Review: You Weren’t Meant To Be Human by Andrew Joseph White

Rating: 7.5/10

Festering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. A fresh start. It’s an offer that none refuse.

Crane is grateful. Among his hive’s followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won’t destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly. But when Levi gets Crane pregnant—and the hive demands the child’s birth, no matter the cost—Crane’s desperation to make it stop will drive the community that saved him into a devastating spiral that can only end in blood.

Aggressively transgressive, “You Weren’t Meant To Be Human,” is a searing read bubbling with body horror and writhing with worms, for fans of Eric LaRocca. Andrew Joseph White has long been my answer to the tired, nonsense argument that YA horror is inferior or less scary- so I imagined this adult debut to be intense. It was. This is a novel that had me squirming and grimacing and hesitant to turn the page, whilst simultaneously grateful that somebody had the guts to write it, and write it well. “You Weren’t Meant To Be Human,” is a stomach-turning novel about the internal terror of inhabiting a body that feels alien and wrong, in addition to the very present horrors that must come with being a trans person in today’s America. Claustrophobic and cloying and hard to wash off once you’re finished, I think the word to describe Andrew Joseph White’s latest is unflinching- and it’s out September 9th, from Saga Press in the US and Daphne Press in the UK- thank you for my ARC. 

We follow Crane, a mute trans man who has been offered salvation by the hive. Before, Crane was determined to do himself harm, longing to scar himself in brutal ways, but the hive has offered a chance to leave that life behind, transition, even spark a strange (something resembling a) semi-relationship with Levi. Devotion though is required not suggested, and Crane is nothing if not loyal to the hive. He would do almost anything for it. That dynamic shifts however when Crane winds up pregnant, and the hive demands that the child be born, the promise of freedom, of euphoria, curdling into something very sour indeed. 

The horror here is bountiful, heaping and crawling. I mean first off, is the bugs. The hive (one of many across America) is made up of worms and flies and all things gross, slimy and squelchy when stepped on. Worse yet, they speak with this collective voice, and are obeyed. Nightmare fuel. Perhaps we’ll discuss the metaphor behind it a little later. Next is the inherent horror of pregnancy. A biological invasion. A body within a body. A parasite, a creature that siphons nutrients, feeds off of its host in order to grow and swell, rudely shoving aside organs. When you throw into that, the dysphoria that comes with being a pregnant trans man, this horror only intensifies further, the volume cranked, the distortion maxed, the feedback howling.

And that’s just what’s there on the page. Should the reader look beneath the creepy-crawlies, they will find a different type of horror completely. An institutional one. A horror grounded completely in reality. The hive’s promise is one of belonging, security, freedom. A promise completely contradicted by its decision to force Crane to see through his pregnancy. A mandate. The hive reveals itself to be cruel, inventive in its capacity for harm, inconsiderate and willfully ignorant as to the consequences of its actions- thank goodness nothing like that could happen in real life, and certainly NEVER in the shining bastion of liberty that is America, the land of the free. Oh. It turns out the hive, for all its slimy theatrics, isn’t doing much that various institutions, religious, judicial, political, haven’t already perfected.

ANYWAY, I can’t stress to you just how adult this novel is, and not even in the wink-nudge, parental-discretion sense that the future cool dad in me appraises most of the adult horror I read with. Whilst some of its core messages are ones that I believe should be taught early on, I really do suggest younger readers seek out some of AJW’s other work for that- I imagine the consequences would be catastrophic should this one be mistakenly categorised as YA. This is intense. I would call it extreme. Andrew Joseph White writes unreservedly, throwing in intrusive thoughts, and gleefully stomping over every line the reader has, before promptly leapfrogging over the freshly redrawn ones. It’s a truly revolting, utterly abhorrent, gleamingly ugly novel (compliment) that refuses to soften and will hold your gaze. This provocation however is a brutal delivery system that feels nothing short of absolutely necessary to convey its message, and it’s an important one.

Poignant and vulgar and very brave, “You Weren’t Meant To Be Human,” is a novel I constantly wanted to put down, and yet never did. Andrew Joseph White’s latest will hold you hostage, for there’s something magnetic about its repulsiveness. It nauseates and wriggles and will have you gagging and marvelling in the same sentence.  So, do I recommend it? Sure. No. Maybe. Tentatively. Only to the right person. And to the entirely wrong person too.