Reviews with content warning for Gore - Paradise Rot

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval

13 reviews

librarymouse's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

Similar to her later book Girls Against God, Jenny Hval's Paradise Rot queers the human body through its association with decay, excrement, and bodily fluids. The whole book reads as a fever dream and ends with Jo having moved out, struggling to remember the details of Carral, rotting and sick from their shared apartment. Time moves slowly in the narrative, but the passing of time is denoted by the rotting of the apples that their relationship was predicated on. The thread of Carral's com-het, and the consistent creepiness of their writer neighbor managed to sustain the majority of the dread in the novel, whereas the anachronistic mushrooms and the motif of rot served as an addition of surrealism. Aspects of the novel are frustratingly relatable as a renter with landlords who don't take care of mold problems. As a librarian, Carral's desecration and theft of a library book are more frustrating than markers of the illicit.

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abbytstuart's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

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petit_lecteur's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

This is literally why I have a hate/love relationship with descriptions of plants and body fluids….to put it lightly…

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tabithaecw's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.75

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pixie_dust's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This book felt like a surreal rollercoaster ride with a hint of pee and rotten apples. It's not my cup of tea per say, but I kept reading because I felt curious of what's gonna happen next. Needless to say, this book is hard to recommend to other people.

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