Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Fifth Wound by Aurora Mattia

6 reviews

jakobvongunten's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma

woolstation's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

gorgeous femme acid mystery book, not mystery like mystery novel but mystery like mystery play. eye, mind and heart opening. reading this book feels like listening to joanna newsom. can't recommend highly enough. please do heed content warnings though 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

more information about content: part of the book's organizing structure is that it is about a series of physical as well as psychic wounds the autofictional narrator has received. these include being stabbed by a man on a train; two different suicide attempts and subsequent involuntary hospitalizations; and a sexual encounter that turns violent and ends with a hospital stay. the narrator also describes horrific but unfortunately realistic transmisogyny she experiences at the hands of medical workers.

finnthehuman217's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book so much. It is a “phantasmagorical” book based on a short story by Maisie Mattia called Ezekiel in the snow. It is very disjointed because we’re witnessing it through the eyes of a trans woman who is very well adjusted considering the trauma she endures throughout the book. There are a lot of dark moments.

She gets slashed in the eye in book 1, goes on a mission with Eleanor, a siren who she wakes up with in her bed after getting slashed, and 2 weeks later she gets her tits done. (Then covid happens) In book 2, we see a sexual trauma happen to Aurora when she is injured during sex because the man who was fucking her thought her screams were in pleasure but they were in pain. Only to learn after that “the back of my cunt was torn” and the medical system is too biased to listen to her needs and mistreats her. People keep asking her if she’s on her period and she’s like “I’m trans and I just had bottom surgery a few months ago, I am in the worst pain of my life.

then we get the reunion of her and this man she is “in love with”. It’s sad because he was attracted to her when she was “a fairy” but told her she wasn’t pretty. The heartbreak in the book is so real! I love the narrative but get tripped up when the meta talk about publishing and the way publishers talk to trans authors. Also, the part that messes me up is when we hear from Velvet and his notes on the story. It’s too meta sometimes. I loved it but it was so dark

Maisie Mattia is an icon and the next generation’s trans writer!!!! https://www.sassymamasg.com/transgender-child-parenting/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria

bookbanshee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Beautiful and messy, an intoxicating fairy/femme cloud of melody, enchanting and infuriating, head-spinning and acutely insightful. I’m a little bit in love with every fairy who graces these pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

jayisreading's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.25

This book is a tough one to review. I enjoyed it, for the most part, but I haven't been in the greatest headspace for the last several weeks, and I feel that I didn't fully enjoy the beautiful intricacies and deeper meanings of The Fifth Wound.

The novel is a visceral and multisensorial reading experience. Mattia brings the reader into her very queer and trans world, which she does by transcending boundaries and conventions of fiction. The book is somehow grounded yet otherworldly in the way the protagonist (also named Aurora) goes through life. We go from prose/poetry to footnotes, or text messages, or photographs, among other media. There's a lot happening in this novel, in the maximalist sense, to the point that it can be a lot to digest. However, the too much-ness of this novel is what makes it so special, in the way it indulges and takes up space in the abstract and reality.

I'll have to revisit this novel when I'm in a better headspace, because I have no doubt I missed a fair number of details.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Drug use, Self harm, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Suicide

inqueerer's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I wish I had the capacity to encapsulate even a fraction of the beauty of this story... A beautiful, deeply intimate tapestry, with connections woven across time and meaning, between scenes and emotions described so vividly and viscerally, I felt them with my whole body. An at once personal and universal love letter to queer and trans existence and feeling on our own terms, that I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Medical trauma