Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

11 reviews

50shadesofrae's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

The good Dr. Tingle proves love is real yet again. It’s nice to see someone dive into the deep horror of a mega church in an evangelical small town. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

shinypurplepants's review against another edition

4.0

Gross, horrific and romantic! Long, long list of content warnings and the biggest one isn't even recognized by Storygraph: do not read this if you cannot handle bugs, body horror and religious abuse.

Otherwise, this Tingle title is a visceral romp from abuse to self actualization. As a queer person raised in a religious household I felt seen. It is a cathartic and horrifying feeling. 8/10 highly recommended!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

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

_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

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

semisinful's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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 really loved this book,

seeing an autistic character so well represented was the icing on the cake of what makes this book special and important to me. I don’t see a lot of queer horror with happy endings and this just made me smile a lot.

Thank you Chuck Tingle.

This book was delightful and made me cry every time her chosen family accepted her autistic quirks. I’m lucky to have a family and a chosen family that accept me for my quirks and seeing it represented this way in fiction is so important.

Thank you for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Ableism, Sexism, and Sexual assault

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

A call to love in the face of self-righteousness and wilful ignorance, this book is horrifying, entertaining, and incredibly loving to those who need it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Be aware of people vomiting bugs out of their mouths, gay conversion therapy, using religion for hate and oppression, and demon imagery.

menderash's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I've been looking forward to this book since it was announced! I'm a big buckaroo for Tingle's tinglers, but also a die hard horror fan, so this was an obvious pick. I loved the first person narration from the perspective of an autistic person (as written by an autistic author!), the straightforward pragmatism brought the supernatural horrors into a very stark light, very much highlighted the gruesomeness. The plot was a fresh twist on an underutilized real life horror with a very interesting delivery. My only caveat that prevents this from getting a full five stars is that the fast pace felt TOO fast. Part of it was warranted by having such an efficient protagonist, but I felt like we weren't given enough time to sit with a plot development or emotional revelation before the next one arrived, and it kind of spoiled the gravity. I think if this book was twice as long, or even a quarter longer, the pacing would be much improved.

All in all solid 4 outta 5. Tingle does it again! I wish he'd write longer books, though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

emmehooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence and Kidnapping

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

The toxic relationship for main character and parents as well as religion and believers.