Reviews tagging Body horror

The Metamorphoses, by Ovid

8 reviews

kingcrookback's review

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

In terms of the sheer amount of story, there's a lot here. And because it's a panorama of Greek and Roman mythology, there are many, many content warnings potential readers should be aware of. I tried my best to cover them all. I read this with the intention of getting some background on the Ovid references Shakespeare makes in his plays, given his Renaissance humanist education. So, it was kind of a fun game for me, being able to recognize a few things. I was also very big into Greek mythology when I was younger, and it's very interesting to see it through a Roman lens.

Spoiler

Ovid hates Ulysses so much, it's genuinely kind of hilarious.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Incest, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body horror, War, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Animal death

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, and Drug use

strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

this shit slaps tbh, Ovid wrote the Aeneid in a more interesting way than Virgil even though it was summarised... my favourite story was probably the one about Hecuba, or Medea because who doesn't love a girlboss. nobody does storytelling like Ovid. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Murder, Body horror, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Animal cruelty, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Pedophilia and Alcohol

josefineisreading's review

dark informative slow-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

Took me a while to get through and some parts, particularly about war and war heroes bored me a little but was in general very interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, and Miscarriage

Minor: Cannibalism

counterfeitnickel's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

Intense, evocative, and haunting. I’ll be returning to certain passages for years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Slavery, War, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Genocide, Body horror, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Suicide

evieolive's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

4.5

More long poems please 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Incest, Grief, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Murder, Infidelity, War, and Violence

Minor: Suicide, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

bachihebi's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, War, Violence, Transphobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Injury/injury detail, Infidelity, Gore, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Cannibalism, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Mental illness, Homophobia, Genocide, Drug use, Dementia, Colonisation, and Confinement

sofipitch's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

4.25

So the version I read was actually translated by Rolfe Humphries but I couldn't find the edition I have on Storygraph. I got it from a used book story and the publisher is Indiana University Press so I don't think it's very common. I mostly chose it for the cover, I love John William Waterhouse paintings. 

I was surprised how much easier it was to read this than The Illiad. I kind of group mythological texts together as having "old-fashioned" language but you sure can tell the difference between -750 b.c.e and 8 c.e. way of speaking. 

Certain myths get a lot of time and detail and other ones you can certainly tell Ovid was phoning it in for that story. For example Theseus slaying the Minotaur he gives like no details for, basically glossing over it. 

Some sections still carry a great emotional weight. Orpheus and Eurdice's retelling still brought tears to my eyes.

Surprisingly graphic gore and violence at certain points.

I think from the way Ovid tells the story of Acaeon he would get MeTooed if alive today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Body horror and Death

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Infidelity, Child death, and Confinement