Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

9 reviews

kelsiepixler's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Transphobia and Forced institutionalization

biobeetle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Dysphoria

Minor: Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

dark medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Honestly with all the warnings I listed it still doesn’t feel like enough

shysheepys's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

Read for a challenge, found on Book-tok. Don't think I'd ever pick this one up ever again, nor do I want to think on it ever again. I do think the overall theme was intersting, and it reads from an interesting, unreliable narrator, which is one of my favorite book types. Spoiler ahead:

A lof of people seem to hate that Frank turned out to be trans. I don't think that is the problem with this book. the gross over use of animal abuse is really the biggest turn-off for me. Overall, realizing that Frank was done wrong by the only person he ever trusted or seemed to love in his life was the hardest part of all. I think the part with Frank assuming that his dad was trans was a really intersting thought to consider, and the reveal of Frank being AFAB as an "expieriment" is equally frustrating but horrifying, and isn't that part of being a horror novel?

Definately made me sad, but I wouldn't reccomend this to anyone nor share that I had read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Transphobia, Blood, and Dysphoria

Minor: Suicide and War

karaboureview's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Incest, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

This might be just a me thing, but the chapter titled

"What Happened to Eric" really redefines body horror, in my book,

and deserves a content warning all its own. Also, this isn't a tag option, but:

mutilation of animals both dead and living, and the (implied and actual) mutilation of people.

lizardgod's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

• I really can't decide if I hate this book or not, on some aspects, the trans representation is decent for the book's genre yet the only reason Frank is trans in the first place is due to trauma. It is interesting that the view of not aligning to the gender he was raised and the struggles with masculinity is more accurately depicted than most books written by actual trans authors. This book is honestly really good to me and my written summary does not do the book justice. It does take effort to start but it escalates very quickly once you realize what's going on. Also it starts with a lot of cryptic symbolism however all of it makes sense by the end instead of having to figure it out based on personal interpretation/author inference, a feature I personally enjoy in books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Incest

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

anapauggarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved it! 
It is so scary just to be in the kid's mind!
I am so glad I got to read this book, it has been by far one of my favorite horror books I've ever read. 
First, let's talk about the main character: Frank. OMG, he is scary! He is a kid and young adult, and a psycho in the same mind. The beliefs he holds in his head and the obsession he has with every single aspect of his life just scared me so much. 
I was more scared to be in his mind that to read what was going on around him. 
It scared me so much the line that took the story, from making us disgusted with this kid to actually understanding him. It was such a great story, I have never enjoyed that much being in the villain's mind. 
Then his brother...OMG he is also scary! Every telephone call they have I will just get super scared. I was so tense until they hung up. The way the brother spoke made him sound even more unstable than Frank, and all we knew was that he was coming our way. 
The only complaint I will have would be that the book kind of makes us think that the story will be about the encounter between Frank and his brother Eric. So during the entire book, I was waiting for these scenes to happen, and the resolution to this feels kind of rushed and super short. I was expecting more from this plotline. 
But it was also interesting to get such an immersive sight of the protagonist's life. As I said before, it was impressive how we started hating him and then we understood. 
I wasn't expecting such a good plot twist. I thought the story was going to go in another direction, but WOW. It really changed my perspective toward the main character and made me question if someone could really get that evil for the same reason as he did. 
It was a great book. My mind was completely blown away. I give it 5 stars easily. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Murder

This book might not be the best for people that would not feel comfortable understanding certain reasons why someone could certain violent acts.

rsharpe97's review against another edition

dark medium-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, and Dysphoria