Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

32 reviews

emjams's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, and Child death

Moderate: Xenophobia, Self harm, Mental illness, Medical content, Abandonment, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Outing, Domestic abuse, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Animal death, and Alcohol

This book has basically every imaginable TW on it EXCEPT for sexual assault, but even that is briefly touched on. Benji has trauma from assault, but only from physical/emotional abuse, not SA.

anonymous_blobfish's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

Ok, despite my earlier claims that I wasn’t going to review this one just yet, I’m here with the review. Why the change of heart? I’m currently reading another own voices trans dystopic/apocalyptic body horror novel that I’m having polar opposite feelings about and that has really cemented my opinion of this story.

Disclaimer to start: I’m a white cis woman. I’m queer and a late comer to that part of myself. I’m a staunch atheist who has no religious trauma. I do have some of that fun mother trauma but from a different angle. This is all to say that there are much more important opinions than my own to refer to. I just want to talk about how this book made me feel and what I did or did not like about it.

Please refer to the authors review for full content warnings. This book is A Lot™️ and includes a variety of body horror, religious trauma, homophobia and transphobia, as well as gore, violence (physical and sexual), and genocide.

Hell Followed With Us is an intense, graphic, relentless story that takes place in the aftermath of a religious cult’s genocidal actions. We follow two POV characters: Benji (who we spend the majority of our time with), a trans boy struggling with his identity and place in society, and Nick, the autistic leader of a resistance group who operate out of a queer friendly community centre. 

This book was intense. I was not expecting the body horror to be as graphic as it was (despite the very clear introductory content warning by the author). I also didn’t reacquaint myself with the plot before starting (it’s been in my list for ages and the library just got an audiobook and I just jumped on in) so the storyline was unexpected and not entirely what I had remembered it being (seriously all I remembered was biblically accurate angel). I do think reading the blurb would have helped a little but the one criticism I really have about this book is that I didn’t feel like it explained the world well. This may be due to listening to the audiobook rather than reading the physical book (I may have missed things while multitasking) but I did feel a little lost for the first third of the story.

Aside from this, I think this book was exceptionally good. There was such a feeling of authenticity that comes from an own-voice author and the especially appreciated how unsanitised this story was. Benji and Nick were both incredibly flawed characters who were portrayed so lovingly: they were flawed and messy and sometimes a little too much and that doesn’t make them less worthy of love. I found the side characters to be compelling although occasionally a bit shallow (I wanted more, I’m greedy). I also found the storyline fascinating once I understood what was happening.

For anyone considering reading this book: do it. But have grace with yourself. This book will make you feel uncomfortable. Between the vomiting up of internal organs and the reflection on unintentional transphobia, it is a lot. I’m very keen to read the authors next book as I think he will only grow in skill!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Transphobia, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, Genocide, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Death, Deadnaming, Body horror, Sexual violence, and Violence

justmehayleyb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Confinement, Child death, Bullying, Homophobia, Grief, Gore, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Death, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Death of parent, Genocide, Gaslighting, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Body horror, Self harm, Physical abuse, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child abuse, and Blood

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Vomit, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Genocide, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Suicidal thoughts

summermorning's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Genocide, Murder, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, War, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, and Gore

Moderate: Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Torture, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Death, Deadnaming, Confinement, and Body horror

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Dysphoria, Transphobia, Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol

bencaroline's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Body horror, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, War, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Genocide, and Deadnaming

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Suicide, Confinement, Bullying, Addiction, Sexual content, Classism, and Domestic abuse

smiffylovesnachos's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Body horror, and Genocide

Minor: Rape

stabbyabi's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Transphobia, War, Body horror, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Violence

amandam22's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Homophobia, Death, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Genocide, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Transphobia, Torture, and Child death