Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Cows by Matthew Stokoe

8 reviews

voidcrawler's review against another edition

surprisingly, i found this kind of boring… i really wanted to like it though. the author’s incredibly talented and i’d read more of his work, but this fell flat for me. i gave it to roughly the halfway mark to give me something to feel, but… oh well. i’d still recommend it to anyone who wants something a little more on the disturbing side.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Excrement, and Gore

Moderate: Gaslighting and Fatphobia

carinakastano's review against another edition

this reads like a reddit mod's "edgy" bovine fanfic-- the writing is such poor quality and it's animal/fecal gore just for the sake of being gross and shocking

some things shouldn't be written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Excrement, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Vomit

x_spookybooks_x's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Rape, Animal death, Blood, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Excrement, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Abortion, Gore, and Death

tigrah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

akeila91'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

3.0

The good points of this book is the author is clearly an amazing writer, the book is so well written. The main reason I finished this book was because of how well written it was. It delivers what it says it’s going to. It makes you uncomfortable, anything “dark” you think you’ve read before it completely obliterates. 

The bad points is I think the story and character development fell short for me. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters, bar a marginal pang of sympathy for his torturous life. But that didn’t grip me enough to become emotionally invested. The only character I felt any kind of draw to was dog. I feel like had the gore and disgust been turned down just a touch and the story and characters developed a little further, this could have been a 5 star read for me. But I understand what the author was trying to do. Anyone wanting to read please heed the TW’s as there is some very serious shit in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

nate_gray's review against another edition

dark tense 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? It's complicated

2.5

terrible, i both loved and hated it. Has just about every sensitive topic in it so take that into mind if you ever decide to pick it up. i only wish it was better written, if it was it would probably be more (in)famous and popular. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Vomit

pumpkinpiechey's review against another edition

This book is written like the author grabbed at every edgy and gross concept they could to try to make the reader uncomfortable, but failed and instead was extremely predictable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

whitelaceandstrange's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I only picked up this book because I am not easily bothered by books. Reading it was not pleasant and made me feel physically ill. I forced myself to finish it and now am bothered whenever I see a cow. It is original and I've never read anything like it though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abortion, Body horror, Death, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

don't read this lol