Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Split Tooth, by Tanya Tagaq

11 reviews

ikomena's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Gore, and Rape

Minor: Suicide attempt

tangerinetigerlilies's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, Body horror, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse

elorant50's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide

booksnbones13's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child death, Murder, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Body horror, and Alcoholism

elainek's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, and Child death

catapocalypse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

The description of the book doesn't do it full justice; the book is a mix of brief sections of prose, poems, and Jaime Hernandez's illustrations. The narrative is equally fragmented, but forms a powerful whole that is both fierce and vulnerable. Tagaq draws inspiration from her own life in this depiction of growing up in Nunavut that is brutally honest yet shrouded in spirits and visions. The girl at the center of the narrative roams the town and surrounding wilderness through the extended daylight of northern summers and endless night of the winters. She tries to escape the demons plaguing the adults, including alcoholism and sexual abuse. She encounters spirits with varying intentions, and at seventeen one such encounter leads to an unusual pregnancy.

I had to sit with this for a bit, because reading poetry is not something I have enough experience with. Much like Tagaq's music, it's haunting, beautiful, and explores a wide range of emotion and experience. Despite the vast difference between these experiences and my own, there were things that deeply resonated with me.

The brief length of the book and the quick pace the short sections make of it suggest a fast read, but I recommend taking your time to sit with each section, especially if you're inexperienced with poetry or more unconventional narrative styles. Please look up the content warnings if you need, as well; there is a lot of trauma explored, but also a lot of healing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Bullying

Minor: Homophobia, Body horror, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

ktrecs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Religious bigotry, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cannibalism and Vomit

yavin_iv's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Pedophilia, Rape, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Body horror, and Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Colonisation, Cancer, Blood, Self harm, Abandonment, and Murder

Minor: Vomit

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad 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? Yes

3.5

This raw and poetic memoir follows a girl growing up in Nunavut in the 1970s and 1980s, weaving in magical realism elements, often verging on the fantastic & spiritual. It's a powerful text, dealing with sometimes really heavy topics (check the TW at the bottom of this post) in an extremely poetic language - half of the chapters are actually poems. In some regards, this book reminded me of Keri Hulme's The Bone People for its deep rooting in the land and its spirituality, its narrative around childhood, and the balance between prose and poetry.
It was an unsettling read, but done on purpose. As a white European woman, I can't know first-hand what Tanya Tagaq tells about in Split Tooth, but I can bear witness, learn and empathize. Some of the discomfort I felt was also due to the topics touched on, sometimes hammered in - see the trigger warnings.
Rep : Inuit queer woman. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Suicide

kdawns13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Torture