiss
19. Boy Parts
By: Eliza Clark
3.77
Format: 304 pages, ebook
Irina obsessively takes explicit photographs of the average-looking men she persuades to model for … read more
Want to Read $ 11.99Similar categories in Eliza Clark's Boy Parts book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- horror
- queer
"Was it my idea to have him hurt me, or did he just let me think it was?"-Eliza Clark, Boy Parts
"My mam always used to tell me that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. And Eddie from Tesco is a fly, but he's got a taste for vinegar. It's like vinegar is all he's ever had from peop…"-Eliza Clark, Boy Parts
"You want to think you're not like other women, but you are, you know. You're still... that's still how the rest of the world, how men are going to see you. Like, I know you hate labels, but you like.…"-Eliza Clark, Boy Parts
"Do you like it rough? I think so. I think I must. Men are rough, aren't they? Have I always had a taste for rough stuff, or did I acquire that? In the back of Lesley's car, on the floor of a friend's…"-Eliza Clark, Boy Parts
20. Milk Fed
By: Melissa Broder
3.57
Format: 304 pages, Hardcover
A scathingly funny, wildly erotic, and fiercely imaginative story about food, sex, and god from the… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Melissa Broder's Milk Fed book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- lesbian
- audiobook
- literary fiction
- lgbt
- fiction
- contemporary
- queer
"This interplay between hope and reality was also a part of the mourning."-Melissa Broder, Milk Fed
"There are emanations of god we can’t even see. What’s important is that you feel it."-Melissa Broder, Milk Fed
"Life was a lot less bleak when you were staring straight down the barrel of a burrito."-Melissa Broder, Milk Fed
"I wanted a love contingent on nothing finite. I wanted a love without end. Everyone was always saying you had to give it to yourself. Self-love, self-love."-Melissa Broder, Milk Fed
21. Ripe
By: Sarah Rose Etter
3.63
Format: 288 pages, Hardcover
A year into her dream job at a cutthroat Silicon Valley startup, Cassie finds herself trapped in a … read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in Sarah Rose Etter's Ripe book and Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot
- literary fiction
- magical realism
- fiction
- contemporary
- fantasy
- audiobook
"The open office floor plan is a form of strangulation."-Sarah Rose Etter, Ripe
"Maybe there must always be two of us—our real selves and the ones we create to survive in the world as it is."-Sarah Rose Etter, Ripe
"When you're young, every part of life seems big and monumental. Once older you can see it for what it is: smaller pieces of a larger game you have no choice but to play."-Sarah Rose Etter, Ripe
"If the brain is elastic and memory is faulty, maybe all of these stories are wrong. Maybe it happened a different way altogether. Maybe I was happy and I just forget that now."-Sarah Rose Etter, Ripe
