One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve by M. Shaw

One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve Reviews

• 
  inciminci

  One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve is a wonderful, allegorical novella about identity, aggression, estrangement, inner conflicts, desires, solitude and maybe even a little about hope and despair and I just loved it. Every now and than there will be a book hat I read digitally and feel so strongly about that I'll want to own a physical copy of it. This is that book to me!
  
  Two halves of a dead man, loosely joint still, re-awaken to life on top of an autopsy table. They grew a thin membrane over their sliced sides that holds in every organ that was parted in two. They walk out of that room, holding on tightly to the only thing they know – each other.
  
  Not a mirror image or a photo, or a copy; each one looking at a body much like his own, and yet an entire separate person.
  
  Their so-to-say postpartum life gradually develops into a regular life of two, a regular life where rent needs to be paid and needs have to be met, where inner thoughts take their course, where wishes, envy, relief, even pressure may surface and maybe motivate actions. Some day it is over and it is time to confront the meaning behind it all. And it's cruel here.
  
  The very stripped, prosaic writing goes really well with the concise, to the point storytelling and is exactly to my taste. Not a word is wasted here and all is kept short and meaningful. I also really felt for the characters or half-characters to be precise, their actions and motives were comprehensible and to a degree even relatable to me.
  
  What can I say, this was a perfect read that I can only genuinely recommend, I'm a fan!
• 
  Alix

  Damn, this was one engrossing story. One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve tells the story of two halves of a human, Left and Right, who wake up on a morgue slab. Left and Right are brothers and while they technically are two halves of the same body, they eventually become their own person with their own body. The relationship between the two brothers is fascinating, especially given the whole context. Eventually, their relationship turns parasitic. Left wants Right to be dependent on him but Right has outgrown Left.
  
  All in all, I was completely absorbed by this story and the obsessive need of Left to control Right. It’s a truly toxic relationship and it’s interesting to see whether or not Left can ever truly grow as a person and let go of Right and if Right can gain freedom from Left. There’s also some cool folk horror elements that made this story much more compelling. Overall, I definitely recommend this unique and unsettling story.
• 
  Seb

  I LOVED this book! So much that I do not know how to talk about it...
  
  As always, I'll avoid spoilers in my review, but I'd be more than happy to exchange views elsewhere 🙃
  
  "One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve" is about two brothers, born from a single body cut in half from the middle. Left and Right have both their sensibilities, aspirations and ideals. Unfortunately, they don't match, leading to conflict and despair.
  
  This book is mainly about finding one's identity, acceptance and co-dependence as well.
  
  Metaphorically, I felt we were witnessing the troubles of a couple, not brothers, unable to find a way to move further together and so, tore themselves apart.
  
  The story is so subtly enough constructed in a way you never get bored, because of the changes in tone and twists. It is also beautifully written.
  
  What's more to say? Only this: read it soon!
• 
  Netanella

  One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve must be the strangest story I've read this year. Possibly even this decade. It's a bizarre tale of siblings, two personalities born of a cadaver split in two on a medical exam table. The opening scenes of Left and Right coming alive, discovering each other as a split half, and trying to ambulate were both disgusting and amusing.
  
  His brother hears the sharp clang of the elbow on the stainless steel surface. “You ohay?” “Yeh.” “Dih a’yfing faw ouch?”
  
  Despite the absurdity of the story, the writing is smart and sharp, like the blade of a saw, and it cuts deep into the emotional connection that is shared by the brothers even as their fears and desires drive each other apart. As bizarre as the story was, the overall theme of the book is universally heartwrenching and heartwarming. Very well done!
• 
  Tim McGregor

  The mandate of Tenebrous Press is to bring New Weird Horror to the world. Their inaugural novella brings it in buckets. Bloody, sloshing buckets of strangeness.
  
