Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

17 reviews

bellebeaumont95's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense

• 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

4.25

 Brutal and beautiful in the same degree, The Salt Grows Heavy is a horror novella about narratives of power, and about two people shaped and rebuilt by horrifically traumatic events choosing to stay together.

The writing is lovely, if a little overdone, coloring the scenes in a way that had me both flinching away and immediately coming back, mesmerized. I would have liked to spend a little more time with the two main characters (who I found fascinating) and exploring their relationship, but as the horror fairy tale it is, the brevity works.

In my questionable habit of comparing things to other things, I might describe this as "What if The VVitch (2015) had a crossover with The Language of Thorns, written by the authors of This Is How You Lose The Time War . (All things I LOVE, so this is high praise). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Cannibalism, Violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Torture, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Vomit

uncreativeoops's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.75

Took me a while to get into but once the main characters had an actual goal i was hooked. Gorgeous writing and creative similes; you either spend a very long time reading it to catch everything or you can find new things upon rereading it. The body horror is also very graphic in a lyrical way. I have no idea, where the setting was supposed to be, how the world or magic works. This felt like history, fantasy, and postapocalyptic at once and I didn't even mind. Also yes to violent reinterpretations of mermaids; beings from the ocean are terrifying and this should apply to mythological male fantasies as well.

Also I wasn't expecting the most raw love confession followed by torture followed by characters dying several times followed by a Frankensteinesque scene that had me giggling (??) and I still haven't processed it.

I was expecting the body horror, but not body horror mixed with so many emotions it was WILD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence

kylasmv15's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Murder, and Torture

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.5

One of the most haunting, beautifully written books about some of the most vile monstrosities. Fascinating look at what it means to be a monster, forsake any humanity because of the horrors done unto to you. A cycle of violence amidst a canabalistic apocalypse. 

It’s a perfect book for spooky season - a godsdamned nightmare of body horror and teeth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical trauma, Violence, Torture, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Kidnapping and Physical abuse

Listen this book is a giant content warning for body horror. The mermaid cannot die, even while vivisectioned apart. The descriptions of what she eats in turn is graphic. There is no handholding here that I’ve seen in other horror.

nkmustdie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Ableism, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Animal death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Blood, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Slavery, Violence, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Trafficking

existentialhell's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Medical trauma, Child death, Gore, Torture, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Blood, Confinement, Animal death, and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexism

cheye13's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

Genuinely went into this fully blind and now think it deserves a more conscientious re-read. The tone and writing style were excellent and the imagery was extremely evocative. I think I lost track of who was what to whom because I was reading so quickly. Now that I know the story, I think a secord read will help me to appreciate the plot as well as the general imagery and vibes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury

physical abuse and sexual violence in relation to the little mermaid reference; the main character's human husband having cut out her tongue to control her; graphic: scenes of vivisection

mattyb's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Torture, and Miscarriage

makifanclub's review against another edition

4.0

I don't really know what to make of this weird, gory little novella. The writing was definitely very beautiful and poetic (and nasty!), but there were also many times where I was wishing the author would just put down the thesaurus, and it maybe could've used one more round of editing to finish polishing up the prose. I think the goal of the story was to take readers on a brief and intriguing trip through this very dark and spooky and fairytale-esque world, and I definitely got that, but for me if this had even been a little longer it would've been so much better. I have felt like most of the novellas I've tried are missing something, so maybe I should just accept it as a me problem and stop reading novellas, but there was a lot of untapped potential here! More specifically, I would've loved to see more of how the relationship between the mermaid and the doctor came to be and understand more about their dynamic - the bonus story (?) after the acknowledgements did touch on this a little but it’s not clear to me why this wasn’t included as part of the main narrative, I think starting the story off with those scenes would’ve been a real improvement. I also would've liked to see a little more of this world before they arrived at the saints' village, although that may be more due to my own curiosity about the setting rather than feeling like the story really NEEDS it. 

So I guess the TLDR is I was intrigued, entertained, and sort of grossed out, but the prose was slightly overwrought and it needed at least a little more length and development to get me truly invested. I'd definitely like to try something else from this author though! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, Cannibalism, Child death, and Medical trauma

blackheart's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was fantastic. Dark, gory, and heart wrenching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Grief, Torture, Vomit, Child death, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, and Violence