Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

4 reviews

raoulalexander's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

the best short story collection I've read so far

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

daffodildyke's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

“the origin of his desire to forgo meat wasn’t environmental or even about the animals really. it was selfish. because the thought of consuming dead things, when he had been so close to dying, when he had wanted to die… was too much”

I think it is very clear that the author can lovingly and realistically create characters, especially queer characters. I think the intimacy created in some of the sex scenes was very palpable and authentic, even if I didn’t personally enjoy some of them or understand what we were getting at with others. 

I particularly liked parts of the exploration of polyamory with Lionel, Charles and Sophie - I liked that it was natural and normalised, and I feel like it had so much potential

but I feel like the moment Sophie asks Lionel to thank her for letting him sleep with Charles, that ruins a lot of the positives of their story. I think it lazily plays into stereotypical understandings of polyamory, and was entirely unnecessary. The way Sophie asks Charles to tell her about his other sexual partners is one thing - as this is done as part of what Sophie enjoys, this is something that excites her - but this weirdly out of character assertion of ownership goes against everything healthy polyamory should be!

 

I found the shortness of some stories jarring when others continued across multiple segments or chapters, and it left me wanting to know more about some of the stories, whilst also somewhat wishing it had just focused on one. I feel like Lionel was very much the character I got to know most, and I am not complaining about that, but it definitely felt unbalanced… which maybe was intentional. I think Lionel, Charles and Sophie could have been the focus of a whole novel and their domination of the collection takes away from some of the other incredibly poignant tales Taylor tells.

As an ace-spec person, maybe reading a book that largely centres on desire and sex was asking for me not to wholeheartedly enjoy it, but alas, the actual sex scenes were probably the most interesting parts of it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Blood, Medical content, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

tree_branch's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Homophobia and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, Stalking, and Outing

someonelikeblue's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood and Vomit