  A cadaver, split right down the middle, comes back to life as two separate entities that struggle to cobble some sort of life out of their impossible situation. Clinging to one another while simultaneously pushing away, the tale of Right and Left is one of the most gleefully bizarre and confounding debuts I've read in a long time. Author M. Shaw uses body horror to weave a narrative of sticky co-dependency, detachment, and morbid relationships. It's difficult to articulate what this reading experience was like, but I'll give it a shot. Imagine taking a potent psychedelic and sitting down to a double-feature of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and Cronenberg's Dead Ringers. On the sofa, next to you, is a stranger whispering, “Why don't you love me anymore?”
• 
  Steve Stred

  Night Train. All Hail the House Gods. At the End of the Day I Burst Into Flames. Armageddon House. Helpmeet. The Mud Ballad.
  
  Over the last number of years, there’s been a handful of books that were unlike anything I’ve ever read before and absolutely had me held rapt.
  
  We can safely add One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve to that list.
  
  This novella came onto my radar initially when I saw my friend Sonora Taylor rave about it. I wasn’t sure what to expect, just look at that synopsis, but I knew going in that I’d be in for an unexpected journey and that’s exactly what happened.
  
  What I liked: The story follows a body that wakes up on the table in the morgue, cut in half. Each side wakes up as their own individual half; Left and Right.
  
  From there, M. Shaw delivers perhaps the most heart-wrenching yet unconventional coming-of-age story you’ll ever read. Two halves, making a whole, trying to find their way in the world and to remember who they were before. Each side has a dream of what their life should look like, or what they should work towards. The Left half takes over the cooking, cleaning and finances of their day to day lives, while the Right half gets a job and does the driving. From the outside looking in, this seems pretty mundane, but when gathered into this story, it works to not only challenge the reader, but for us to also empathize with each half. They both want to be whole, both want to remain connected to the other, while each wanting to be their own person. I suspect this is a constant issue with identical twins growing up.
  
  The story unfolds really nicely, seeing a growing tension build between both sides, especially as some regrowth begins, which ultimately pushes them harder mentally about being their own person.
  
  The ending is really great, a very powerful way of tying it all together and showcasing not only some of what society has become, but also the difficulties those stuck in their ways have at attempting any sort of positive change.
  
  What I didn’t like: I actually wasn’t too fond of the epilogue. The tone and narrative style felt completely different from what the entire novella had been up to that point and it almost worked to subtract some of what had been built up for the ending. It may work for you, but for me, I would’ve almost preferred it wasn’t there at all.
  
  Why you should buy this: If you’ve read any of those books I listed at the beginning and were blown away, then this should be an auto-buy and an auto-to the top of the TBR book. This is unsettling body horror that will make you squirm but also question what it is to be connected to someone and what it means about where we ultimately fit into the world.
  
  Phenomenal.
• 
  Jennifer

  What an absolutely brilliant book. It's so much more than a surreal story about a bisected corpse that awakens into two separate consciousnesses. This is a story about codependence, abuse, identity, moving forward, looking back.
• 
  Rick Brose

  One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve, like its cover, is beautiful and grotesque, a story that explores humanity, connection, and desire through the lens of a cadaver split down the middle, both halves alive and grappling with the kind of existential questions we have all faced from time to time. I loved watching these characters evolve and find themselves, both in relation to and separate from the other half. Shaw does a great job of detailing the story. I was able to picture it all clearly in my head. It was cool to see the way the story unfolds, fun to see what the author chose to reveal. The interludes between chapters was a strong narrative choice that enhanced the experience. I liked everything about this one.
• 
  Stacy (Gotham City Librarian)

  3.5 stars rounded up
  
  This is the story of a body that wakes up alone in a morgue, cut in half down the middle, each half thinking independently with its own identity as Right and Left. They feel as if they’re brothers, and go out into the world, becoming individuals as things gradually change for them mentally and biologically.
  
  It was imaginative and weird, and I found myself invested in the fate of both characters. There was some good humor about libraries, too!
  
  Even with the dynamics that were at play I felt bad for Left, (symbolically, the one with the heart.) At one point Right is feeling smothered by Left, but Left is so afraid of being alone. There’s a lot going on as far as the two brothers trying to function in society while also figuring out who they are and how they feel about each other as they grow and change.
  
  I’m not a person that opposes the use of dream sequences in books. Instead I like that as a device. But there’s a section of this that relies on them a bit too much. And unfortunately, I didn’t care for the epilogue. I understand the symbolism throughout the book, and I liked the folk story interlude. But the very end knocked the rating down a bit. I would read this author again, though.
  
  TW: Alcohol abuse, self-harm
• 
  Ladz

  Read an eARC from the Publisher
  Content warning: body horror, domestic psychological abuse, self-harm, abstract depictions of eating disorder
  
  The debut novella from Tenebrous Press delivers on its promise of new weird body horror. In a morgue, a cadaver cloven in half wakes up as two distinct personalities: Left and Right. Where one tries to assimilate, the other descends into a madness that brings the tale back to the beginning.
  
  A surreal journey of identity and trying to live in a society when one is missing half a body, a delightful inaugural introduction to a new horror press.
  
  The prose in this novella is dreamlike. Part fairy tale, part nightmare, it immerses the reader in fresh strangeness. The halves trying to understand the world around them is unsettlingly logical in its progression. This isn’t a critique, as much as it is a deep desire to see this story from the point of view from the seemingly normal people Left and Right interact with. There’s the motel clerk, the librarian, and countless others. It’s bewildering, but that’s the kind of ride you’re on.
  
  Left and Right had very distinct voices and plot directions. There’s never a moment of confusion thanks to the deep interiority. I can’t say too much about the direction they go in, but they have very different philosophies when it comes to what it means to be alive. Also with regards to what it means to be a family. I found myself unsettled throughout, even during the moments when it seems like they’ve achieved normalcy.
  
  In addition, Shaw puts a wonderfully grotesque attention to detail to the biology of our narrators. From them trying to pass themselves off as one person, to trying to maneuver with and without dexterity, and to how their forms change over time. It’s gross, and it’s really fun.
• 
  Michael Allen Rose

  An absolutely fantastic read. Two brothers are awakened as two halves of a cadaver. One believes that all they have is each other, making a world consisting of only the two of them, the other wishes to find individuality and explore the possibilities of the world. Those two contradicting philosophies lead to disharmony and pain. This book is a poetic and propulsive exploration of toxic relationships. Excellent writing and a bizarre premise make it a must read for weird horror and bizarro fans.
• 
  Sonora Taylor

  4.5 stars. I can safely say that this story is like nothing I've ever read before. A beautiful, haunting portrait of codependency and falling into the same trap again and again, M.Shaw has crafted a masterful fable of attachment and what that means when we encounter various cleavers in our lives. I can't recommend this enough. Many thanks to Tenebrous Press for providing an advance copy to read.
• 
  Lor

  Gorgeous, wonderfully bizarre and and topped with a beautiful cherry of melancholy.
• 
  Tessa

  I absolutely devoured this book. LOVED is not a strong enough word :) It's one part bizarro, one part horror, split right down the middle.
  
  Can't wait to read more from M. Shaw!
• 
  Daniella Pozo

  *Spoilers*
  
  The beginning of this story is very riveting and kept my attention with the descriptions of the fleshy interiors and not-fully-enmeshed brains of the two parts. A man who couldn’t stand to be himself and so had to be his (lost) younger brother too is certainly a novel and expansive idea.
  
  From this premise the novella is able to explore other ideas about co-dependency, one’s responsibility to their family or really what they “owe” to their family even to their own detriment, consciousness and a separation between your logical brain and the more anxious brain, and some very real struggles about affording an apartment and making a life for yourself after trauma. Left is doomed to think he can ‘build an entire world with just two people in it’ which is an assumption that can relate to many people experiencing co-dependency or abuse.
  
  If this novel were expanded I would love to see more detail about all the Allens or younger brothers which seem to survive and run away while the elder brother whittles away to repeat the cycle all over, cleaving more of himself in the process.
  
  At times I did also wish the writing would choose a direction and lean into it even more. Whether thats horror or comedy (Allen Cleft and Lincoln Wright) or fable/philosophy. I think the straightforward approach was interesting in some areas but left something to be desired especially in the middle of the book.
  
  I was not a fan of the ending of this book. I was skeptical when the character Clove (past tense of cleave) was introduced and wondered if that information would have been conveyed in a more exciting way. It felt like the connection between the fairytale story introduced in the book and the ending could have been further explored.
• 
  Helen Whistberry

  I hesitated between a 4 and 5 star rating on this one. Probably comes out to a 4.5 for me just for the sheer audacity of the premise. Two halves of a cadaver wake up on a slab in the morgue. It is quickly apparent that they are now two distinct personalities, two distinct people despite having no memory of what happened to them or understanding of how it is possible for them to be alive and functioning as one-half of a body. I was applauding every step (or hop) of the way as the two, who have dubbed themselves Right and Left, navigate their highly unusual new circumstances and attempt to rebuild their lives as separate entities.
  
  Their relationship and the push and pull of the two very different personalities forms the crux of the book as they conquer such mundanities as finding a place to live and money to survive on while trying to hide their bizarre appearance from prying eyes. For me, this could have been the whole book with no explanation needed of how they arrived at their plight. I was completely fascinated with the entire concept and, strangely perhaps, didn't feel that curious about the story behind it. I happen to love eldritch tales where uncanny things are just happening for no apparent reason, but for readers who crave a more concrete plot, we do find out more about what went before.
  
  I found the revelation of the force behind the brothers' split to be (relatively) prosaic, and in a way, it stole some of the magic and tension that the author had built up in the first part of the book for me. However, I can well imagine that many readers will greatly enjoy the conceit, and there are definitely ways in which it adds to the overall metaphor of the story. And it is very metaphorical and cerebral to a degree. Can a house divided against itself stand? In any relationship, will there always be a dominant personality? Questions of fate, freedom vs dependency, and whether we are doomed to replay the same mistakes over and over. All intriguing topics, grounded here with the very visceral and human plight of our two protagonists. A completely unique and original work of art that fans of weird horror will want to seek out.
• 
  Kiri

  How did this novella have me relating so easily, so strongly, with a man who had once been vertically sawed in half?
  
  I think it’s because this brilliant author, M. Shaw, knows that horror is at its best when it’s tapping into fears that are real and relatable – and these familial fears: extreme codependency and toxic sibling relationships are some of my most extreme. One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve takes a look at these fears through two brothers, who had once been one body, who awaken in a morgue, on a slab, cut in half. These brothers, Left and Right, both have very distinct voices, wants, desires – one wishes to carve a new path for himself, and dreams of a different life, while the other holds onto his brother tighter and tighter still, refusing to give him the space to find his own identity.
  
  How each brother deals with these desires is enthralling – but make no mistake, this is no mere family drama. Shaw’s a master of the macabre, and there’s a dearth of dark details littered throughout the novella that keep you, as the reader, unnerved. From the way they hobble out of the hospital, entrails and guts spilling out of their wounds, to the disturbing way they regrow their cloven limbs, to the folk horror-esque ending where it all comes together, the story wrapped up with a gruesome bow, there’s some much here that will satiate all your cravings for something weird and dark and thought-provoking. After reading One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve, I’m a huge fan of Shaw, and the works of Tenebrous Press – and I can’t wait to read more from this author, and this wonderfully weird and wicked press.
• 
  Morgan

  
  This is such a bizarre little book. Two halves of a body wake up in a morgue and struggle to find a normalized life in a mundane work-a-day world. The writing style embraces the absurdity of the situation and on-boards their lives into a destitute structure where these “brothers,” Right and Left, take on traditional Western gender roles.
  
  The whole story is presented like a fable, but the author uses magical realism to obfuscate a deeper mystery. The backstory unfolds in a compelling way right up to the end.
  
  As for what it’s about, there is enough ambiguity that you might project a couple interpretations onto. Is this about the internal struggles and desires within ourselves as a whole person, or is it more a character study of toxic codependent relationships? Maybe both?
  
  All I know if you want a messed up unhealthy parallel of Frog and Toad, with some occasional body horror and the fae, this is for you.
• 
  Rachel

  This is one of the strangest and most unique horror and magical realism novellas I have ever read. It is the story of Left and Right, two halves of a man who was cut in half. They have no memory of who they were before they were separated, but still manage to build a life together until one of them decides to put distance between himself and his brother. I love this delightfully strange book and I am so grateful to Tenebrous Press for publishing it. <3
• 
  Finn

  4.75/5
  
  A beautiful, surreal and emotional story about bonds, identity, dependence and growth. Stunningly written. If emotional weird fiction with a touch of body horror sounds like your jam, definitely check out this novella!
• 
  Claire Smith

  One Hand To Hold, One Hand to Carve, is a delightfully strange tale. Readers will come for the striking combination of body horror and weird fiction, but will stay for Shaw’s ability to craft an insightful and gripping tale that will linger long after the final page.
  
  (disclaimer: I was given an ARC review of this book in exchange for an honest review)
• 
  Rain

  Poignant, harrowing, and unforgettable. “One Hand” explores intimacy, codependency, identity, and the cyclical nature of relationships; body horror as if via Samuel Beckett. Another ace from Tenebrous.
• 
  Scott Moses

  Poignant and wonderfully strange
  
  I’ve never read anything quite like this. Highly enjoyed it and look forward to more from M. Shaw as well as Tenebrous Press.
• 
  Bean

  I was expecting body horror all the way down, but the book was surprisingly psychological and fridge horror. A really good morbid fable.
• 
  Lisa

  A bizarre, somewhat gruesome fable illustrating the conflicting desires to maintain the status quo out of fear and to embark on the unknown.
• 
  C.H. Pearce

  Samuel Beckett meets body horror. Loved it.
  
  “God, wouldn’t that be horrible?” says Left.
  “Yeah, but you sound so happy about it.”
• 
  Phillip Keeling

  A truly grotesque (and heartbreaking) treat. Wonderful.
• 
  Jess

  absolutely engrossing. strange. the body horror beginning had me thinking this was science fiction but it soon turned into philosophy and psychology. parts of it were relatable in uncomfortable ways. some of the twists really twisted me. i might turn back to page 1 and read it all again. really loved the writing style also.
• 
  Lauren

  This book was a lot of things, and I loved it. I'm putting scary first because it's horror but it was equal parts so many things IMO. Scary, sad, deep, with dark, clever-as-hell humor towards the end. The writing is fantastic. Natural dialog, deep, realistic characters with flaws oh gosh, the flaws. I'm so glad I read this, I recommend it so much.
• 
  Anya Slavina

  I adored this story and the way in which it was told 😁
  
  I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this particular blend of genres, which as an avid reader excited me very much because it's always a treat to come across something novel 😜 emerging from so many different threads. It was a wonderful surprise when I couldn't put the book down and read it in an afternoon with sporadic bits of giggling and smiling at the way M. Shaw made something so morbid into something so warm and humerus.
  
  It only took me a few hours to read through and I'm excited to read it again and share it with other story enthusiasts. Thank you M., for putting this absurdly delightful bit of self-aware relationship dynamic exploration into existence where fortunate others, such as myself, can recreate it in whatever level of sunshine+rainbows hue we want to put on it in our minds.