Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

71 reviews

liter_aly's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racism, Torture, and Medical trauma

newyork_lilt's review against another edition

dark 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

tales_told_in_gold's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Cancer and Grief

emequalsme's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Racism and Murder

bonnie3088's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was great!! It's not only thought provoking and incredibly addictive. 
It has many layers on how interconnected a person's identifiers are to how thwy are treated in the US.

This book offers a great commentary on women, racism, and class issues pertaining to Healthcare. 

A lot of the reviews on this book seem harsh, and I am here to stand on the premise that they are either not fully digesting the information or choose to critique with a distorted lens just because they can. 

I loved how creepy and detailed the scenes were. Especially how the narrative shifts based on the MC own mental state. The whole book felt like a fever dream which is the point. The constant guessing was balanced by the MC's mother who stood as the grounding force for the whole piece. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug use, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Classism

samspur's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Read for a book club.

Very interesting dystopian premise. Lena drops out of college to pay family debts by working for a government research program.

She has to sign an NDA and weird/brutally things are done to her and other participants. Or is it all just a dream?

Lena continued to endure these trials because of her devotion to her family. While I wish we would have got to know the characters a bit better, I really loved Lena, Charlie, and Deziree. I loved that Lena gave silly names for the people that worked at Lakewood. It caught me by surprise that the book change formats at times. There were parts in this book that had me ill (

teeth, mushrooms, apricots to name a few!

). There were parts about medical racism and preying on those in a financial crisis. 

All of her dreams circled around the idea that she was having pieces of her taken or destroyed even when she would try to get them to see that she is a real person.

I wish there was a little more resolution in the ending, but

I'm interested to read Megan Giddings' future books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Medical content, and Murder

snazzy10101's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I’m probably too stupid for this book. I loved the commentary about the very real history of medical experimentation on Black people (especially women) in America, but the narrative style was over my head. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, and Chronic illness

calicodoll's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Medical trauma

beccalynnfrank's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, and Medical trauma