Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

9 reviews

allthehopeyouneed's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

I don’t even know where to start with this review. 

It was a little slow for me at the beginning, as I’m not used to this type of storytelling and usually don’t enjoy reading a first person POV. But about 30 pages and I was totally hooked and engrossed in the mystery that surrounds the story. It was so interesting and made keep hoping that there might be a different end. Despite the fact there’s heavy foreshadowing and plain text throughout the story that says it does not. Which I think really shows how good the story and characters were that I wanted the end to be different even though I knew it wasn’t going to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide, and Body horror

gabbynasty's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Cancer, Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Kidnapping, Suicide, Blood, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Murder, Infertility, Suicide attempt, and Violence

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Some thought provoking statements throughout the book!

Intriguing story that gave me darker “unbreakable kimmy Schmidt” vibes. There’s no real answers to why the women are held, where they are, etc which I didn’t love or hate. It made sense for the story to not give us answers but I don’t always enjoy books like that either.

I enjoyed it enough, and can understand why others love the book. It’s a character driven book and the pace of the story jumps around a lot through time, skipping years at a time. Overall not a bad book and one I may dwell on for some time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Confinement, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Cancer, and Suicide

circe1892's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Body horror

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, and Cancer

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Dementia, Body horror, Cancer, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

deetabz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Excrement, Confinement, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Infertility, Body shaming, and Cancer

Minor: Sexual content, War, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Drug abuse

marieke17's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book is so beautiful. I would recommend it to literally everyone. Reading about a group of woman that escaped a prison not knowing what to expect but still having hope in finding other people. <The way they have so much respect for the dead every time the find a new bunker or when one of them dies. The way this woman decides to follow her dream to keep looking after she’s the only one left.> The way she doesn’t know anything other than what the other women have told her and how she wants to know everything.
This book leaves me in tears, questions and a smile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Excrement

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Confinement, and Body horror

Minor: Blood, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Excrement

jenail's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

this book is really really dark to the point that I am still thinking about it a full month after having read it. definitely worth the read. very much an allegory for the holocaust/world war 2 in general once you pick up on the themes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror