Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

21 reviews

eagoldberg's review against another edition

emotional funny slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicide, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

joohd_73's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

This was good, but it ambled a bit too much for my taste. I kept wondering when it would pick up a little and the “tipping point” that the blurb described would come, and then I finished the book. I would probably read it again, I just thought that it was missing something to really make it amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, and Vomit

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.5

What the fuck did I just read?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

stacy837's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion

ecn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.75

Nothing about this story was resolved and not in a fun way. So much and so little happened that it dragged on. Easily could have been half the length. I wanted to know SO much more about every character and we were given nothing. I felt like i was a therapist sitting with a client trying to help them organize their stories and getting nowhere. The flashbacks were disjointed and only added to the trauma and grief that ran through everything but never fulling etching into to the main character’s personality, only explaining why she’s shut off.
The ending also seemed extremely abrupt. Too much was trying to be resolved in a matter of DAYS and the characters glossed over so much and so much was implied that it seemed impossible and unrealistic for them to be how things would unfold.
This book had so much promise but ended up falling so flat. I wanted more for and of every character but wasn’t given a fraction (felt very indicative of how they were treated I’m sure - maybe it’s stylistic).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kyrad4983's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

As many other reviews have mentioned - this book is not for the faint of heart. I felt nauseated, dreadful, disgusted - while the taxidermy scenes were difficult to stomach at times it was the raw chicken cooking scenes that broke me. I wanted to scream “WASH YOUR FUCKING HANDS OH MY GOD” Babes - everyone in this narrative is getting salmonella. The text oozes with grime, artfully mirroring the nasty coils of grief entangling this family. However, in the book’s attempts to raise the stakes on the gross, it runs out of steam handling the implications of said actions.

Jessa brings up the point that murdering animals is anti-social behavior and neither she nor the narrative returns to this again. The resolution sees Bastien outsourcing his “dirty deeds” but not stopping them, or contending with what that predilection might mean

It was hard to root for the characters but perhaps that says more about me than the writing itself. This is not a light read - by the time things were tied up, I had recoiled too many times to feel truly satisfied by the ending. I did appreciate the eviscerating self-reflection peppered throughout - Jessa processing the weight of her father’s death, her mom’s dildo and latex fettered grief process and the magnitude of distance created by avoidance. I would’ve loved to relish in the queerness of this book and it’s meandering path to a happy ending but I really just needed a shower.

charlieeee's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Vomit, and Pregnancy

thespinystacks's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Vomit, and Death of parent

stayathomereader's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

leah_alexandra's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a really good read. Not enjoyable, necessarily (way too many descriptions of the taxidermy process for that), but it was well-written and interesting. Arnett has a great talent for description, whether it be of animal dissection or a backyard wedding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol