Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

7 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

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

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

chloecc15's review

emotional funny lighthearted 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Drug use, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

darkmattersoybean's review

emotional sad slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia