★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
So, you can tell from the title of this post [on my blog, it's called "A Funeral for Dreams"], that this is not a happy tale. The other big hint along those lines is the author's name. I'm sure that Tiffany McDaniel is perfectly capable of writing a fun romp of a novel—I just have no evidence that she's interested in doing so.

When you do see her name on a cover, you know a few things going in—the book is going to feature some sort of childhood trauma; the beautifully stylized dialogue (that doesn't even pretend to be realistic); and prose that can only be described as gorgeous.

Everything else may differ from book to book, but the above are pretty much a given at this point.

WHAT'S ON THE SAVAGE SIDE ABOUT?
We meet 6-year-old twin sisters Arc and Daffy on the day their father died. Believe it or not, this is likely the best their life is going to be for the rest of this book. They spend most of their childhood in a home with their mother and aunt (I'm very carefully not saying they were raised by their mother and aunt), prostitutes who spend what little money they have on drugs—heroin, primarily. There are brief periods where the children are taken care of by their grandmother—who is kind, loving, and able to take care of them—but those are brief.

We see them age—struggling to separate themselves from their mother and aunt, and eventually following in their footsteps in addiction and profession. As adults, Arc's focus is her (more fragile) sister's safety and well-being. It's because of Daffy that she finds a rehab facility, there's a (probable) serial killer out there leaving women's bodies in the river, and Arc is determined to not let Daffy become the next. Hopefully, she can prevent her friends from being the next, too.

Interspersed with chapters describing their lives (with some time jumping involved), we get some selections from their mother's diary—back when she was capable of keeping one. We see her struggle with addiction and knowing the danger she poses to her daughters (and I was so glad when the book gave us that—it was the first maternal action I saw from her, but we didn't get to see it for a long time).

We also get chapters describing the point-of-view of the river that flows near their town. How it reacts to being where the bodies of women are discarded, along with its thoughts on other things as well. It's these chapters—particularly early on—that give the novel its depth and perspective. It feels to me like those chapters are McDaniels speaking with the least amount of artifice. The river feels like her voice unfiltered through the devices she uses the rest of the time.

CHILLICOTHE, OHIO
Until I started this book, I knew Chillicothe, Ohio as the birthplace of Archie Goodwin of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books. I half-assumed it was a fictional location, and never bothered to look it up. Now I know that it exists, and I'm going to have a hard time reestablishing the positive associations I had with the name. It feels like a great place to be from, not a great place to be. I'm sure that it's a perfectly fine place in reality, but the small city does not come across very well in these pages.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT ON THE SAVAGE SIDE?
This was just a brutal read. Every time you get a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of a feeling that things might be okay for some of these characters—something snuffs it out. But there's another source right around the corner. But, to go back to that line from the novel I borrowed above—the book is full of funerals for dreams.

But there's beauty in the darkness. And a drive to keep persevering shared by the reader and the characters. I wondered more than once why some of them kept trying—but they did. The mother of one of Arc's adult friends is a strong vision of enduring love and hope—she's always ready to help her daughter no matter how tight the grip of addiction is on her at the time. She's always trying, always striving to give her daughter the care she needs—even when (especially when) there's no reason to think it'll do any good.

I mentioned a serial killer above—it's not a serial killer novel, though. It's a novel about the women that may be his target and their fears about it. But people looking for a Thomas Harris read will be disappointed. Actually, people looking for most things you find in typical novels will be disappointed. Many of the looming questions in our characters' lives are left unanswered. But you don't walk away frustrated that you don't get the answers like you would from other novels—because we're given answers to questions we never thought to ask. Some of those are more important, too.

Like always, Tiffany McDaniels delivered a book that's going to stay in my subconscious for a while—lurking there, making me rethink what I read from time to time. It'll probably stay there until her next novel comes along (Betty's been there for a couple of years, and really only was dislodged by this one—and The Summer that Melted Everything is still there all these years later). It's somber, it's sober, and it's difficult to read. But it's so worth it in ways I cannot adequately explain. It'll make you think. It'll make you feel.

I'm having a hard time articulating exactly why you should read this without getting into the details—if you've read McDaniels before, you know what I'm saying. If you haven't—it's time to.

Tiffany McDaniel wrote a heart wrenching novel that exposes what it is like to face addiction each day and what depths one has to go to in order to feed that addiction. This story follows a fictional retelling from the women known as the Chillicothe Six. This story has gorgeous writing but it is an absolutely haunting story. McDaniel does a wonderful job portraying what it is like to be born “on the savage side”. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite how hard the content was to read.

