Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana

18 reviews

wutheringlows's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Excrement, Murder, and Sexual harassment

elonn's review

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

stephanieluxton's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

5.0

I was a little hesitant to give this book 5 stars because it wasn't absolutely perfect by any means, however I really enjoyed reading it. Some parts made me incredibly uncomfortable but they weren't there just for shock value - they did add to the story.

I don't like the official synopsis for this story because I feel like it reveals a little too much of things that would be better as a surprise. This is the story of Lori, a nearly 40 year old woman who has been having a correspondence via letters and visits with a brutal serial killer named Edmund, who's in jail. After developing a sense of trust and kinship, Edmund tasks Lori with going on a mission to deliver something to The River Man. Lori, wanting to prove her devotion, accepts the quest (bringing along her disabled sister), which turns out to be darker journey than she could have ever imagined. 

This book is neat because it jumps back and forth between Lori and Abby's journey along the river to Lori's adolescence, where we are given the information needed to understand why Lori is the way she is. We also get glimpses of Lori and Edmunds letters to each other as the story goes on. The pacing in this book is excellent. Things are revealed gradually and we get a deep look into Lori's psyche.

Some of this is uncomfortable to read but it works. I'm not sure the book ended in the most satisfying way but the ending worked.

A few parts of this story, more so towards the beginning of their journey were quite unsettling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, and War

These are major spoilers but the worst things that happen in this book are:

We find out Lori repeatedly molested and blackmailed her little brother when she was a teenager to the point where he developed an eating disorder and died from the shame and humiliation. There's a scary scene in a cellar in which Lori finds a rotting desecrated corpse and needs to reach inside it to retrieve a key - the description is pretty intense. Lori is responsible for her sister's disability and brain damage after pushing her off a cliff. Edmunds letters to Lori are pretty off-putting - he describes his fetish for killing and SAing asian women based off of the atrocities his uncle committed in vietnam - the descriptions aren't too intense but it's still unpleasant.

skulkhogan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

There's basically no part of this book that's pleasant on any level.

ohsunnyaa's review against another edition

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

1.5

First of all,  I expected this to be messed up but not in this

(incest)

way. I read this for gore and murder and I'm not really satisfied with what I got. I felt like for the majority of the book nothing happened. Yes, some parts were shocking

incest rape

, but shocking doesn't mean good.
It's also very obvious a man wrote this because of how the female characters were acting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent and War

lunababybat's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

This was disturbing in the way banal evil is disturbing. While it has supernatural elements, the real evil in this story is the day-to-day atrocities anyone is capable of. It showcases how even rotten people do feel things, but can always find a way to justify their behaviors to themselves even if they can't to others. Even the River Man has a point; he doesn't make anyone do anything. Whatever they chose to do after meeting him was in them all along, and the journey to meet him is what really brings that negativity out. Someone has to have a bad seed in them to go searching for him in the first place. Not to get into spoilers, but the author has a way of making realistic characters and his writing fits the theme/setting of the story (except for his obsession with the word "sluiced", it felt out of place and a bit like a word of the day calendar prompt). When the big reveal of Lori's first taboo was about to play out, I actually felt my stomach drop. She starts out as s sympathetic character, but the more you learn about her, the more you understand that evil isn't just the serial killers that rip people open. I loved this, to the point I'm not sure I even want to read the sequel to preserve what this book gave me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

carissatheluca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

BRUTAL. 

This could have used another round of edits, but- and particularly for the genre- color me suitably impressed. Bonus: for the first time in quite a while, disturbed. 

Gone to See the River Man had a rocky beginning. I could see where it was going, but the stylistic choices (I hope) just did not translate well into setup. Triana's sentences stutter; my flow was constantly interrupted by misplaced words and staccato descriptions. I know that's (probably) on purpose, and it was fantastic during gruesome scenes, but it's irritating to read a full paragraph of broken sentences every other chapter. (Bear in mind the chapters are very short.) Similarly, Lori's characterization is so vague during the first half I had a hard time buying her motivation for her bizarre-ass decisions. She kept EXPLAINING her motivation, but that doesn't make me believe it. Developing her neediness and frustration towards Abby should have been done far sooner + more deliberately. 

As it were, I had to really force myself through large swaths of the first 100 or so pages. I appreciated the rising tension, but making me stay inside Lori's head in the "real" world only made it harder to suspend my disbelief. There's just a level of depth which is sorely lacking + the consequence is flat, marionette characters and some eye-roll sequences. Nobody was screening the mail of a serial killer who still has possibly unconfirmed victims? A body is nearly skeletal after less than a year in a COLD cellar? Literally just Google your gore, authors, please!! 

And far more frustrating for me: tf is Abby's brain damage? I know it's a plot device. I know it's meant to be a manifestation of [IYKYK] and provide conflict. It's 90% of her characterization, but it's left so vague as to almost be... cowardly? What exactly is her brain damage? What can and can't she do? We see her mostly through the lens of what she WAS, and it's just convenient in a way I don't love. If you don't describe any of the medical problems, you can't be wrong about them. Booooo! 

The setup for the first letter from Edmund was fantastic. All this anticipation between Lori's first letter and that one, slowly discovering just how unreliable a narrator Lori's been... It was genuinely incredible. I appreciate the big bad serial killer being given a background + reasoning, and I'm willing to pretend it's not silly. Weirder shit has happened for real. I kind of respect the vision, as much as I feel I can say that given- 🥴🫡🤮 you know. 

Man, this made me legitimately recoil in disgust. For once, the worst of the plot was justified enough by the exposition that I felt dirty and uncomfortable reading it. A lot of Splatterpunk/extreme horror authors will write about this stuff, but it's used so randomly and gratuitously it doesn't even land. It's just noise. Not so for River Man. I was sat and sick. The gore was deliciously visceral and the flashbacks... *shudder*

I'll be having nightmares tonight, I'm sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and War

ronnir's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, War, and Injury/Injury detail

reader248_5's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.25

Don’t read it. It’s disgusting. The main plot in itself is fine, it’s the subplots. I almost threw up. Look, it’s a well written book, but not worth the read. However, the main character was wildly interesting to look at. Her thoughts are… interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, and War

mconroy9137's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Eating disorder, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Vomit, Abortion, Alcohol, and War