Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

27 reviews

millionsofmax's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

As a queer, non-binary ex-Christian… fuck. This book was painful and hopeful and the vindication that I need against the people who called my identity delusion my entire adolescence.

And thank you, Mr. Tingle, for letting the lesbians kiss.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Gun violence

Minor: Drug use

Do not read this if religious trauma, especially as an LGBTQ person, is a triggering topic for you. While the book’s message is of hope and anger towards religious institutions that perpetuate hate towards the LGBTQ community, the details of its cult are difficult to read about.

hannah_hearts_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This was an interesting look at the intersection of religion and LGBTQ. Although I am not LGBTQChuck Tingle’s portrayals of religious experiences (both good and bad)made me feel very seen. If I didn’t think it was an invasion of his personal space, I would hug him and say, “Thank you”.  I found his writing very enjoyable and entertaining. I look forward to picking another book by him. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Vomit, and Car accident

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

This book really cemented for me that I need to read more Chuck Tingle books.

I wasn’t super sure what to expect from the book just from the blurb, but I really enjoyed it. I love how it explored sexuality and religious trauma. Rose’s personal journey of realising what her feelings were and that confusion around that was deeply relatable. It made me take to her as a MC quickly. Not just the realisation of her sexuality, but the complex feelings around religion and realising how it hurt her. I liked the variety in how characters felt about religion, each had complex but still valid feelings on it. I especially liked the contrast between Rose and Saul. While both suffered at the camp, Rose turned away from religion while Saul embraced it in a more accepting way. I appreciated that neither was depicted as wrong, it was a level of nuance I hadn’t expected.

The characters as a whole were also so well done. Each felt like a real person with complicated feelings and motivations. They all felt consistent and I understood why they were doing what they did. I was pleasantly surprised by how many characters were given depth and complexity too. It was nice that even the less that stellar characters were still people.

The book’s atmosphere and descriptions were also great. Things were described in delightfully disgusting ways. It just made everything properly creepy. Not to mention how well the book did with atmosphere and tension building. There was a deep underlying sense of dread to the book and most scenes that I really enjoyed.

The only flaw that really bothered me was how heavy handed the book could be at times. However, a lot of topics the book discussed are really complex. I think it can be helpful to clearly state what you mean when talking about such layered topics.

Overall it was an amazing read and I highly recommend it. Even if you usually a horror reader, I think it’s worth checking out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, and Grief

r3allybadusername's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was great! My only complaint would be that I wish the ending felt a little unfinished.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Gaslighting

acechemicals's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

I can't objectively review this book in any meaningful way. It resonated with me in every single way, from

memory loss due to religious abuse

to

finding a family that understands the need to protect others.

It took me four hours to read and I'm sure everyone I love is completely irritated by me reading passages or sending heart-rending quotes in DMs (or setting the book down so I could cry several times during the last quarter or so). 

Entwining religion and horror is not new by any means, but done to great effect here. Everything is scarier through Rose's eyes, because she's sheltered. And we're so used to denial of the protagonist's experiences as a trope of horror that "you didn't see anything weird" seems normal, "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this" isn't out of the ordinary, but it ratchets up seamlessly and quickly for Rose in a way anyone familiar with high-control religion would recognize immediately.

I want everyone to read this. I also want to cry for the next six months. And I couldn't have asked for a better ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Car accident

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug use, and Gun violence

_readerfromtheblacklagoon_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense 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

4.0

I learned earlier today that the Bible only started using the word “homosexual” and its other forms in 1946. Evidently, the same word was previously translated as masturbator and its various forms. So conversion therapy, I would guess, probably only followed suit after homosexuality became demonized by the Church (otherwise, there’d be no church if they had to convert every masturbator to what exactly????).

Gay people have been around since the beginning of time, because more of us are scientifically gayer than “polite” society wants to admit (sexuality is a range spanning heterosexuality to homosexuality with lots of shades in between). So the idea of conversion camps fascinates me. Why are we trying to homogenize the world? What is the deep fear or desire motivating it? Thus, I had to read this book, and it wasn’t exactly what I expected, but that’s partially because I forgot to read the small print saying it was also a horror book. However, I suppose it is a horrible experience for those forced to undergo it. And I imagine a lot of what’s in the book might be true enough (the cost and the brainwashing).

Mostly, I’m glad there’s a book for questioning young people to read that lets them know there’s nothing wrong with them and that they have the power to resist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

christcore's review against another edition

3.5

Really wanted to like it for the unique setting, but this is one of those books that just REEKS of "debut novel." The prose was clunky and repetitive, and there were SO many sentences that I could predict in my mind. I rolled my eyes at the writing at least a dozen time while listening to the audiobook.

Honestly, the plot was predictable too. Sometimes you come across a story that is so close to good, but just can't quite get there. It's sad. 

The horror was interesting and had the potential to be scary (demons, insects, cults...) but all fell flat. I think this is an issue of poor editing more than anything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Vomit

Moderate: Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

Minor: Cursing and Deadnaming

amaranth_wytch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying

brioches22's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail