perthy
Oh man. This memoir was really well written. The content was difficult to read but completely worth it. It's hard to imagine that this is the reality of so many kids in so many countries. I also really loved the approach of writing a book like this. It showed such tenderness and love towards her parents regardless of their issues and I thought that was really special.
The first one was better.
First I'm going to say that the plot felt very convoluted at times. A part in particular where Harold ingests a shit ton of meth and begins to hallucinate The Slob?? This makes no sense as Harold has never seen this man before in his life. That just completely took me out of a story that I considered to take place in reality.
Next and probably the biggest thing. The racism and ableism. To me, the book could've went without both. I understand he is a Vietnam vet and unfortunately that's very rooted in racism but coming from a white guy, it just feels wrong. During the first 40% of the book, Harold comes across as a neglected disabled kid that gets abused at school, the descriptions make it seem like it's villainizing Harold for his mental illnesses and the trauma he's facing. Yuck. Maybe that wasn't the authors intentions but it still came across that way.
I do appreciate the discussion about sexual abuse of children by the church.
The descriptions were vivid and so descriptive, it felt like I was there (terrifying).
I'm going to keep giving Aron another chance because I feel like ill be able to find THE book.
Thank you so much Net Gallery for the ARC!
Can I just say that the cover is fantastic?
The art was phenomenal, the plots = outrageous. The body horror was done right and stomach churning at points! Well done! I'm going to explain some of my ratings for each story. Especially one in particular (😶)
Labyrinth Quartet3.5⭐️This story was good and the art style at moments was.. alright. I think when comparing to some other horror mangas, it's really in the middle. Solid horror but I wouldn't recommend.
Curse Room4.25⭐️This was kind of awesome and a great take on zombies. I thought the storyline was interesting and I found myself at times really shocked and surprised. Overall a really cool story and one I would recommend.
Family Portrait (😭)0.5⭐️Oh my god. Why was this a story. Firstly we need to discuss the pedophilia. WHAT THE FUCK. There was no need for the book to include pedophilia. Sometimes I can see when a book does include those themes that do it with grace and care. This was not that. It seemed to me like it was completely glorifying this and it made it seem like pedophilia and INCEST is normal. Which, I don't need to explain how that's messed up.
Incest is always going to be weird in books but this especially.
This was just completely disgusting in my opinion and really tanked my overall review for this book.
Final thoughts - Please don't glorify pedophilia and incest, thanks!
Blood Harvest4.5⭐️
After that last one, yeah, I was surprised too. I genuinely considered not finishing the book based on that last one but I thought that I was in too deep. Imagine my surprise when this one BLESSED me with the art. I think objectively it has the best story line out of any of them. And while it had shocking moments, it never seemed like it was shock factor.
I highly recommend.
So yeah. It's good horror manga short stories collection but that 3rd one.. yikes!!
I read this book late in the night and i had a nightmare about it. The first book to ever do that! So thanks, Dennis.
I would absolutely never recommend this book unless it's specifically what someone is asking for. This book was completely ahead of its time with using chatrooms, reviews and faxes. The books was very disturbing so please read the content warnings before picking up this book. I did not, and i paid the price for it. (lol)
It was well written but very hard to read. I read it in a day and I wouldn't recommend anyone do that.
If unreliable narrators are your thing, you're in luck! This book is chock full of them. When another key bit of info was dropped, I didn't know what was real and what was fake and I thought that was really clever to make the viewer question everything.
I need a key timeline to wrap my head around it even now!
Will I ever read another Dennis Cooper book? Not a long one, maybe a poetry because I don't think I want to subject myself to that anymore.
This is the first time a book had made me throughly question what a rating should be 😭
I don't want anyone to think that I support or condone what happens in this story, by the way. Internet was not regulated as it is today, especially with most reviews actually being made up by Zack. (Fucking insane btw)
I completely flew through this book. If you go in and expect it to be overly queer, you would be mistaken, however the undertones are very queer with thoughts on identity and with the scene with the men in the cave. Overall this story is wondering what you want to be in this world. I think being in the brain of this mountain lion was awesome. I loved listening to its thoughts and wants and especially loved how it pronounces words that it doesn't know how to spell “Elley, disnee, see en en”
Oh this was so bad. Can we even consider this funny? It was funny how fucking god awful this book was. The jokes were stupid and there's a school shooting, which feels incredibly insensitive?? It seems to me like this is just Greg's attempt at a self insert except James as a character was not endearing or well written. His white saviour complex was in full force. His only thing was being in love with Abbi and her only thing was being traumatized. There was nothing likable about this except maybe the fact that it was short, cause at least I didn't have to subject myself to this for too long. I read in a day and will never be reading again! Thanks Greg :)
I love unhinged and unapologetic sexual women. She's angry but she isn't miserable. She knows what she wants and I think the power dynamics of Tanaka and her were very interesting. That ending took me a second, I didn't quite understand what i was reading but when I got it, lightbulb moment! I think it's so nice to hear from a disabled author about how it truly feels to live in a disabled body, in an abled world. I think the part that stood out to me most was when she described how difficult she finds reading books. It kind of opened my eyes as an abled bodied person about what is truly accessible.
This book is seething with rage and for good reason. 1 woman in Mexico is murdered every 3 hours. This book is vengeful and powerful, written to get revenge and it is wonderful. The writing has so much personality and character. I felt for every single woman in this book. And how they connect! This is a book that everyone needs to read. It's brutal, it doesn't cut any corners and it doesn't apologize for that. Women are raped, women are murdered, women are mutilated and the world does nothing. Beautiful book.
My first Murakami and I'm assuming his other works are more profound. I thought this had an interesting premise and with it being so short, I quickly got through it. I found that it was lacking probably from the size and this is coming from someone who loves short books. Onto Murakami's longer works, I think!
This is essential reading. It can open your eyes to many things still wrong in our society. Learning empathy for people different is how we grow as individuals. I think it's safe to say that I loved this. And not just in a trans way, but a human way. The language was beautiful and it had such uncomfortable thoughts and conversations that we should be having. Thank you, Vivek.
I think this is a good book with a good concept of the afterlife. Personally I wasn't as spooked out as some others have been. The way people explained this book I would've thought it was horrifying but it wasn't too bad, just a little anxiety. I can see how many would find this disturbing especially with all the talk about religion. I personally don't care whether or not there's a real god out there. The writing was good but no quotes stood to mind. I thought the endless cycle of nothingness to be the scariest part.
This book was so much fun!! It was gruesome and bloody. You're in the head of such an unreliable narrator but I loved being in her brain. The writing style was super easy to digest and I actually liked it a lot. The twist was fun and something I had saw coming but that doesn't change my opinion on the book.
I wanted a bit more towards the Pounds as I felt their death was lack luster in a way.
Be warned that this doesn't shed away from child death and animal death!! And yes, women can kill just as much as men.
I mean, god. What an enjoyable book! This book was point blank, so much fun and was gripping from beginning to end. It something very important to say about people with chronic pain not being believed by doctors and impacting their relationships in horrible ways, even more painful then the pain. Miranda believes that many people are her enemy and are against her and you can really see that fractured reality as you spend it in her head. More specifically, near the end of the book where she goes to sleep in the ocean.
Were some points shoved in your face? Yeah but that didn't hinder my enjoyment of this book in any way.
Also, another win for the lesbians!
I feel as if I'm not smart enough to understand this brilliant book. I never read a book about someone being hard of hearing and it really opened my eyes to the problems that they face. Being in the middle of two worlds must be excruciating but as the book says, hearing isn't listening and so Lousie gets the cochlear implant. I thought the writing was very interesting but some of the metaphors went completely over my head. Many have talked about this but the fracturing reality of not knowing what's real and what's fake went completely over my head. Was the solider, dog, and Anna even real? I can't say and that's the unfortunate part. I wanted to understand what Adèle meant by writing those characters.