Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Odyssey by Lara Williams

9 reviews

snowiceblackfruit77's review

dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Addiction, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Vomit, and Mental illness

veelaughtland's review

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Medical content, and Vomit

Minor: Infertility

lizzie_r's review

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Body horror, Addiction, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content and Religious bigotry

Minor: Infertility, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

jordanfm18's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Body horror

kitglad's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

for fans of mona awad- reading this will make you go “what the fuck?” multiple times

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Body horror

Moderate: Violence and Alcohol

ashlyntalksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Alcoholism, Body horror, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Abandonment, and Gore

kayley's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

The Odyssey follows Ingrid, who lives and works on a cruise ship.
The book had me unsettled early on, between the claustrophobic setting of the cruise and the unshakable feeling that something was off. Throughout the book Ingrid blossoms into a Moshfegh-level unlikable character. It’s certainly a trend in literature to have “unlikeable erratic female characters”, and while I’m not the biggest fan, if you enjoy them, you’ll probably enjoy this book. 

The story overall made me think of the demands of the workspace, how much you’re expected to sacrifice of yourself to fit into the model of an employee. The story did lose me a bit, especially in the end. It was certainly dark and interesting; I think everyone will have a different outtake on this one. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror

nerdyprettythings's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. It's so weird, but in a really great way. If you're a fan of books like The Vegetarian by Han Kang or the film Synecdoche, New York (or most Charlie Kaufman movies), you would absolutely love this book too, The main character, Ingrid, has lost her identity and come unhinged. She replaced having a home life or personality with becoming one of the functioning parts of a high end cruise ship. Her boss tells her he sees something in her, and she feels more and more connected to the boat as she gets a combination of mundane and much more involved tasks. A takedown of consumer capitalism, reflecting on finding all your worth in meaningless jobs, looking for belonging, and it was darkly funny, The whole time I wasn't expecting the next turn, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Alcoholism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Body horror

kateflood's review

4.5

 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. 

 

This book was eerie and uncomfortable and dream-like and I think I loved it. We follow the unreliable narration of Ingrid, who has been aboard the WA cruise ship for 5 years, through the mundanities and horrors of her life on board, and the impacts of the mysterious new program she undertakes led by the ship’s captain. I thought this was a great critique of modern capitalism and it left me feeling nihilistic but not necessarily in a bad way. A lot of the questions this book leaves you with remain unanswered at the end which I can definitely imagine some people would find frustrating, but personally I didn’t mind this as it seemed quite fitting for such a surreal story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Vomit

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility