Carnalis is the story of party girl Lauren, who hides a terrifying secret from her injured girlfriend Alex, that she’s actually a cannibal and that Alex might be next on the plate.
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This novella has made me a Tiffany Morris fan for life. It is exactly the kind of thing that drives me insane. Horror that interrogates the extents of informed consent, abusive relationships, and obsession.
Morris’s prose is both lush and sharp as knife, cutting deep to reveal the rotting flesh of Lauren and Alex’s relationship. Like I cannot understate just how beautiful the writing in this book is. It’s poetic and sensory and exactly the sort of way you’d imagine a cannibal would think. Morris really understands her characters and you can see this reflected in the prose.
The horror is visceral. I read a lot of body horror so it’s rare that a book elicits actual disgust within me. But Lauren’s depraved and obsessive mind and actions kept me on the edge of my seat and worried for Alex the entire time.
And Alex! Her Mi’kmaw heritage is so important to the book and inextricable from the way Lauren treats her. The saviour complex and infantilisation that Lauren subjects Alex too, the codependency and social-racial dynamics that underlie their entire relationship, it’s all so delicious to me.
Anyway, end notes, if you’ve ever wanted Hannibal but lesbian, this bite-sized (hah!) book might just be the thing for you.
