Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

14 reviews

waytoomanybooks's review

I was assigned this book in my Contemporary Queer Literature class, and I and several of my classmates told our professor that we couldn't and wouldn't finish reading it. The book steps out of "gritty realism" and veers into "tragedy, trauma, and grief porn" a la A Little Life. Every character in the novel is graphically raped multiple times. Every underage character at one point or another enters into a "relationship" with an adult. Every character at one point or another becomes a prostitute. There is even a character that had a mummified corpse in their closet. This is not an exaggeration. I'm not putting this behind spoiler tags because I think everyone should know about this before reading it. I wish I had known! Upon realizing that we weren't going to finish the book, our professor said that if we found the first third to be horrific, then we certainly shouldn't finish the book because it "gets worse."

Grief, loss, trauma, death, rape, etc. are unfortunate parts of life, but the author seems to take almost ghoulish delight in hurting characters who are based on real people. Don't read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Excrement, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

ploganiv's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative sad 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

4.75

If you like Paris is Burning or Pose, this is the perfect blend of the two works. It really felt like fan fiction of these stories. Cassara did an amazing job making you root for this found family of Xtravaganzas. The ending was very Tarantino-esk and it was brutal. The HIV/AIDS epidemic killed so many of our queer siblings, but Cassara really leaned into every possible way HIV/AIDS could affect a person besides dying. The bond this family had was beautifully contrasted with their own varied relationships with their families. Some were very refreshing, but most were as you would imagine. I really enjoyed the Puerto Rican slang and culture sprinkled throughout. It made me crave Mofongo and want to visit my New York family. It is also incredible that this is Cassara's debut novel. It felt very mature and like he has really worked on his craft. Super excited to see what he does next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse

krissymcgeehan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Addiction, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Transphobia, Rape, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Violence, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

emilybr's review

dark emotional funny sad 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

This book is devastating. I finished it weeping, such a beautiful story with a tragic ending, made even more sad by how realistic it is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Homophobia, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Suicide, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Hate crime, Grief, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

maurapartridge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Hate crime, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual violence, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Outing, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Dementia, Incest, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Physical abuse

dizzymissliz's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

What an incredibly depressing book. Even though gay culture has so many highs and a beautiful, rich, history, it's easy to forget how dark and lonely it was for our community in the 1980's. This book describes this period in explicit detail. Even though it was hard to read and extremely sad, I think it's important to reflect on this time period. This book focused more on the relationships between trans/gay entertainers and their found family rather than ball culture, but I think that that's what made it special. There really is a familial love between these characters, heavily influenced by and named after the people in Paris is Burning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Drug use, Racism, Transphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Murder, Suicide, and Child abuse

Minor: Incest

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Grief, Medical content, Rape, Transphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Terminal illness

remy_licked_my_book's review

dark emotional 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

5.0

This book was so incredibly heartbreaking and beautiful. I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I couldn't stop reading. These Queens were fierce until the end. Some fell sooner than others and I can't imagine what it would be like to have been a homosexual in the 80's-90's when AIDS was rampant and no one cared. This book gave me a glimpse. Some sections were heavy and hard to listen too but they are a reflection of real traumas that happen to people all over the world. Angel was my favourite character and she was flawless right to the very end. My heart broke for Daniel, Venus, and Juanito. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Rape and Incest

crichar9's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Transphobia, Hate crime, and Addiction

Moderate: Chronic illness

Minor: Suicide, Dysphoria, and Dementia

scruffycat's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.0

This novel is about the ball scene in New York in the 80s, and while it's an important story to tell, this wasn't the best resource for this. Many of the people in that scene suffered terribly, as do many trans people, from violence, discrimination, lack of economic opportunity, and the devastation of AIDS. 

Generally, that scene is lauded for the amazing resilience and creation of found families, the attitude that if the world wasn't going to give anything to the people, they'd create their own support systems.  That focus is only seen in brief glimpses here. Instead, the author chooses to go deep into the brutality.  It doesn't seem that the author has empathy for the characters, which makes the whole book comes across as suffer porn. It's difficult and, frankly, I'd recommend watching the TV series Pose instead. Pose contains some of the same exact stories, which I'm guessing is based on research on the real-life people in that scene, but treats the characters with love and honor while still acknowledging the tragedies.    

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Violence