Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison

13 reviews

peachieko's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

This book was so full of itself 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Body shaming, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Child death, Cursing, Medical content, Rape, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Addiction, Death, Excrement, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent

scaredy_toad's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Somehow I’m more upset by the MC’s “I’m not like other girls” vibe, throwing fits when called normal or told he still unfortunately is a part of society than by his nefarious deeds.

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, Body horror, Abortion, Murder, Miscarriage, Gore, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Medical content, Sexual content, Infidelity, Death, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Addiction

Moderate: Car accident, Infidelity, Death of parent, Cursing, and Fatphobia

jla's review against another edition

dark funny fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

CW necrophilia, murder, cannibalism, pregnancy loss, abortion

Why does my libby app have this book? 

This is what happens when you join your coworkers in a weird A** book club, leaving everyone to question their life choices. 

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be laughing at this book this much. This book was like being in high school in the 90s and trying to shock each other with dead baby jokes and disgusting urban dictionary sex moves. I don't know why I liked the MC so much.   Maybe I related to some of his anti-social behavior and misanthropy.  Helen God help her. He's just not that into you.  I enjoyed everything until the last 5% when it was predictable. </ spoiler>

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Murder

rowans_revenge's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.5

I think I understand what Chandler Morrison was trying to do with the first person POV and the narrator's tone, but it came off as a YA fiction monologue most of the time. Every time the narrator would go into his "I'm different than others/I'm better for this/I'm weird and fucked up, etc" monologues, I kept hearing that scene from Riverdale, the "I'm weird. I'm a weirdo." Overall, I wish Morrison had done more research into psychology and forensic pathology before writing.

I wish Morrison would have given us (readers) something meaningful to ponder while reading, something that made all the fucked up parts of the book significant. Right now, it all feels two dimensional, like it's all there just for shock value. 

That being said, if you are looking for a short horror read that will astonish you with all the fucked up things a person can do to another, it's worth giving this book a read. There were times where I legitimately brought my hand over my mouth in horror.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Gore, Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Pedophilia, Child death, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Addiction, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny and Miscarriage

This entire book is a trigger warning.

sambo_0103's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Body horror, Gore, and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical content, Drug use, Infidelity, Self harm, Death, Car accident, Child death, Sexual violence, and Rape

nerolireads's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

Honestly... I don't know where to start. I picked it up out of curiosity after hearing one of my mutuals on tiktok mentioned it, thinking 'pfffff... how bad can it be?'. BAD. Really bad. I honestly think the entire goal of the author was to gross people out. It worked. I initially DNF'd it after being introduced to the "hobby" of the second character. And then stupidly picked it back up and finished the read. I regret every word I read. 

In short; it's about a security guard in a hospital who likes to have smexy times with the dead bodies in the morgue and a maternity doctor who likes to snack on dead babies while having fun with herself. They meet and then science what combining their "hobbies" would look like. And the book ends in gore. 

It's very graphically, descriptively written with the sole purpose of making it as twisted and gross as the author is capable of. 

DO NOT RECOMMEND READING IT
(literally the only plus is that other horrorbooks are childsplay now)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Excrement, Gore, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abortion, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death, and Medical trauma

Rape is glorified in the book

fairytalefootnotes's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Gore, Medical content, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Rape, Miscarriage, Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Abortion, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity

howlinglibraries's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

1.5

 

If only she were dead.
None of this would be an issue.
But she isn't.
She's alive.
And something has happened—is happening—and it terrifies me.

Let's go ahead and address the obvious: this book is hyped as an incredibly fucked up, extreme horror story, and it definitely fits the bill when it comes to depravity. The main character's necrophilia is on full display from the beginning, but we also delve into some scenes of cannibalism, pedophilia, and glorification of rape. Morrison doesn't hold back from the messy details in any way, so this isn't a book I'd recommend to anyone who isn't already accustomed to extreme horror.

All of that said, something about the detached and repetitive nature of the narrative voice made even the most disgusting and graphic scene in this book fall short of actually affecting me. I thought based on the hype that this would be the rare book that would be "too much", but honestly, I frequently found myself bored and wishing for the story to end.

I feel bad giving this such a harsh review, but I have to say my piece: the main character is so focused on being as much of an antisocial edgelord as he possibly can be, it overshadows the gruesomeness of the entire plot. I'm not saying I needed him to feel guilty or be less of a "monster", I just needed him to stop devoting his entire life to impressing 14-year-old white boys on reddit.

I see a lot of people saying Morrison's writing is brilliant and unique because all of this is intended as satire, and maybe that's true and I'm the one who's missing something here, but either way, Dead Inside didn't work for me, and not for the reasons I expected. I'm glad it's such a successful and harrowing novella for so many other people, but given that my issues with this story were so similar to my issues with the last Chandler Morrison novella I read, I'm thinking it's time to accept that his writing isn't for me.

Also, the character who talks about how much she loved being raped at 7 years old? That entire segment made my eyes nearly roll out of my skull. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Child death, Child abuse, Incest, Murder, Infidelity, Rape, Drug abuse, Medical content, Car accident, and Drug use

laurensparkles's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

To start, I find it extremely cool that we never know the name of the main character and we never even question it. (At least... I didn't realize it until I was finished and went to talk to someone about how funny the main character is.) I audibly laughed SO many times because he's just genuinely funny even though he's sooo twisted. We know every single character's name, even the scabby bartender whose presence takes up only a page or two... but never the one narrating. Idk why, but that's just really interesting to me. In terms of actual content... There's one scene that's just unnecessary, really all of them are, but they're also necessary to make the book what it is I guess? Why do we read things like this, guys? Lol. Every boundary was blown past and made laps around. Read at your own risk and choose a more lighthearted book afterward to wipe the slate clean. Or if you're like me, go to Reddit to find another demented one to dive into. xD

(P.S. - Necrophilia wasn't listed in the content warnings, but be aware it is mentioned all throughout the book.)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Body horror, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Violence

nervous_brake397's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Abortion, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Rape, and Sexual content