lindseywinter's review against another edition
dark
sad
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
2.5
meganyntan's review against another edition
1.0
From all the extreme horror I've been reading recently this one takes the cake and not in a good way. Good to know I'm still slightly sane
tales_of_a_succubus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
What's it about?
Zoey is kidnapped off the Manhattan streets and is brought into the torture that is one man's horrendous vision. Forced into a life where she must endure unspeakable thins, she has to play the game in order to find a means of escape.
This is definitely a book I do not recommend everyone jumps to read. However if you love splatterpunk and can handle the triggers, this may be something you fly through. That being said: the rape and sexual torture/content is the worst I have ever read. And that's saying something, trust me.
So let's start with the premise: an overweight woman is abducted after a mysterious girl in a bookstore offers her something. Now I can't get into exact details for the sake of leaving this spoiler-free but she is taken to a facility run by a madman. While there, she along with many other women, are forced to endure torture tactics along with brutalized rape. It's awful and barbaric. Many of the scenes made me feel sick after reading them. It's merciless violence, scene after scene, no breaks. And oh no, it doesn't stop there. About two thirds of the way through IT GETS WORSE. How, one may ask. And I will tell you that I simply don't know but I'd love to be in this woman's mind for a day! The ending tore me apart. There were so many moments in this novella where I didn't know what to do with myself.
There was little character development, which I kind of longed for. At times, it did get repetitive. I've got conflicting emotions though purely because this is the first book in a long time that has actually left me scared during and after reading it. And for that, I applaud the author because this is hard to do. That is what horror is about, isn't it?
Oftentimes, this is considered essential reading in splatterpunk. Read at your own risk.
I'd recommend this strictly to extreme horror fans, people into BDSM, and for people wanting to brush up on torture horror concepts. Anyone else & this won't sit well with you. It's a lot to take in and there were many times I had to take a break from reading to absorb and collect my thoughts.
Zoey is kidnapped off the Manhattan streets and is brought into the torture that is one man's horrendous vision. Forced into a life where she must endure unspeakable thins, she has to play the game in order to find a means of escape.
This is definitely a book I do not recommend everyone jumps to read. However if you love splatterpunk and can handle the triggers, this may be something you fly through. That being said: the rape and sexual torture/content is the worst I have ever read. And that's saying something, trust me.
So let's start with the premise: an overweight woman is abducted after a mysterious girl in a bookstore offers her something. Now I can't get into exact details for the sake of leaving this spoiler-free but she is taken to a facility run by a madman. While there, she along with many other women, are forced to endure torture tactics along with brutalized rape. It's awful and barbaric. Many of the scenes made me feel sick after reading them. It's merciless violence, scene after scene, no breaks. And oh no, it doesn't stop there. About two thirds of the way through IT GETS WORSE. How, one may ask. And I will tell you that I simply don't know but I'd love to be in this woman's mind for a day! The ending tore me apart. There were so many moments in this novella where I didn't know what to do with myself.
There was little character development, which I kind of longed for. At times, it did get repetitive. I've got conflicting emotions though purely because this is the first book in a long time that has actually left me scared during and after reading it. And for that, I applaud the author because this is hard to do. That is what horror is about, isn't it?
Oftentimes, this is considered essential reading in splatterpunk. Read at your own risk.
I'd recommend this strictly to extreme horror fans, people into BDSM, and for people wanting to brush up on torture horror concepts. Anyone else & this won't sit well with you. It's a lot to take in and there were many times I had to take a break from reading to absorb and collect my thoughts.
mrfrank's review against another edition
3.0
There is a sort of mental preparation that one should go through before tackling Monica j. O'Rourke's SUFFER THE FLESH. First, you should not read this after reading anything depressing previous to it (which I did.) You should be familiar with the tropes found in an extreme horror story (which I am.) You should be a well adjusted and generally content member of society before starting to read this (I also like to believe I fit into this category.)
Once you are sure you can handle this, open the first page and prepare to have your wherewithal challenged. This is extreme horror to the extreme. It is violent. It is disturbing. It is rapey. Oh boy is it rapey. It is oh so so so rapey. It is not a comfortable read at all.
And those things, I can handle.
There were, however, some elements to the story line that I had trouble getting on board with. For instance (without being spoilery) the reason the bunker exists was a bit hard to get behind. And that's rough because what happens in the bunker is the brunt of the story. Also, the actions are so extreme as to start becoming over-the-top unbelievable. It's extreme horror and too much should not be enough but in this case it hurt a certain expectation of realism and took me out of the story somewhat.
Still, SUFFER THE FLESH, is action filled, blood spattered, violent and unforgiving. It messes with your emotions and leaves you feeling a little grimy when all is said and done. It's not the best extreme horror that I've read but it will certainly be a memorable one.
Once you are sure you can handle this, open the first page and prepare to have your wherewithal challenged. This is extreme horror to the extreme. It is violent. It is disturbing. It is rapey. Oh boy is it rapey. It is oh so so so rapey. It is not a comfortable read at all.
And those things, I can handle.
There were, however, some elements to the story line that I had trouble getting on board with. For instance (without being spoilery) the reason the bunker exists was a bit hard to get behind. And that's rough because what happens in the bunker is the brunt of the story. Also, the actions are so extreme as to start becoming over-the-top unbelievable. It's extreme horror and too much should not be enough but in this case it hurt a certain expectation of realism and took me out of the story somewhat.
Still, SUFFER THE FLESH, is action filled, blood spattered, violent and unforgiving. It messes with your emotions and leaves you feeling a little grimy when all is said and done. It's not the best extreme horror that I've read but it will certainly be a memorable one.
lauriereadslohf's review against another edition
2.0
One of the most demented, disturbing books I've ever read. A chubby young lady listens and buys into a stranger's story about losing weight. Before you know it, she's kidnapped and held captive in a house of horrors where the demented pay big bucks to play out their fantasies on these innocent young women (who are basically starved into submission). This one started out interesting but devolved into one big gross out fest. I got bored about midway through despite the constant battering over the head with atrocities set up to outdo the previous ones.
xterminal's review
3.0
Monica J. O'Rourke, Suffer the Flesh (Prime, 2002)
The first thing I noticed about Suffer the Flesh, unfortunately, has nothing to do with Monica O'Rourke's novel; it has to do with the fact that the novel is peppered with typos. Not an insane amount, maybe one every ten pages or so, but enough to be in stark contrast to Prime's more recent offerings, which are obsessive about typos in a way the big houses used to be. Makes me understand why some authors I know who have a disdain for the press might feel the way they do; that said, I'd urge them to give it a second chance, because their recent work is sterling.
That said, how's the book itself? I was quite surprised by it, to tell the truth. O'Rourke is one of those who's been held up recently as one of the poster kids for the new extreme horror movement, and I've read the odd short story or two that's piqued my interest. So perhaps my surprise at finding her first full-length to be a somewhat run-of-the-mill S&M porn novel. Don't get me wrong, it's good S&M porn, far more Pan Pantziarka than Jeremy Reed (or, god help us, Anne Rice), but it's not really horror. At least, not if you've previously read S&M porn, and have the two in separate categories in your head already. Instead, it comes across as a survival-thriller type book with lots of sex involved-- sex of the nonconsensual, ugly, brutal kind that it would probably be a good idea if some folks who are easily triggered didn't read.
One of the things that distinguishes literate porn from the type one gets from Beeline Press (do they even still exist?) is that good porn's got a plot, however thin it may be, and a hook into that plot, no pun intended. Suffer the Flesh has both in spades. Zoey is a programmer for a large, faceless corporation, another anonymous New York City denizen who hangs around in the bookstore drinking coffee and reading in lieu of having a social life. Kind of overweight, perhaps (and the kind of person who believes that "kind of overweight" is actually "monstrously fat"), but not morbidly obese. She is approached in the stacks at Barnes and Noble one day by one of those thin, pretty types of girls, and an odd conversation ensues, the end result of which is Zoey being kidnapped and inducted into the world's most extreme weight loss plan. (If you've got "Quitters, Inc." in the back of your mind, you're not far off, but O'Rourke goes places within thirty pages that King would have been justifiably scared to even allude to.) From there, ugliness ensues. There is a major plot twist about halfway through the novel, but it's impossible to hint at what it might be without major spoilers.
I had a combination of "Quitters, Inc." and Pantziarka's House of Pain playing a refrain through my head while reading this; if you've read both works, you've probably got a good idea of what to expect. The brevity of the book (at just a hundred forty-three pages, it almost seems like it should be called a novella) tends to make it more plot-focused than I usually like, but O'Rourke draws her major characters, at least, in more than two dimensions. This allows her to get farther under her skin than she normally could (and there's a great illustration of how this works about halfway through the novel, when a minor character comes to great harm; it's my guess the reader will not care less, because we know almost nothing about the character, while a more three-dimensional character is in some peril at the same time, and this one we care about more).
If you're seeking a straight horror novel, you'll likely find this somewhat disappointing. If you go into it with an open mind (and an empty stomach), however, you may well find yourself with a good deal to like from an author with a great deal of potential. ***
The first thing I noticed about Suffer the Flesh, unfortunately, has nothing to do with Monica O'Rourke's novel; it has to do with the fact that the novel is peppered with typos. Not an insane amount, maybe one every ten pages or so, but enough to be in stark contrast to Prime's more recent offerings, which are obsessive about typos in a way the big houses used to be. Makes me understand why some authors I know who have a disdain for the press might feel the way they do; that said, I'd urge them to give it a second chance, because their recent work is sterling.
That said, how's the book itself? I was quite surprised by it, to tell the truth. O'Rourke is one of those who's been held up recently as one of the poster kids for the new extreme horror movement, and I've read the odd short story or two that's piqued my interest. So perhaps my surprise at finding her first full-length to be a somewhat run-of-the-mill S&M porn novel. Don't get me wrong, it's good S&M porn, far more Pan Pantziarka than Jeremy Reed (or, god help us, Anne Rice), but it's not really horror. At least, not if you've previously read S&M porn, and have the two in separate categories in your head already. Instead, it comes across as a survival-thriller type book with lots of sex involved-- sex of the nonconsensual, ugly, brutal kind that it would probably be a good idea if some folks who are easily triggered didn't read.
One of the things that distinguishes literate porn from the type one gets from Beeline Press (do they even still exist?) is that good porn's got a plot, however thin it may be, and a hook into that plot, no pun intended. Suffer the Flesh has both in spades. Zoey is a programmer for a large, faceless corporation, another anonymous New York City denizen who hangs around in the bookstore drinking coffee and reading in lieu of having a social life. Kind of overweight, perhaps (and the kind of person who believes that "kind of overweight" is actually "monstrously fat"), but not morbidly obese. She is approached in the stacks at Barnes and Noble one day by one of those thin, pretty types of girls, and an odd conversation ensues, the end result of which is Zoey being kidnapped and inducted into the world's most extreme weight loss plan. (If you've got "Quitters, Inc." in the back of your mind, you're not far off, but O'Rourke goes places within thirty pages that King would have been justifiably scared to even allude to.) From there, ugliness ensues. There is a major plot twist about halfway through the novel, but it's impossible to hint at what it might be without major spoilers.
I had a combination of "Quitters, Inc." and Pantziarka's House of Pain playing a refrain through my head while reading this; if you've read both works, you've probably got a good idea of what to expect. The brevity of the book (at just a hundred forty-three pages, it almost seems like it should be called a novella) tends to make it more plot-focused than I usually like, but O'Rourke draws her major characters, at least, in more than two dimensions. This allows her to get farther under her skin than she normally could (and there's a great illustration of how this works about halfway through the novel, when a minor character comes to great harm; it's my guess the reader will not care less, because we know almost nothing about the character, while a more three-dimensional character is in some peril at the same time, and this one we care about more).
If you're seeking a straight horror novel, you'll likely find this somewhat disappointing. If you go into it with an open mind (and an empty stomach), however, you may well find yourself with a good deal to like from an author with a great deal of potential. ***
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