On the Savage Side is a thriller that Tiffany McDaniel loosely based off the true story of the Chillicothe Six from Chillicothe Ohio. This novel follows twins Arcade and Daffodil as they grow up in a small town in the Appalachia’s through the 80’s and 90’s. These twin girls battle abuse, poverty, and generational trauma that led their lives down the road to addiction. When the girls are older and in their early 20’s women in their friend circle start to go missing and their bodies begin turning up in the river. Sadly, no one notices or cares. The police force and the locals thought that they were drug addicted prostitutes and that they didn’t deserve the right to be investigated fully, it was swept under the rug. Once Daffy goes missing, Arcade begins the search for her missing sister through confrontation while battling her own demons and dark secrets

As a reader that grew up in a small Appalachian town there were some parts of this story that made me long for home. The way McDaniel personified the river and the forest as a woman almost moved me to tears. She captured the essence of what it is truly like to grow up in the area through the superstitions and hill magic of the character Mamaw Milkweed. However she didn’t shy away from the darker side of the area. The substance abuse crises that has tormented this beautiful land for decades. This novel showcased generational trauma and the effect that addiction has on future generations that is often shied away from. Throughout this story you couldn’t help but to root for these characters. You are able to see parts of yourself, or parts of someone that you love in the women written about in this book. You realize that they had hopes and dreams beyond that town and the needle, they just didn’t have a fighting chance.

I highly recommend this book. I will say that it isn’t for everyone due to the heavy content and the trigger warnings that I have mentioned below. It was thought provoking and could be used as a wake up call for women living on the “savage side” or for a call of action for the true Chillicothe Six to get the justice that they deserve. These women were mothers, sisters, wives, and friends.

Trigger warnings; heavy drug use, Child sexual assault, sexual assault, child death

“For all the things I have dug up, no one has come close to digging up me.”

Wow, what a your de force. I know people use that term pretty liberally, but nowhere else is it more apt than with McDaniel’s latest. This is a story inspired by the unsolved murders of women, yes, and have no doubt, those murders come across on those pages here, but at its heart, this the story of two sisters, twins who are halves of the same whole and who find themselves struggling against the world trying to snuff them out.

“The first sin was believing we would never die. The second sin was believing we were alive in the first place.”

Beware of the TWs as this provides an unapologetic and honest view into the realities of so many women, but especially those in small and poor towns. Used, abused, addicted to drugs and very often, murdered.

“PROBABLE CAUSE OF DEATH: Being a woman.”

So many of the passages were truly agonizing to read through. They’re important because they lend voice to the violence wrought upon women and girls, at the legacy and scars generational and family trauma can have.

“Who do you tell about the demons when the demons are the ones who you tell?”

While we follow Daffy and Arc from girls to adult women, what strikes me is all the ways they try to escape, how they try to rewrite the world around them. Theres moments of joy and love and hope, yet all too often, those are surrounded by their bleak reality crashing in. I don’t want to go too much into any plot points or events as truly this is just best experienced reading it yourself.

Not an easy read and not one to binge, the writing, structure, and storytelling is masterful. Though I do think this was a bit too long given how heavy it is, this will for sure top many best of lists.

Thank you pengruin randomhouse and prhaudio for my galley and ALC! The audio is mesmerizing and magical.

Whew. These characters came alive on the page - women who are often disregarded, disrespected, disparaged, and displaced. I kept putting this one down thinking it was too much for me to handle - and the next day I would pick it back up because of the concern and admiration and respect I had for the twin sisters in this book. McDaniel forces to NOT look away - to see what life is like - to smell it and see it and feel it. Heartfelt thanks to Knopf for sending me an advanced copy - this was something to experience.

"In life, there is a savage side and a beautiful side."

"Wings were the one gift we kept giving ourselves. Each year we would draw them with more feathers, hoping they would be big enough to be real. No matter how hard we wished, or how large we drew the wings, we never got more than a foot off the ground, the highest we could jump on any given day."

On the Savage Side is a dark, raw, and heartbreaking literary novel that leaves you speechless. I have read all of McDaniel's books and know going in it's going to be a very difficult book to read. On the Savage Side explores the past and present lives of 20 year old female twins Daffy and Arc. Once again McDaniel develops her characters in exquisite detail and weaves their stories effortlessly with such grace among these pages.

