Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green

11 reviews

erinkellyreads's review against another edition

I just couldn't push myself to listen to more cruel and bloody things happening to queer and trans people. It didn't feel like an expose or homage - it felt salacious and invasive. Just couldn't do it right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

josephsand's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, and Violence

jmross10's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

I will not be rating this book owing to the subject matter but that is not a reflection of my feelings. 

I think it was very well written and does not suffer from timeline confusion many historical nonfiction books do. It follows the narrative in a mostly linear fashion which makes it easier for readers to follow. 

Green did a good job of explaining the circumstances around the murders but also, in my opinion, trying to make these men more than just victims. He took the time to tell their life story separate from their tragic deaths which is so important. It forces readers to remember they are people and not just another name on the page. 

There is an air of mystery around the outcome which Green handles well. Not for the sake of monopolizing on the unknown but because that’s where it makes the most sense in the narrative. Once they start looking for legitimate suspects, the information about those individuals (including the guilty parties) is revealed. 

As a whole, I think it did a good job recounting the events. It had some information about forensics practices but didn’t overwhelm the reader with it. The historical context was helpful for those who didn’t have that information without being dry or feeling alienating. There was discussion of politics and society as well that made the history more fleshed out than just dates. Lastly, the commentary from his interviewees was well used and distributed throughout the book. It felt like a cohesive narrative and not just a hodge podge of other people’s work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, Outing, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

goose's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

3.75

I wanted to love this book more than I did, but maybe Green’s writing style isn’t for me. The writing of the book isn’t straightforward and sometimes take a meandering stroll down an avenue that you can’t quite figure out the relevance of until the next page break. However, in terms of bringing to light a forgotten case as well as bringing to life that time in Manhattan for queer people it does a great job. I also think centering the book around the victims and their lives is how true crime should be. I do wish we got to hear more from the Anti Violence Group, maybe that would be for a different book. I also commend the sheer amount of work researching for the book must have been. Truly bravo on that front. The followups in the epilogue as well as in the addition written in 2021 for this edition were a nice treat, even though they come with bad news. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia

bloom_18's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

This account of the gruesome murders of four queer men in the 1990’s is well researched and generally well structured. It’s an enjoyable- and sometimes horrifying read. However, the author’s sensitivity to language sometimes feels awkward. In the sentence after he describes, with jarring detail, the way a victim was found, Green remarks that the victims favorite bar was a blazer mandatory- “pen in pocket”- affair. This remark is upsetting because, well, another word that begins with “pen” was just at the crux of a brutal image. Anyways- no book can have it all. 

Ultimately, the best books about queer life and queer violence are written by queer people. Green is an empathetic writer, but his exploration of queerness is largely limited to sexual preference. Queerness can be so much more than that. Check out david wojnarowicz‘s memoir if you want to read more about queer life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

book_enjoyer's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

I’m not usually one for true crime, or even fictional murder mysteries, but I enjoyed this one. Green lays out the details of the Last Call Killer’s murders in unflinching, brutal detail, but he takes equal care with the victims’ lives and the gay bar culture that forms the setting of the book. As a queer reader, I appreciated that the book didn’t feel like it was written for a straight audience—Green doesn’t pause to explain what a bear or a leather daddy is, for example—and didn’t shy away from detailing the level of casual homophobia present at the time. In the epilogue, Green expresses some hesitancy as to whether he, a straight man, should be telling this story: “Could I do right by the queer community and its history? That’s not for me to say. What I tried to do in this book was let my sources tell the story.” In my opinion, he has risen to this challenge. Last Call is compelling, atmospheric, and thoroughly-researched, and it sheds light on a brutal serial killer whose actions were ignored for too long because of his victims’ sexuality. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Medical content, and Alcohol

arlangrey17's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol

hmatt's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

2.5

I'm firmly out of my true crime phase, but I suspect this book might be better liked by those who are more interested in the genre. 

I found the narration pretty dry and scattered. I know the author was attempting to tell the victims' stories, but it resulted in so many tangents about people who had no relevance to the crimes and made it hard for me to follow the main story. There wasn't a whole lot of mystery to the whole thing, but I don't think there was supposed to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

It's true crime, so everything that's described is done in a very matter-of-fact way and is not glorified if that makes a difference.

doric's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

alylentz's review against another edition

dark funny informative medium-paced

4.0

Absolutely loved this. Accomplished the very difficult mission of true crime that examines the killer while really giving us a sense of who the victims were and the sense of loss they left behind. I enjoyed it as an audiobook and I think that would be a great choice for those who already listen to true crime podcasts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder