Tiffany McDaniel remains the queen of my heart. I will eagerly await (albeit impatiently) the next novel. On the Savage Side was everything I could hope for in a book. New favorite.

This is a dark and twisted story but written in a very poetic way. I found the writing to be beautiful but at times distracting. I think I prefer a grittier style than lyrical prose. This was definitely a gutting story and at times so hard to read but definitely worth picking up.

4.5 stars <3 Tiffany McDaniel has done it again!!
She continues to write some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read while telling such a beautiful, heartbreaking, impactful story. The "interludes" between the chapters (reading from the perspective of the river, the autopsies) were some of my favorite parts of the book and so perfectly woven in.
My two complaints - I wish the writing was toned down a LITTTTTLE bit. Reading such poetry-like writing while, as I mentioned, beautiful, felt like a bit much at times. I also didn't love the twist at the end. Because this wasn't set up like a typical mystery/thriller, I wasn't really expecting one and it felt a little out of place to me tonally-speaking.

Arc and Daffy are sisters who grew up in Chillicothe, Ohio and are surrounded by drug addiction. The book begins with the death of their father, who overdoses. Their mother and aunt are drug addicts, but mamaw milkweed (grandmother) teaches them about hope and life lessons. This book goes back and forth from different time periods. Ultimately, Arc and her friends discover bodies of drug addicted women floating in the river. This book is based on a true story of women found missing and dead in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Basically every trigger exists in this book. Sexual abuse, drug addiction, violence. It was a tough read, to be honest. It didn’t capture my attention like I expected, and was quite exhausting to read.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Knopf publishing for this advance copy in exchange for my review. Tiffany McDaniel’s On the Savage Side is out now for purchase!

It’s really hard to assign this one a star rating, and it should be advised to readers that this one is a really heavy read. It has a ton of 4 and 5 star reviews, but I’m finding myself struggling to give it based on some of the subject material (honestly, it has a ton of triggers - substance abuse, suicide, prostitution, murder, sexual abuse….to just begin). This was also my first time reading anything from Tiffany McDaniel, and while it’s clear she’s a very talented writer, her style is very extended, flowy and full of imagery, with lots of attention to small details. This is a bit different than my preferred style (I’m honestly very plot driven and motivated), so I found myself getting super lost and emotionally charged with the subject matter. I’m fully aware I’m in the minority for not enjoying a lot of this book.

Again, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this advance copy to review and for inspiring me to branch outside of my comfort zone with this one. Readers - check the trigger warnings prior to jumping in to this one.

I don't know how to say it other than this was not for me. I can't enjoy a break story, even with beautiful prose.

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

I don’t really have the words to do this book justice. After reading and loving Betty, I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to read “On the Savage Side” as an eARC.

This book was brutal. I had to put it down and walk away several times because I would get so inside my head. It’s depressing, heavy, and heartbreaking. Even more so than Betty and that’s saying a lot.

McDaniel has such a unique storytelling ability. Her novels are largely character-driven and there’s such a poetic, lyrical style to her writing. “On the Savage Side” is based off of the Chillicothe Six murders which I had never heard of prior.

Generational trauma is something I could go on and on about and I felt McDaniel honed in on this theme. I think this was my first novel that had such focus on addiction and generational trauma and I think it was done really, really well. It’s just enraging that this stuff happens every day. It breaks my heart to think about it.

Daffy and Arc will stay with me for a long time 💔

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you so much to @netgalley @aaknopf for my eARC!

Tiffany McDaniel became a new favorite author for me when I read her incredible book, Betty, so I really looked forward to this new book, On the Savage Side.

This is a passage:

There was beauty, on the wild side. And there was beauty in the women who lived in it.

‘Being a witch doesn't mean wearing a pointed hat, riding a broom or having a wart on your nose. A woman with a power. That's why they set her on fire. They tried to ashes her power, because a woman who says more than she should say, and does more than she should do, is a woman you have to try to silence, and destroy. But there are things that not even fire can destroy. And one of these things is the strength of a woman.

I love that Grandma Mamah Milkwood 💕 is the stability and strength in the lives of her identical twin granddaughter’s Arcade (Arc) and Daffodil (Daffy). She is always telling them stories and trying to teach them to get through life since she knows they are going to need it. She loves them dearly and wants each sister to have a future.

