Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

65 reviews

hfrancesh's review

challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Medical content, Death, Confinement, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Addiction, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer

cady_sass's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

YIKES okay extreme horror might not be for me… this is widely understood to be one of the most disturbing books ever written and I can absolutely vouch. I am disgusted. Revolted. Horrified. Sickened. Every other synonymous descriptive word you can think of, I feel it. I hate this, and I hate that I know it will fester in my brain for a long, long time. The body horror is so gruesomely well depicted it may make you sick if you have a weak stomach, let alone some of the other content. This ain’t for me, but if you’re into deranged and depraved horror this is likely a 5 star book. It definitely accomplished what it set out to do, so… points for that. The writing is pretty spectacular when you take a moment to separate that from the actual content, if not a little overly verbose in more than a few parts. 

I’m going to stress again that I recommend this book to absolutely no one - look up the content warnings and read responsibly 🤢

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Alcohol, Blood, Incest, Addiction, Confinement, Gore, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Necrophilia

ryankaybee's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Drug use, Gore, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Excrement, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Torture

gia0203's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.75

It’s a subversive story, perhaps even an important one, but I didn’t find myself engaged with it. It felt far from the extreme gay horror I was expecting. At times it was poignant but at others it felt rushed and cliche. 

I like it far more on reflection than when I was reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Addiction and Xenophobia

cammaleahh's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Torture, Murder, Gore, Rape, Drug use, Death, Cannibalism, Blood, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Racism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Suicide

quietlex's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I have no complaints. As twisted as it is, I was cheering inside when Andrew and Jay finally found each other. To be able to know another so deeply at their core, and have your fleeting time together ripped away so soon. This is a beautifully written dark horror, eloquent and right to the point. The ending feels a bit rushed and sad, such is death. Very fitting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Police brutality, Rape, Drug use, Pedophilia, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Dementia, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Incest, Kidnapping, Abortion, Addiction, Self harm, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Death, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Cannibalism, and Cursing

niccolowilliam's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

It started out horrible then got slightly better towards the end. Dont get me wrong i love disturbing and grotesque things. It honestly wasnt the way they talked about cannibalism and necrophillia it was the weird was they talked about asians and the fact that its clearly Jeffery dahmer 'inspired' (im using the nicer word) which made me really uncomfortable. His victims were real people and the author is definitely not in the demographic that dahmer went after to say the least so ot just feels tone deaf. Every gay charecter is a negative stereotype and

Spoiler

jay and andrew dont even meet until near the end of the story but the summary makes it seem like the main point of the book will be them together not just the mediocre conclusion

Even the sexual and gory stuff (so every other page) felt more for the sake of being shocking and disturbing than weaving an actual plot sometimes. I gave it two stars because there are definitely some moments i liked but i dont even have the energy to write every single issue i had with this story down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Body horror, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Xenophobia, Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Outing, Stalking, Slavery, Incest, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Vomit, Domestic abuse, and Police brutality

clervalstein's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I surprisingly really liked this book. I thought it was just gonna be shock horror, but the gore isn't for shock, and I found the character's morals to be incredibly interesting, especially the people of WHIV and Tran. It didn't catch me at first but I really fell with it after a while. It is a very good representation of the AIDS crisis and genuinely made me cry sometimes. I loved it very much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cannibalism, and Gore

cnossek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, Abandonment, Body horror, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Chronic illness, Classism, Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Torture

firstknight's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Drug use, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Addiction, Murder, Rape, Gore, Body horror, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Homophobia, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Medical content

Minor: Infidelity, Hate crime, and Incest