Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Try by Dennis Cooper

2 reviews

loki_the_gnome's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

Dennis Cooper's "emotional" deconstruction of closer is as patently devastating as one could imagine. Every bit of coldness that marks his earlier work is destroyed in service of pure emotional turmoil. Idea's of people become people, violence has consequences outside of the physical, and every moment and interwoven storyline is somehow more devastating than the last. 

Cooper's final lines have a tendency to make me cry, every one has so far. Try's not only made me cry, but totally gutted me. Every tiny bit of safety I somehow felt I could hold onto in Cooper's worlds was torn away from me - which is entirely by design. Fiction like Cooper's should never and could never be safe. It was never designed to comfort or placate, and it never has, but Try, somehow, manages to pierce one's heart even more in totality than anything the Cycle has offered before.

A patently gutting portrait of abuse and its after-effects. Highly empathetic and immensely human, in all it's ugly, ugly depravity in its contents and beautiful care in its construction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

nickreallylovestoread's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Dennis Cooper is not for the faint of heart. The third entry of the George Miles Cycle focuses on the emotional response, mainly to sexual abuse/pedophilia. Graphic sex and uncomfortable descriptions run rampant in this story, but Ziggy shines through as a complex, emotional character who shines in a world bent on snuffing him out and reducing him to a husk. 'Enjoy' isn't the word to describe this, but Cooper effectively communicates complex themes through the voicing of teenaged characters acting out either creatively or in self-destructive facets. There are some incredibly morally reprehensible characters in this piece, be warned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail