I stopped reading Brat at 64%. I did it on audio as well, I thought it was too meandering and the skin peeling was a bit much for effect. I didn't like the stories within stories and felt it didnt really go anywhere.

I feel like this book was way too strange for me to like it. Maybe I just didn't understand the vibes? I can see other people liking it, but it's a no from me dawg

Gabriel Smith’s *Brat* is a daring, genre-bending novel that takes readers on a surreal journey through grief, family, and the haunting remnants of the past. The protagonist, Gabriel, is the epitome of an anti-hero, unlikable yet strangely compelling as he stumbles through the wreckage of his life following his father’s death and a painful breakup. Moving back into his parents’ dilapidated house, he’s supposed to clean it out, but instead, he spirals deeper into his own decay—both physical and mental.

Smith’s writing crackles with dark humor and gothic elements, creating a narrative that is both unsettling and absurd. The decaying house becomes a physical manifestation of Gabriel’s internal disintegration, with large sheets of his skin peeling away as if he’s literally shedding his old self. The novel plays with reality, blending fragments of fiction and memory into a nightmarish tapestry where nothing is as it seems.

The embedded fictions within the story—manuscripts left behind by Gabriel’s parents that mutate upon reading, and a strange home video—add layers of mystery and unease, pulling the reader into a world where the lines between the past and present, the real and the imagined, are constantly shifting.

*Brat* is not just a ghost story or a tale of grief; it’s a commentary on the messiness of life itself. Gabriel’s struggles, his inability to live up to expectations—both his own and those imposed by others—resonate with a sense of alienation that feels deeply contemporary. The novel’s blend of gothic horror, deadpan humor, and autofictional elements makes it a unique and compelling read.

Gabriel Smith’s debut marks him as a bold new voice in fiction, unafraid to push boundaries and challenge readers’ expectations. *Brat* is a novel that refuses to fit neatly into any one genre, instead creating its own space where the absurdity of life and the weight of inheritance collide in a beautifully chaotic way. If you’re looking for a book that will linger in your mind long after you’ve finished reading, *Brat* is it.

Not my cup of tea, unfortunately. The style of narration/dialogue felt lazy and dull. The stories within the story made the whole thing a jumbled mess that left me, ultimately, uninterested.

Thank you for the publisher for letting me read Brat before being published. I thought I would end up liking Brat more that I did, but the style was a little odd to keep me in the loop of what was going on at any time. I may just not be the target reader of this book, but if you love bizarre horror I’d definitely pick it up.

THIS is the brat summer we were promised. I found this book haunting, hard to read, and very, very lovely. It's very, very weird, and fitting, given the title.

quick, atmospheric, a little confusing - but i overall really enjoyed this debut from Smith. everything’s kinda falling apart for our narrator but it still keeps a quirky sense of humor and the body horror was really well done, although i wish it went a little further.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Sometimes, you read a book about a person who is about to smash into rock bottom but isn’t quite there yet. In some ways, I read this as I, too, was hovering over that place just before rock bottom (not quite, of course, and definitely not in the same ways as Gabriel, but I digress), and that made for an interesting read. This was because I definitely wanted to keep a certain distance from Gabriel, and there was only so much emotion I could spare him. Gabriel is a brat and requires a certain amount of patience, but he’s also genuinely going through it. Also, you know, he’s being haunted.

I think I was into what Smith is trying to do overall here, but it was still a little difficult for me to get into, in part because I found the prose a little too simplistic. There were some very lovely lines, but on the whole it felt a little too staccato for me. It is a good study on loss and grief, and I think the surreal aspects were well done. The mix of autofiction and gothic story was very interesting and at times this was quite funny. Still, I don’t quite think this one stuck the landing, and it could’ve done more for me.

I hated this book almost from the first paragraph, but I kept reading thinking that everything would come together at some point, and therefore the story would make a surreal sense. But it didn't, so it doesn't.

I would love to know if anyone found anything interesting or readable about this. I'm straining my brain, but I can't think of anything. From the painfully labored sentences, to the inexplicable characters, to the senseless plot, to the completely gross descriptions of losing skin, this book was an epic fail. Netgalley gave me an early copy that I almost forgot about. I wish this one had stayed forgotten.

weird as hell!!!!!!

thank you penguin press and netgalley for the arc!!

i started reading this one evening while i was eating dinner and i got so grossed out that i had to put the book down LOL and that is the way you start a horror novel!! if you can even call it a horror novel. brat is a haunted house novel meets fragmented autofiction meets comedic grief meets...fever dream??

narrator gabriel is tasked with cleaning out his parents' house for sale in the wake of his father's death and mother's relocation to a nursing home. while dealing with fraught sibling dynamics and recovering from a recent breakup, gabriel begins experiencing physical and mental deterioration as reality begins crumbling around him, too.

i adored the way this book plays with form. we gets snippets of manuscripts and tv scripts that break up what is "real." the fragmented nature also really kept things moving; i found it difficult to put the book down. the tone is somehow light while also carrying an overwhelming sense of dread the entire time? so weird and creepy but also funny and unserious.

i had a fun time here. i often struggle with books in the thriller genre because i don't like an unreliable narrator. here, though, it really worked for me. something about the nonsensical nature of what narrator gabriel is experiencing mixed with the way author gabriel so deftly writes reality slipping away makes for a really unsettling yet gripping vibe.

simply put, this book is ODD. i have not read anything like it, and i won't read anything else like it again. what a weird time!!

An example of hype and marketing building up big expectations that don’t always land.

This book has been pushed as “the wildest book of the year,” but does it deliver? Many would say yes, as I’ve seen plenty of love from other readers. But being someone who adores the weird, repulsive realism genre, this was just okay for me. I wanted more. Expectations were set that this was going to be THE craziest literary ride. Though it ended up being a little too tame and often felt like it had been done before.

What it does well is explore grief and speak to the struggles of how we navigate complicated emotions amongst other people’s expectations of how we should be doing it.

First off, thanks to the publisher via NetGalley for a copy of this book. I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but sadly, that's not the case.

It follows the story of Gabriel, whose skin starts peeling off like a snake as he attempts to keep his father's house that is falling apart while his mother is in a care home. There is also a series of manuscripts and tapes that also keep telling a story that is eerily similar to his own life, but they keep changing.

It's an interesting concept that could have some neat thematic leeway, but the main character is insufferable, and the prose is tedious. Could have done without the frequent use of ableist, misogynistic, and homophobic language that never really seems to serve any purpose as well. There are also lots of things that never really get resolved. Frankly, it feels like it's trying to be weird for the sake of being weird and feels very outdated. Would have been better as a short novella, I think. It needs tightening.

Regular visitors to The Horror Bookshelf know that one of my goals when I relaunched the site was that in addition to reviewing I wanted to actively search out and spotlight debut authors. One of the reasons was the thrill of discovery, but another reason was to hopefully expand my exposure to other styles. As a horror obsessive and someone embarking on their own writing journey, one of the best things to do along with writing is to read as much as possible and as widely as possible. I’ve taken that advice to heart and am always on the search for books that aren’t afraid to push the boundaries of what is considered horror and the conventions of the traditional novel. There are so many examples, but I first fell in love with that mode of storytelling through Mark Z. Danielewsi’s House of Leaves and then Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams’collaboration S. So when I first started hearing the buzz floating around Gabriel Smith’s Brat, I was immediately intrigued. 

Brat introduces readers to the book's protagonist Gabriel at a low point in his life. He’s getting checked out after getting his ass handed to him by his fourteen-year-old nephew, his father’s just passed away, his girlfriend left him, and he’s dodging his editors after receiving his advance months ago with no progress to show on his second novel. Then there’s the matter of the seemingly harmless eczema diagnosis that leads to sheets of his skin peeling off his body. Feeling aimless and with his life crumbling around him, when Gabriel’s sister-in-law suggests he help get his parent’s house ready for sale, he jumps at the chance to leave London. He has no intentions of selling the house, but the prospect of not paying rent intrigues him.

However, Gabriel’s escape to the countryside only plunges his life further into chaos. As his skin condition worsens and the sheets peeling off his body become larger and occur more frequently, he notices the house is slowly being overrun with mold. As he navigates the house, he discovers curious mysteries, including bizarre manuscripts from his parents that lead him on a quest to uncover family secrets. Then there is the mysterious figure that Gabriel keeps spotting lurking around the property….

After reading Brat and sitting with it for a few days, I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it. Part of it has to do with my own expectations about the book before I even started it. When I first read the synopsis, it seemed like a novel that promised psychedelic scares, creepiness, and a vast array of genre-hopping. Brat does deliver a bit of genre-hopping since it blends autofiction with traditional gothic elements, but the sense of dread and unease that I eagerly anticipated was non-existent. Instead, the scenes of Gabriel’s skin peeling off and the mystery surrounding the manuscripts and videos found throughout the house, while adding a pleasant touch of strangeness, never seem to bother Gabriel all that much. Sure, he attempts to unravel the secrets the manuscripts and subsequent video hint at, but there’s little urgency from Gabriel for a bulk of the novel. That being said, it’s entirely possible that it’s intentional to fit Gabriel’s character and state of mind, but his reactions to the high strangeness that’s slowly closing in on him just seemed a bit jarring. 

There were elements of Smith’s style in Brat that I absolutely loved. Smith takes readers on a journey through the mysteries of Gabriel’s family through sections of a more traditional narrative structure with fragments of other stories. There’s a strange family movie, a complete short story from his ex called “Cum Tributo”, fragments of a manuscript from his mother called “ A Bit of Earth”, and an unproduced script from his late father titled “The Tape”. These interludes don’t just offer a stylistic change of pace, but they also influence the overall narrative. They raise questions about Gabriel’s family that set him on the path of coming to terms with his life and his grief. At times, they also tug on the threads of reality that make up Gabriel's reality in Brat. How much of what is happening is real and how much is a result of the chaos in Gabriel’s life causing him to seek meaning in these works and events that pop up while he lives in his old home? If there was one thing that didn’t work for me, it was that at times the writing was a bit too expository and took me out of the rhythm of the story. 

There were plenty of things I loved about Brat, but I think this is one of those situations where I think I liked the idea of the book more so than the execution. Even though there were some things about Brat that just didn’t work for me, I will definitely check out more of Gabriel Smith’s work in the future. There were some risky narrative choices and I respect Smith for going for them. That boldness and imaginative idea that beats at the center of Brat means that while this book didn’t quite work for me, I’m willing to roll the dice that one of Smith’s future books might be. If you like strange fiction that features plenty of dry humor and a protagonist that continually picks fights despite getting his ass kicked, this is worth putting on your TBR. Just know that if you’re looking for something that’s on the darker side, this may not be the book for you.

"Brat" by Gabriel Smith is an enthralling debut that brilliantly blends gothic horror with a deeply personal story of grief and self-discovery. Gabriel, the titular "brat," returns to his deteriorating childhood home to mourn his father's death and sort out his chaotic life. The narrative is both surreal and gripping as Gabriel encounters strange phenomena, including changing manuscripts and eerie home videos, while dealing with his own physical and mental deterioration.

Smith's prose is sharp and darkly humorous, perfectly capturing the protagonist's struggle with grief and the haunting nature of his family history. The novel's metafictional elements and vivid imagery create a uniquely immersive experience that keeps readers on edge. The story's exploration of identity, loss, and the supernatural is both unsettling and profoundly moving.

"Brat" is a standout literary work that pushes boundaries and leaves a lasting impact. Gabriel Smith's inventive storytelling and distinctive voice mark him as a significant new talent in contemporary fiction.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I knew I would love this when I first heard about it, and I did. Fair warning that there's some mildly graphic body horror, but I adored the tone, the sense of humor, and the straight up weird bits.
The format was refreshing; it read like a depressive dirtball diary from a man grieving his father's loss in unorthodox ways. For one reason or another, it's interspersed with punchy short stories and bits of manuscripts and screenplays. A bit scary, a bit mysterious, a bit meta.
I found it to be a whole lot of fun. Would definitely revisit!

Do you want a lovable main character you can root for?

I’m so sorry, then. This book is not for you.

Brat by Gabriel Smith was like an accident scene and I, unexpectedly, was a rubbernecker. The story is intoxicating (or maybe the author was intoxicated when he wrote it. I am not sure.) It was one of the most bizarre tales I’ve ever encountered, and I have consumed many unusual books. I love when a narrative doesn’t follow a prescribed formula, and Brat was, undoubtedly, its own original thing.

The main character, like the author, is named Gabriel, and he is, as you may have guessed, a bit of a brat. Gabriel is going through some stuff, though. Some weird, sad, and gross stuff. He is trying to come to terms with his father’s death and his mother’s dementia. He is in denial about his recent breakup. And now, on top of everything else he is forced to let go of, he is expected to pack up his childhood home so his older brother can put it on the market. So, while it is true that Gabriel isn’t the most likable character, he is a sympathetic one.

The story curves into a fantastical horror, ultimately gaslighting the reader alongside the narrator. It all allows Gabriel to cling tightly to the one thing he still has a loose grip upon: that house. Gabriel finds himself crumbling within it, just as the walls rot around him.

Every book needs to find the right audience. The offbeat nature of Brat means it is best suited for a very particular group of people. It’s thought provoking because it is so ambiguous, but if you prefer a less obscure narrative, this one isn’t going to work for you. I think the perfect reader for Brat also needs to be a little bit weird.

I loved it.

I am immensely grateful to Penguin Press and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

This is a strange book for sure. The whole time I was reading I felt a little creepy, like I was in another reality. The theme is grief and dealing with the aftermath, as well as the house and its contents. With the father dead and the mother in a nursing home, the house is left to the two sons. One is married so Gabriel goes to live in the house and pack it up so they can sell it. But through a haze of alcohol and drugs and grief he cannot seem to do anything at all. He seems to spend a lot of time taking care of his father's marijuana plants in the attic (and sampling the stash). Gabriel's skin is shedding like a reptile - it just peels off. A little horror throughout with the skin peeling in sheets, plants overtaking the house and coming inside, all provide a horror-type feel. The Mother was a writer and Gabriel found a novel but every time he picks it up the story changes. It's a very different kind of book and it's a debut novel. I would recommend it to anyone who likes quirky and off-beat.

Thanks to Penguin Press through Netgalley for an advance copy.

I can totally understand why Brat may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it's cerebral and weird in the most delicious way. This is modern magical realism and experimental fiction at its best.

Brat is an absolute crazy blast to read. It's narrator is Gabriel and the things that happen in the book have to be read to be believed. Think Ottessa Moshfegh meets Stephen King. It's a fast paced read that will have you flipping the pages and at times puttng it down fr a second because the sentence yu just read was so creepy. The book is over 300 pages but I could read a few hundred more. I will only tell you alittl about the plot because it's truly original and want you to experience it for yourself. Gabriel is a writer and hes struggling to write his second novel. His father died and his mother is in a home. He has a brother who thinks he's crazy and a bit of a loser. Gabriel starts to wonder what is reality and are crazy things happening to him are to be aprt of his new novel or were the words given to him from his mother and people from his past. This is grafic at times so be warned if you're a squeamish person. I can not wait to see what he writes next. Truly and exciting new writer. Thank you to Penguin Press and Netgally for the read. Would be great for a book club that likes edgy books.

For me, this book ultimately didn't go anywhere. Maybe it was going to be horror, but nothing horrible happened. Maybe it was going to be about family, and sort of it was but they don't become closer or more estranged. Maybe it's about writing, (this by far the most) but there are certainly no breakthroughs. It's a quick read though I'm not really sure why I bothered to finish it. I think I was believing the ending would tie it all together. That didn't happen for me.