Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

314 reviews

eliof's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

What a beautiful gorgeous book. Holy shit. Visceral and angry and cathartic and gory and hopeful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

readingelli's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

ewinnk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

aplemus's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

this is surprisingly healing in a gay kid kicked out of church for being different and still has a holy kind of vengeful spite they needed to release kinda way

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, and Dysphoria

helixlhart's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Body horror, Gore, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Deadnaming, Genocide, and Toxic relationship

aspen_suxs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Outing, and Dysphoria

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

hippievamp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism

doctorw0rm's review against another edition

4.25

this was a tough read, especially towards the end, not because it’s not good but because the descriptions of dysphoria and the transphobia Benji faces were so authentic and relatable. i’ve never been in any situation nearly as awful as what Benji goes through in this book, but I think all trans people have been through some version of many of the events, like learning that someone important to you is misgendering you or doesn’t view you the way they said they did, or just realizing how bullshit the rules of the society you’re accustomed to are. 
I wasn’t a fan of Nick.

I never forgave him for using the wrong pronouns for Benji. Every autistic person I’ve ever met has respected trans people’s pronouns, so his black and white thinking being the reason he called Benji “it” just doesn’t work for me. Yes, it technically was not for transphobic reasons, it was because he didn’t view Benji as a real person. But if that isn’t a metaphor for how trans people are so often dehumanized which leads to people intentionally misgendering us to be cruel, then what was it? That had to be what White was going for, right? And while I know people can change and learn from their mistakes, I think Benji forgave Nick WAYYY too easily, and should not have apologized for comparing Nick to his mother. If I found out that a cute cis guy friend I liked was intentionally misgendering me behind my back, I would tear his throat out with my teeth, not continue to consider him as a romantic interest. I also just didn’t really buy their chemistry. Nothing about their relationship stood out as particularly profound or romantic to me.

I wish Benji had gotten to hang out with the other transmascs more,

just because Calvin was terrible doesn’t mean the rest of them are.

Literally the best part of being transmasc is hanging out with other transmascs.  
That’s really my only gripe with the book though.

Seeing Theo through Benji’s eyes go from a flawed romantic partner to a monster was great! Benji’s turmoil at having to pretend to continue to like him while he’s at New Nazareth was great! Really all of New Nazareth was great.

The book really shines in its descriptions of body horror,

and Benji describing the monster he had been turned into by the church was fascinating and horrifying. I definitely preferred the latter half of the book because of this, since most of the relationships Benji built at the youth shelter seemed pretty surface-level and not all that interesting, except for maybe Cormac since he started out an asshole and then they warmed up to each other.

I can’t wait to see what Andrew Joseph White will do with his Adult book, when he isn’t restrained by the barriers of the YA genre! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Murder, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Sexual content

fuqing_god's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

steinheimer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, War, and Classism