Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

25 reviews

bitterseason's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Stalking, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Police brutality, and Sexual assault

helhas3letters's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Very readable. The plot hooked me completely and despite a few awkward turns of phrase, I raced through this one.
My main gripe, however, is that I felt the ending was rushed and left too open-ended. I wanted more concrete answers and explanations as to why half the events in the book occurred. I understand that a lot of modern fiction leaves things up to interpretation for the reader, but in this case it felt less 'up to interpretation' and more 'couldn't be bothered thinking of specific reasons why specific things happened'.
The ending was also unfortunately semi-spoiled for me by a way too on-the-nose and frankly reductive pull quote on the cover of the book. It was from Essence and read:

"Reminiscent of Jordan Peele's terrifying film Get Out."

If you've read the book, you'll know what I mean when I say that reading that quote essentially told me the entire ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Death of parent, Medical content, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Cancer, Gore, Death, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Stalking, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

savvylit's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Lakewood is a terrifying novel. Giddings inserts readers directly into Lena's mind so that we know exactly as much as she does about her new employer. Which is very little. This allows Giddings to create a creeping sense of terror as more and more goes wrong during the Lakewood experiments. There were a few top-notch body horror moments in this novel that really scared the crap out of me.

The truly terrifying thing about this book, though, isn't the body horror or the corporate gaslighting. It's the fact that, though the contents of this book are fictional, they are based on a legacy of horrific white supremacist reality. Consistently throughout U.S. history, people of color have been unwittingly used as guinea pigs for medical experimentation. Giddings interprets historical precedent into a modern, entirely fathomable racist hellscape.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Cancer, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Vomit

srhi96's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Cancer, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Blood

Minor: Addiction, Vomit, and Excrement

mar's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Death, Torture, and Medical content

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Confinement, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Terminal illness

peachani's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Death of parent

Moderate: Classism, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Death, Medical content, Racism, Gore, and Mental illness

Minor: Gaslighting, Cancer, Child abuse, Vomit, and Ableism

liormaleficent's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Body horror, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Medical content, Vomit, Classism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Racism

rosemaryslibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Vomit, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Gore, Body horror, Medical content, Cultural appropriation, and Racism

naimereadslines's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Racism, and Vomit

amressing's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Racism, Violence, Torture, Medical content, and Gore

Moderate: Vomit, Blood, and Chronic illness