Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality: Stories by Lindsay Wong

8 reviews

sarah984's review against another edition

dark funny

3.0

A darkly funny horror collection, the stories mostly feature Chinese immigrants in North America (though there are a couple of stories about men and/or set in China). I loved the concept of most of the stories but a few of them felt like they didn't really go anywhere and by the end of the collection the tone felt a little repetitive.

Favourites: Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality, Furniture, Sinking Houses

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Fatphobia, Death, Ableism, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Incest, Rape, War, Pregnancy, Torture, Racism, Terminal illness, and Transphobia

willow1113's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Rape, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Classism, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Excrement, Alcohol, Death of parent, Incest, Pregnancy, and Drug use

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Gore, Murder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Incest, Death, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Animal death, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Confinement, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, War, and Racism

Minor: Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Deadnaming, Suicide, Vomit, Cancer, Sexual content, Excrement, and Transphobia

Natural disaster, apocalypse ("Sinking Houses").

obviousthings's review against another edition

It's really gory and gross, with a flippant tone. Not my thing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, Gore, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Death, Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: War, Animal cruelty, Excrement, and Confinement

Minor: Terminal illness, Cancer, and Infidelity

wenwanzhao's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Horror is not generally my thing, so I had to avoid reading this at night, but despite my scaredy cat nature, I loved this anthology. Lindsay Wong’s writing is so honest and specific. The narrators in this anthology are often beaten and fucked up, hurt by their truly shitty circumstances. Wong isn’t afraid to make her characters come off as absolute assholes. But even though it seems like everyone sucks, their humanity still manages to shine through. As a reader, I could find myself being sympathetic to even the worst narrators. That’s a testament to the quality and sharpness of Wong’s writing. She’s smart and she’s good at making you feel a certain kind of way. Really enjoyed it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Incest, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: War, Trafficking, Body horror, Child death, Transphobia, and Violence

beccaspeare's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Cannibalism, Gore, Body horror, Racism, Racial slurs, and Child death

jeezjane's review

dark lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

this book was not for me. i found the stories gratuitously violent and/or gross, which is not bad per se, but they were also sloppily written and made me question how much effort the author put into this collection. i felt there was no point to any of the stories, and i don't mean a crux or climax, i mean like things happened (usually gross), people suffered, and that's it. no payoff, emotional or otherwise. it just presented vignettes of nasty situations, and i suppose the allure is that these nasty situations are described in a cavalier and almost flippant tone, to shock you into amusement AND also make it more palatable to read, but it just didn't work out for me. the flippancy to me read like lack of care, which also made me not care. i didn't like any of the characters, nor did i hate any of the characters in a fun way. i did not feel like i got a good portrayal of chinese culture in the stories that touched upon that subject - actually, due to the nonchalant tone of the writing and the grotesque, over the top scenarios, the cultural information presented made me feel like it was just a person picking a Something Cool About Chinese culture and then writing a whole pointless story based on a caricature of it. the worlds were not thought out or fleshed out, and also not "suspend your disbelief" in a fun way. it was just surreal and... hurts me to say this, but surreal and kinda stupid? also baffling was that sometimes she used diacritics and sometimes not. if there was a method to this (like maybe some terms are well known enough that they don't warrant them?) i did not understand it. i don't care either way but  consistency would be nice. 

short stories are really hard and i get that but these were really disappointing. some were a better read than others but none were really good reads. 

killer title. i gave points for creativity and smtms a line or two would be well-written enough for me to appreciate it? idk 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Body horror, Torture, Body shaming, Blood, Gore, Death, Violence, Murder, and Cannibalism

some things are explicit but nothing is dwelled upon for long lengths of time.

aprilthelibrarian's review

dark funny medium-paced

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

4.5

Thank you to Libro.FM for the audiobook ARC. This short story collection of Asian immigrant horror stories came in a good time for me since I was looking for a short story collection for a reading challenge. These stories are full of dark humor, and while I enjoyed this collection, I will caution readers that a lot of the horror is in cannibalism or visceral descriptions of body horror. (Also this is fantastic on audiobook! There are several narrators, and the dark humor shines through!)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Cannibalism