I had read a huge mix of reviews about this before i went in and also not having read any of her work before I really didn't know what to expect.

I'm still trying to work out what I actually think , I didn't not like it but also I didn't feel overly gripped by it. It's a hard hitting story dealing with very deep topics , abuse, addiction, violence , and it wasn't so much the content that put me off but more the fact that it took so long to get going , 40% in and i felt a bit bored . It flips between childhood and adulthood and although I thought the writing was good it just seemed very padded out and way too long, chapters could easily be skipped and not noticed.

I wanted to feel intrigued and hooked but it was a bit of a chore towards the end . I do think it could have been more me though than the book and wrong timing , probably not the best to pick up when the sun is out and you're thinking of summer happiness!

It hasn't put me off reading other work by McDaniel as she is clearly a talented writer

On The Savage Side....I don't even know what to say. This is the story of twin sisters, Daffy and Arc, who live in Chillicothe, Ohio. It's the story of life in Chillocothe and so many towns in the US. Addiction claimed their family and they try to figure out how to live. They do what it takes to get by along with their friends. They are saved, for while, by their maternal grandmother, Mamaw Milkweed. Tiffany McDaniel is a writer of beautiful words and she puts them together so well. My usual adjectives don't apply this time....compelling, pleasant, enjoyable....not. It's hard to read and I didn't like it until it was over. Painful and hard to read..yes. But, it is powerful. I sense a movie in the future. So worth the read, but don't expect to enjoy it.

On the Savage Side is the type of book that grabs you in a chokehold and refuses to let go, even after you’ve turned the final page. I fell in love with Tiffany McDaniel’s writing back when I first read Betty, and she continues to amaze me.‘On the Savage Side’ is a book that is hard to read at times, and also difficult to put down. There’s no way that I could give this book a proper review, it’s one that you need to read for yourself and just absorb every word. This is a story that is based and inspired on the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six in Ohio, between 2014-2015. We are shown the unfavorable treatment and conditions for the women of this town. Twin sisters Daffodil (Daffy) and Arcade (Arc) grow up in Chillicothe, Ohio, raised by their grandmother who makes do with very little and loves them both very much. When she dies, the twins are left to the fates of too many young indigenous girls-- to be raised by addicted guardians and abused by the people they associate with. This is such a heavy, dark read, but the writing is light and lyrical and just amazing. My favorite things about this author are her writing style and her character development and this book was no different!

This book grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go. Read it if you want a deep story with dark themes including addiction, trauma, and abuse.

On the Savage Side: by Tiffany McDaniel

Arcade and Daffodil are twins born one minute apart. With their fiery red hair and thirst for escape, they form an unbreakable bond nurtured by their grandmother’s stories. Together, they disappear into their imaginations and forge a world all their own.

But what the two sisters can’t escape are the generational ghosts that haunt their family. Growing up in the shadow of their rural Ohio town, the sisters cling tightly to one another. Years later, Arcade wrestles with the memories of her early life, just as a local woman is discovered drowned in the river. Soon, more bodies are found. As her friends disappear around her, Arcade is forced to reckon with the past while the killer circles closer. Arcade’s promise to keep herself and her sister safe becomes increasingly desperate and the powerful riptide of the savage side becomes more difficult to survive.

Out now!

This one wasn't for me. I love a beautifully written book, don't get me wrong, but this one veered into unnecessarily complicated purple prose so often that it distracted from the forward trajectory of the plot. A middle of the road read.

I really wanted to love this book and the subject matter is right up my alley. However I get lost in the flowery writing and find myself rereading paragraphs to make sense of the story. I ended up DNFing at 30% but I definitely think it's a me problem. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review an early copy and I am truly enjoying the reviews from people who have loved this book.

I loved this novel in its craft of a compelling and heartbreaking sibling dynamic, consideration of true crime, and its ingenuity of form in telling the stories of the murdered women at the heart of the story. I interviewed Tiffany for my literary fiction podcast Reading the Room. https://youtu.be/UkNEATx0y7M

Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf and Netgalleyfor this arc. I was really afraid to start but then I got an reccomandation and I started. And I could not put it down. How much is hidden and how much revealed. I needed a book to laern something else. It hurts but on the other hand it is something you must know

What a journey Tiffany McDaniel takes you on. Her writing is beautiful, but the trauma the characters endure is horrific and gut-wrenching,

We are with Arcade and Daffodil, or Arc and Daffy, twin sisters. They anchor the story of the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six in Ohio. As it jumps between the present and the sister's past, we hear from the "river" as another character where these women are dumped.

Again, it was difficult to be with these characters, but the skill McDaniel uses to tell these stories is tenderness and care.

*DNF*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley for an honest review.

This one wasn't for me. I chose to DNF.

It isn’t very often that I come across a book so honest and dark that it affects me in such a staggeringly emotional way. On the Savage Side is a powerhouse of a novel that will leave readers speechless. Focusing on generational addiction and poverty, On the Savage Side depicts what it is like for women who are too often discarded by society.

The novel follows Arcade and Daffodil, twin sisters who have witnessed addiction from a young age, and soon find that they unsafe in a town where women are going missing. Inspired by the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, On the Savage Side tells a story centered around women and the ways they are left vulnerable in a cruel world.

Truthfully I often found myself putting this book aside because it was incredibly heavy to read. The writing and detail were so powerful that I could feel the impact it was having on me while I read. Honest and raw, this packed a punch that even I could not have expected.