McDaniel continues to impress me novel after novel. After finishing this novel I felt empty and a piece of my heart was broken. I shed a few tears as the night wore on after finishing the book, realizing the amount of power and beauty this book had over me. This book will stay with me for a long time.

On the Savage Side is about the spiders that crawl within us and around us all the time. I help fight to get those spiders off the streets as a social worker. I haven't felt so connected to a story in a long time. Thank you Tiffany McDaniel.... I needed to be connected to a book again like this.

The poetry and lyrical beauty behind every word McDaniel writes will leave you breathless. This book was phenomenal and is by far one of my favorites for 2023.

Read THIS BOOK

5/5 stars

Thank you so much to Knopf and netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Tiffany McDaniel has once again opened my eyes, blown my mind, and broken my heart. Her latest, ON THE SAVAGE SIDE, is another example of her talent and skill in writing and telling a story. She cannot be bound into a single genre; her stories contain everything. The lives and power she gives her characters in this book is something unparalleled. I think this book will actually haunt me for years to come... and I'm not mad about it! This book will strike up emotions in you that you never knew possible. It is going to be one of the best books of the year!

After reading Betty, I didn't think McDaniel could match or exceed the heart felt passion and strong message. I was wrong.
There is so much in this book to make you wonder and think well after the final words.
It's strong where it needs to be strong, and vulnerable where it needs to be vulnerable.
It's a pretty involved book, so be ready to be enthralled with it until the end.
I'm going to leave it at that and let you discover this on your own.
Highly recommended.

Gritty, dark, and poetic, On the Savage Side is bound to be one of my most difficult, haunting reads of 2023. Even as I write this review, I am not certain how to rate this beautiful, horrible novel!

This is the story of identical twins, Arc and Daffy, and the women who surround them throughout their lives. Based loosely on the Chillicothe Six murders, Arc and Daffy bear witness to the horrors and dangers of addiction, prostitution and abuse, as they realize that the murders are left mostly uninvestigated and unsolved. The writing is beautiful, with many quotable passages, and written from the river's point of view at times. Simultaneously hopeful and devastating, On the Savage Side is not an easy read, wonderful though it may be.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for the digital ARC of On the Savage Side. The opinions in this review are my own.

I’m not sure I’m the target audience for this title. With that being said, it’s written very well and it’s clear the author has a poetic prose to her writing. There are many beautiful descriptions (specifically the afghan their grandmother knits with them). However, I found Myself not caring what happened in certain points of the book. Mama and aunt Clover were awful, almost unbearable to read. Which was maybe the point, I just Didn’t find it enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of this book.

“In life there is a savage side and beautiful side.” This book depicts the horrible life of addiction better than any other I’ve read. These missing/murdered woman are not even looked for by the police but they are someone’s daughters, sisters, friends and loved. Definitely a hard read but so fully captures the engulfing and crazy story of addiction. Characters are developed so well, did have some lengthy descriptive sections, also a twist towards the end that was hard to wrap your head around. Definitely recommend.

Loosely inspired by a series of unsolved murders in Chillicothe, Ohio between 2013 and 2015 On the Savage Side< is not the true crime novel or mystery-thriller it's being categorized as, it is instead the story of twin sisters, Arc and Daffy, beginning in 1979 as they navigate a world ravaged by poverty, addiction, violence, and loss, as too many women's stories are.

Told with Tiffany McDaniel's trademark lyrical prose and infusion of earthy magic, Arc and Daffy's story is a terribly beautiful tragedy shot through with despair, brimming with love, manifested of empathy for those ignored, discarded, rejected by society. McDaniel's intention is clear: to breathe humanity into these victims, to frame them as people, mothers, sisters, daughters, friends, people worthy of being considered and missed. Just brilliant.

I've been a Tiffany McDaniel fan since The Summer that Melted Everything. Betty promoted her to potential favorite author status. On the Savage Side cemented that legacy; consider me a devoted disciple from here on out.

I almost stopped reading this book several times. Not gonna lie...it's brutal and disturbing, emotionally heavy and heartbreaking, full of all the horrible aspects of drug abuse that most of us remain ignorant of or choose to ignore. But it's also beautifully and brilliantly written and a story that will stay with you long after finishing. I think anyone who reads this will be less judgemental and more compassionate of people suffering from addiction and those who love them. Kudos to Tiffany McDaniel for such an impactful work of art! My thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy of this book through NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.

