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virgohorror's reviews
8 reviews
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
while this book is great for many reasons, don’t go in expecting the movie. puzo takes his time with this narrative, and often leads the reader into long, ponderous detours about side characters that can get pretty tiresome after a while. it’s a family saga in the most literal sense of the phrase, with all that entails. still, what’s good is fucking good. there’s a reason this is a classic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
I, Q by Peter David, John de Lancie
adventurous
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
the idea of john de lancie helping co-write a first-person book about q is very fun, and having listened to the audiobook narrated by the man himself did bump up my enjoyment a bit. the plot is often messy and a bit obtuse, but if you’re willing to ignore that it’s a decently fun time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
a fictional terrorist attack is a plot point, and the scene includes a brief but somewhat graphic description of a woman’s corpse and the injuries she sustained in the attack.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-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
5.0
perhaps the most stomach-churning gore i’ve ever read, all in the service of some of the best and most biting satire of capitalist excess in literature. patrick bateman is a psycho only america could produce, and this book is a goddamn classic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
there is….. so much to trigger warm for in this book. there is nastiness of every kind on nearly every page. if you can think of something gross, patrick bateman has probably done it.
Re-Animator: The Novelization by Jeff Rovin
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
not even sure how to review or tag this bc like. re-animator (1985) is my favorite movie of all time, so naturally as soon as i heard this book existed i needed to seek it out. is it a good book? absolutely not. am i perversely fascinated by it? yes. have i read it three times back to front? also yes. there’s some truly baffling stuff in this book. i will probably read it multiple more times.
Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana
the main character is revealed to have molested her younger brother throughout their childhood. no punches are pulled — much is alluded to, but there’s a fair bit of graphic depiction of the abuse.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
one of the best written horror novels i’ve ever laid eyes on. triana’s prose absolutely sings, and there are scenes in this book that, while incredibly disgusting and violent, are described so beautifully. i also just love his willingness to feature an unrepentantly vile man character — lori suuuuucks, and yet i was totally invested in her journey and wanted to see where she’d end up next. just an absolute gem of a book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Gaslighting