She loves to crochet and speaks of the beautiful side and the back side with the unfinished strands of thread are on. She calls this the Savage Side. She reminds the girls that they live on the Savage Side and she is telling them so they can survive. If you tuck the loose ends into the fabric it then becomes beautiful. This was a powerful message and one the girls often think back to.

She understands each sister is going to need as much help as possible. Both their parents were addicted to heroin and their Dad dies when they are just six. Then they live with their Mom and Aunt Clover who both become prostitutes to sustain their addiction.

By their 10th birthday, a “Spider” is crawling into Arc’s room and she can’t make him go away. Soon she finds that her sister is also getting visits from him. This Spider happens to be a policeman and knows he has the power to abuse them. It starts a downward spiral in their lives. Yet, they are still young enough to be dreaming of life and on each birthday they draw a pair of wings so they can fly away.

As the girls start growing up, they make friends with other girls who also have their own nightmares about spiders, wolves, and rabid dogs to contend with. It becomes harder to not get pulled into escaping the pain for a while and so the girls, too become addicts. Yet, all along we witness these young women support each other and try to clean up so they can have a chance at a beautiful life.

Then bodies start washing up on the river. The most horrific part is you need to be “the right kind of victim” for murders to count. Otherwise, it is easy to forget you every were here at all. This is the message and it is a very disturbing one. I cried for these girls to have a better chance and to be ok. It is horrible that anyone would be so evil as to think you could take someone’s life just because you felt like it and you know nothing is likely to ever happen to you. Just make sure you focus your gaze on girls from the Savage Side.

The writing is so disturbing, but also mesmerizing. This is a Dark Book, yet I was compelled to keep reading it. Tiffany McDaniel has a talent about bringing flawed characters who have lived through so much and making you really care about their fate. It certainly did for me.

This is a character study of women meant not to count in life. It is heartbreaking 💔. This is not a book for everyone. It is not a Mystery.

As much as I loved this book, I gave it 4 Stars because sometimes Tiffany McDaniel’s big, flowery, and poetic writing was just to much of a juxtaposition with the non-stop horror described. I know that was the point, but to have each passage filled with more and more agony, violence, and pain was hard to take in. So, I recommend this book, but do realize this is a sad and harsh look at life. You need to be up for reading that.

This book is somewhat based on the true deaths or disappearances of the Chillicothe Six who were young women found in the river or assumed to have died there. It is a reminder that young women have dreams and their lives always manner. They are daughters, sisters, mothers, and friends. We must never forget this. We need try try harder to stop this from ever occurring.

Thank you NetGalley, Tiffany McDaniel, and Knopf Publishing for granting me a copy of this book. I always leave reviews of books that I read and am happy to do so.

Wow! This book was a LOT and is one that comes with so many trigger warnings - but if you're able to navigate through the heavy heart wrenching topics this was a well done story exploring these hard issues that some individuals experience. The history woven into this story was an additional layer that made for an excellent and captivating read. A story you're rooting for the MC throughout and the end leaving you dizzy to process when it is all done. It's just so well done.

"It is from her that we get our hot skin," Mamaw Milkweed would say, telling my sister and me that we had a touch of the witch in us. "You can't put a woman to fire and expect the flesh of the women after her not to feel that very heat. It is also from her that we dream the future."

holy craaaap THIS BOOK!!!! I LOVED LOVED LOVED it so much. The lyrical writing, the imagery and the heartbreaking and emotional story line?!? my god this was a book written for me!!

I am so enamored and in awe of Tiffany McDaniel's mind. This story never broke from its poetic writing and I just couldn't keep my jaw off the floor when thinking about how she wrote the heaviest scenes with the most beautiful language.

It was definitely a hard read, but one that was worth it. Finding out that this was subtly based on a true story of six missing girls in Ohio made it much heartbreaking and meaningful. I loved the tie ins to the author's Cherokee heritage and thought the story of these women honored the backstory beautifully. This one will stick with me for such a long time and is one that I will recommend to so many people.

I grew up in Ohio and drove through Chillicothe many times as a child. I mainly remember the smell (paper mill). This book deals with deaths/disappearances of the Chillicothe Six – six women who disappeared between the spring of 2014 and the summer of 2015, which I also remember. Many of these young women were drug addicts and sex workers. and drug addicts. Of these six, four were found dead and two have never been found. This book is a work of fiction based on the Chillicothe Six.

This is the story of Arcade and Daffodil, twin sisters growing up in the town of Chillicothe, caught in a family of addiction and prostitution. The twins do not thrive, but they survive, doing what they have to do.

Then bodies of their friends are found floating dead in the Scioto River. The twins must face tiehr past and try to avoid this series killer.

This book is tragic and sad, but so well written. The women in this book endure the worst life has to offer. They encounter family neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. They are all battling drug addiction and turn to prostitution to pay for drugs. When they begin turning up dead, no one seems to care. The police put no time or effort into the investigations, because they are addicts and sex workers. But these women were still important. They were someone's daughter, sister, friend or even mother. Their deaths matter and to see how they were just cast aside is heartbreaking.

A tragic and heartbreaking story, but so fantastically written!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks #netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. This book had high reviews so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, I thought this was boring and unenjoyable. The best part was the beautifully written descriptions of the river. Otherwise, not for me. Don't recommend.

This was a beautifully written book. The author was a magnificent story teller. On the Savage Side is not for the faint heart. The family is incredibly poor, and the main girls really go through it. You follow the book through past and present timelines. This was a hard read, but enjoyable

This novel is beautifully written. There's so much authenticity to the narrator's voice, and the struggles that she endures in her early life are absolutely heartbreaking. It is a very heavy read though. While I wouldn't recommend this book for everyone, it is a stunning work.

This is a such a beautifully written book about addiction and poverty in small town America. It is based off a true story of women killed in Chillicothe, Ohio. Told from the perspective of Arc, of her life in the present and memories from growing up. It’s an emotional and powerful story filled with traumas and heartaches with a twist I did not see coming. If you can look past the difficult subject matter/trigger warnings it’s an eye-opening and thought provoking read.

This one is a hard to rate. It was extremely dark (even for me), but the writing felt like a work of art. I wanted so badly for a glimmer of hope but this book closely resembles reality.

I went into it expecting a mystery about real murders, but it reads a lot more like literary fiction. Parts of it kind of dragged on and the scenes are intense so it’s not for the sensitive.

Thank you to Knopf and Netgalley for the ARC.

Whew, I have a complicated history with this book. I'm a huge fan of this author and was thrilled to be approved for an ARC of this ... and it is so absolutely bleak and depressing while also being beautifully written, while also being overwritten at times, and ugh, I loved and loathed it at the same time.

Twins Arcade and Daffodil grow up in a thick cloud of addiction, abuse, and trauma as they hide under their beds from the johns who come and go from the bedrooms of their mom and aunt. They've lost their addict father and their kind grandmother who gave them hope for a better future.

Unable to break the dark generational cycles, Arcade finds herself supporting an addiction with sex work as women she knows begin to disappear, bodies are found in the river, and a killer moves closer.
It's dark, the beautiful prose just keeps the deeply depressing story going further, and I wanted relief from how horrible and bleak their environment and lives were.

Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. On the Savage Side was released on February 14, 2023.

DNF for me.

Extremely poetic and lyrical. I get that some people really enjoy this style writing, but it kept me from connecting with the story and the characters. Everything felt flowy and metaphorical, I felt I was tripping along with the characters!

When I read this was based on the Chillicothe Six I just assumed it was going to be more mystery/thriller than a book on down trodden women. There is definitely a place for this book, just not with me, or not me today.

The most devastating novel I’ve read since A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Arcade and Daffodil are twin sisters living in Ohio who are muddling through adolescence with a myriad of hardships including drug addiction, prostitution, physical abuse, and rape. McDaniel relegates the mystery elements to the background to add a sinister tone and even more danger lurking. The lighter, hopeful moments are few and far between, but this is such an impactful, heart wrenching story with rich main and secondary characters as well as beautiful literary writing.

Netgalley and the publisher provided this book for review consideration, but all opinions are my own.

While McDaniel’s writing is captivating and her characters are multifaceted and dimensional, the bleakness of the story, mixed with some of the on page content, was too much for me.

I should have checked the explicit content warnings on Storygraph for this one. I got to about 20% and could not finish it.

I’d still recommend it for those who can handle the subject matter.