While emotional, On the Savage Side is also an important depiction of how addiction consumes a person but should not dehumanize them. Seeing the lives of Arcade and Daffodil spread out on the pages really highlights how the treatment of young girls and women can completely throw their lives off course and cause irreparable damage. This is one book that will stay with me for a while.

Sadly not my favorite from Tiffany McDaniel's books. Still it tackles an incredible important and sad subject that I feel like people will connect to.

DNF @ 34% - This book is excessively dark and bleak, and when a danger noodle (that's right, I don't even like saying/typing the actual word, that's how bad my phobia is) showed up, I was like NOPE! I'm done!

At 34% in they haven't even BEGUN to think about or investigate what happened to the first murdered girl that was found.

Pet peeve: Why is the lipstick on the [US] cover not the same as the way they way their lipstick in the book? (One paints her top lip, the other the bottom lip - not halved vertically as in the cover image).

That being said, at 10% I noted that the author has a very poetic way of writing, and then just now I find out that Tiffany McDaniel is an actual poet. I guess that makes perfect sense then! Her writing style is really beautiful, but I just couldn't get into the bleak story. It's pretty brilliant juxtaposition actually, to have such beautiful writing and wording, for such a sad, dark story.

LOVE! I’ll always read anything Tiffany McDaniel writes. Without giving much away, this book was unputdownable and really shines a light on some important topics especially concerning the treatment of indigenous women. The writing itself is so lyrical and engrossing. 10/10 must read!

This book!! Oh my gosh! I had no idea what was going on and then when I did?? Crazy and such a ride. It was so well written and the story it tells of these missing girls is just haunting. The characters are so well developed and I could just feel all their emotions.
Go into this one without reading too much about it until you’ve finished. The fact that it’s based on true events is even more harrowing.

This is my second book by this author as I had previously read Betty, which I loved.
This offering is similar in its relentless misfortune, and there is no doubt that Tiffany McDaniel is a great writer. This follows twins Daffy and Arc Doggs, in a small town in Ohio, and was inspired by the real-life unsolved murders of six women known as the Chillicothe Six.
It went a bit overboard in trying to be lyrical and surreal with the way the characters all spoke, but it was mostly a beautiful and tragic story , humanising addiction, poverty and trauma.
It is a hard read with many trigger warnings, but McDaniels poetic prose keeps you reading even while things are bleak. Not as good as Betty but I would still recommend as long as you know the subject matter.
Thanks to Netgalley for the arc.

On the Savage Side is a novel about twin sisters, Arcade and Daffodil, who are born to addicts. During their childhood, they are often pulled away from that environment by their loving grandmother – a woman full of love and stories. After a tragic accident that leaves their grandmother dead, the girls are forced back into their home with their parents and aunt and enter the cycle of generational poverty and addiction. Arc and Daffy are working the streets of Chillicothe when the first woman is found dead in the river. One by one, their friends start to disappear and Arc becomes increasingly desperate to save her sister and herself.

This novel left me utterly gutted. It is tragic and bleak and heart-wrenching. McDaniel’s lyrical prose paints a landscape that is beautiful in its brutality and characters who are unforgettable. On the Savage Side pulls no punches and details what life is like for the women who we like to forget exist in our society. The women who we look down upon because of poverty and addiction. The women who are someone to somebody, but whose disappearances and assaults go unsolved because of their station in life.

While this is the most devastating coming-of-age tale that I have ever read, I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a difficult read, but well worth the investment of your time.

As many have pointed out, On the Savage Side is a completely different read than Betty. Every content warning possible exists within these pages - it is a dark story about two sisters - Arc & Daffy - based on the very real unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six (six women who were murdered and found in a river, never resolved).

Arc & Daffy are born to two parents struggling with heroin addiction, battling poverty, neglect and abuse, ultimately falling into their own cycle of addiction, too. What I found most poignant about this story is the way that McDaniel narrated a complex, beautiful and poetic inner life for Arc & Daffy - while their external circumstances might be easily judged by society, there was so much more to these characters. In reading some interviews, this is what inspired McDaniel's writing - that ignorant, reductive logic around the life of women who are forced to sell sex inhibited the resolution of the Chillicothe Six.

Structurally, I found the first half a bit of a slog to get through. Part of what I loved about this read is also what made it challenging - sprinkling poetic prose and deep, symbolic reflections amidst the actual story, was challenging. BUT, I'm glad I stuck with it, because THAT TWIST!

2 stars. Very hard time connecting with the characters and storyline. Writing lacked flow and felt choppy. Extremely depressing plot that I couldn’t connect with because I didn’t have an investment in the characters. May be a timing issue. Might try this again another time as I have loved this authors previous work.

Wow, the sadness in this book is relentless.

After seeing the premise and initial reviews of ON THE SAVAGE SIDE, I thought it had the potential to be a 2023 favorite. Unfortunately, this won’t be the case for me, but I am glad I read it. While it’s been over a month since I finished, I still find myself unable to put my finger on why exactly it wasn’t able to cross the bridge from “enjoyed” to “loved.” I did, however, love McDaniel’s atmospheric writing and will be adding her debut, BETTY, to my TBR list based on her excellence at setting and creating a sense of place in ON THE SAVAGE SIDE. I was able to vividly picture each scene in my head while reading.

I believe one of the reasons I didn’t end up loving this is because I was expecting a different type of story and actually didn’t like the “twist” revealed at the end. To me, this twist did not fit well with the rest of the story. This book is also incredibly sad, and I don’t believe the reader is left with any sort of redemption or hope at the end. The sadness didn’t particularly bother me (it was the point of the story), but this is most definitely not for sensitive readers.

Content warning: basically everything you’d need a warning for.