4.5/5 stars! I have a huge true crime junkie, so when I heard that this book was loosely based off of the Chillicothe Six, I couldn't wait to read it. Generational trauma is another hot topic in books for me, so the premise set this up to be an amazing book. There is a lot of heavy information in this story, so not all readers will feel comfortable immersing into that darkness. However, the story worked for me. I have read other stories based on real-life events so I appreciated the world-building and background information. Overall, it was a captivating read, but for a specific audience.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

This is a beautifully written, heart wrenching story of twins Arcade (Arc) and Farren (Daffy), from their childhood, to adults. Arc and Daffy's hopes and dreams were shattered early in their childhood, yet they did their best to cope and survive. The book is loosely based on the tragic, unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, in Ohio. The characters created by Tiffany McDaniel to represent the women in the actual case are some of the most memorable I have ever read. She has brought the characters vividly to life and brings understanding to those women and children who live on the edges of life, surrounded by poverty, addiction and prostitution, as well as their will to survive and support each other. The book is narrated by Arc, with most chapters beginning with a short poem by Daffy, "Daffodil Poet". It is a book that is both hard to put down, yet at times, difficult to read. Tiffany McDaniel's writing style is unique, poetic, and very profound. I absolutely loved the book. Thank you to Netgalley, Knopf publishing and the author for my advance copy. The opinions in the review are my own.

This book is loosely based on a true story, which I love true crime, so it will give you chills. I couldn't read fast enough it was so good. This is a can't miss book, you have to read it. I would give it 6 stars if I could.

I just reviewed On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel. #OntheSavageSide #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL

This book, though fictional, has drawn inspiration from the true story of women
who were killed in Chillicothe, Ohio. It is a novel of deep heartache, family
tragedy, and the effect of neglect over nurture during childhood. This book is a
testament to the power of women and the importance of surrounding yourself
with people who love and support each other. It is quite a tough subject matter to
maneuver around, with trigger warnings for drug use, sexual abuse, domestic
violence, and death.

Tiffany McDaniel’s writing style is incomparable – she writes so beautifully about
such horrific experiences that it oftentimes makes what should be a hard-to-read
story into a fast-paced read. This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is
absolutely recommended for all fiction lovers, with elements of crime included.
This book brings a sense of humanity to the ravages of addiction and is as
important as it is timely.

**************This will hands down be my FAVORITE read of 2023. On the Savage Side will be be one of my top 5 favorite books of my reading career so far. What a perfect title for an outstanding book.

“In life, there is a savage side and a beautiful side. But what’s on the beautiful side? What makes you happiest.” “We live on the savage side girls. That’s why I’m telling you this, so you can survive it.” “You can make the savage side beautiful.”Mamaw Milkweed, Daffy and Arc’s grandmother is the only good person in their lives and she tries to teach them how to turn the savage side beautiful.

“ A needle is a needle. And you know what? When it’s inside you, it does turn the savage side beautiful.”

“We’re half of the same remember? I can’t take your half. You can’t take mine, or one of us won’t exist no more.”

Tiffany McDaniel, there is not an author that can top your poetic writing style. I wish I could include every one of my favorite lines from your book in my review but that would mean I would be quoting almost the entire book. On the Savage Side is inspired by the true unsolved murders of the Chillicothe six which took place in 2015. Today there is still one girl missing and the murders have not been solved.

I have never read anything like this, something written so poetically, so beautifully yet the storyline is so heartbreaking, heart wrenching and so devastating.

The Chillicothe Queens, Arcade and Daffy twin sisters, Sage Nell, Violet, Harlow, Indigo and Thursday, most importantly, are beautiful, spirited girls first, drug addicts and prostitutes second. Being born to drug addicted parents in a town in the Appalachian mountains make them victims of their circumstances. Who they truly are, and what they must be remembered for is being brave and courageous mothers, daughters, sisters and friends. They should be valued and heard and seen yet they are women who are not cared about.

Tiffany McDaniel wrote this book for all the missing women in the world in hopes that they will never be forgotten. I will never forget the Chillicothe Queens now that I have read this book. This book has given me a different perspective on what leads women to become prostitutes and drug addicts and to have compassion for them.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

unfortunately dnf around 25%. I do not find myself connecting with the story or the characters. I appreciate the arc being given from net galley

this is my honest review.

Such a beautifully written book that was very sad and heartbreaking. This was a great book! If you like Betty, I think you’ll like this one as well. Can’t wait to read Tiffany McDaniel’s next book.