Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

4 reviews

vvabecca's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Very good but oi

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Torture, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

What the fuck did I just read?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Alcohol, Gore, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Animal death, Infidelity, and Suicide

kyrad4983's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit

As many other reviews have mentioned - this book is not for the faint of heart. I felt nauseated, dreadful, disgusted - while the taxidermy scenes were difficult to stomach at times it was the raw chicken cooking scenes that broke me. I wanted to scream “WASH YOUR FUCKING HANDS OH MY GOD” Babes - everyone in this narrative is getting salmonella. The text oozes with grime, artfully mirroring the nasty coils of grief entangling this family. However, in the book’s attempts to raise the stakes on the gross, it runs out of steam handling the implications of said actions.

Jessa brings up the point that murdering animals is anti-social behavior and neither she nor the narrative returns to this again. The resolution sees Bastien outsourcing his “dirty deeds” but not stopping them, or contending with what that predilection might mean

It was hard to root for the characters but perhaps that says more about me than the writing itself. This is not a light read - by the time things were tied up, I had recoiled too many times to feel truly satisfied by the ending. I did appreciate the eviscerating self-reflection peppered throughout - Jessa processing the weight of her father’s death, her mom’s dildo and latex fettered grief process and the magnitude of distance created by avoidance. I would’ve loved to relish in the queerness of this book and it’s meandering path to a happy ending but I really just needed a shower.

leah_alexandra's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a really good read. Not enjoyable, necessarily (way too many descriptions of the taxidermy process for that), but it was well-written and interesting. Arnett has a great talent for description, whether it be of animal dissection or a backyard wedding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, and Suicide