Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

170 reviews

regaliaofchaos's review against another edition

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

3.5


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acatastrophe's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

3.5

(from my personal reading journal, July 21, 2023)
A really quick read--I started this while waiting to board at Muhammad Ali in Louisville and finished before we were even halfway to LA. Tingle is technically published extensively before this, but his previous work doesn't have a lot to do with Camp Damascus, so I'm counting it as a first novel. It's quite nice--the worldbuilding (on the demonic aspects in particular) is good, and the main character is a very competent depiction of an autistic woman (which... Tingle is autistic, so this tracks). However, there's quite a bit of degradation at the end; it's quite rushed and a little indistinct. It feels like the lore is either buried or somewhat hastily written. I was also a little disappointed that Tingle chose to never really show what the camp itself was like--I get that queer trauma might (for some) be best left off-screen, but I think the story loses quite a bit in minimizing the reality of conversion therapy. Tingle doesn't pull punches with imagery, so I don't think he should pull punches in that regard, either.
Camp Damascus follows Rose Darling, a young woman in a fundamentalist Christian community who experiences a host of bizarre events and demonic run-ins, which turn out to be side-effects of a previous stay at the titular conversion camp. Her lesbian desire is linked to aggression by an assigned demon. She works with an ex-Camp councilor, himself "ex-gay," to exterminate their minders, then reunites with her once (and once-again?) girlfriend to take down the Camp itself. Despite a rather rushed ending and a disappointing amount of pulled punches in the back half, a solid first novel and a great feat for Dr. Chuck Tingle. Love is real!

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ljallday's review against another edition

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dark hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0


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binevolentbookworm's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

this was so good!! wild!! a lil triggering, but ultimately, hopeful!

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steph_weigle's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? No

5.0


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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

This was pretty good. A little slow at first but picks up nicely. Good amount of horror (especially body horror). Love to see gay conversation camps get dismantled and bigots getting their due.
Look at trigger/content warnings beforehand! Nothing too too graphic but def could be hard to read.
Would def check out more from the author.

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atomicbritt's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-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? No

4.5


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blighted_beak's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Very fun read that was not what I expected. I like the take on demons and how that played out in the book, even tho some parts had me rolling my eyes or scratching my head. Not enough to detract from my enjoyment though

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bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

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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

4.5

Excellent look at religious homophobia and the horrors of conversion therapy that centers a character at a surprising point in her relationship to her queerness. Some of the lore didn't quite make sense, but that was okay. I loved how Rose's autism came through in the writing style. It was very friendly to me as an autistic reader. 

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rainbeauregard's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I’m not sure that I would’ve picked up this book on my own, but I did for book club, and then I couldn’t put it down. A fascinating look at the cult like sects of Christianity that are common in America and what that looks like when a member of the community doesn’t fit in exactly how they’re supposed to. 

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