Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

98 reviews

cold_boy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual violence, Murder, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse

raygunomics's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.25

Great audiobook. Internalized misogyny is the real horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Misogyny, and Murder

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

WOWWW OKAY so the last like 30 pages had me holding my breath and freaking out so my brain is buzzing right now...

This book took awhile for me because it was just a lot. It was a lot emotionally and the writing was the kind of writing that demanded my full attention, so while I read this I couldn't be around people or multitasking. it had to just be me and Mary. I'm glad I took my time, and I'm glad I experienced it this way, and a couple of times I felt chills go down my spine at certain horror elements that I will not disclose here. I enjoyed the themes all throughout and wrote down a bunch of quotes in my journal. The afterword is also required reading for anyone who is brave enough to get to the end.

My main critique is that there were some scenes that really dragged and I think that if they had the fat trimmed off of them, they'd be more effective and the book wouldn't need to be as long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Death, Fatphobia, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gore, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Bullying, Cursing, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

mrsmishler's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture, Murder, Violence, Mental illness, and Sexism

mychemegan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

What a RIDE this book was. So spooky, mysterious, intriguing, and dark. Great twists and turns. I don't even have the words other than Mary (the book and the character) was an absolute trip lol I loved it. For the folks out there that like weird horror, this is absolutely for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexism

megwilli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Blood, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Body shaming

eeefann125's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Abandonment, Murder, Self harm, Torture, Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, Gore, Mental illness, Bullying, Death, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Violence

moiralyle's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Mental illness, Gore, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Death, Cursing, Body horror, Animal death, Murder, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Child abuse

jkar7's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I almost DNFed this book, but then there was a hook that got me. I'm glad I finished! There were parts of this that really creeped me out, but also parts that made me laugh. Mary sometimes felt relatable and her inner-monolgue was sometimes funny, and other times super depressing and hard to read. 
But please, don't make the same mistake as me. Do not read the afterword.
And DEFINITELY check content warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Medical content, Vomit, Confinement, Violence, and Medical trauma

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Stalking

year23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I get why this wouldn't work for some readers - but it did work for me. I love a weird, horror, vengeful mysteries with elements I won't name here because that would be a spoiler. This worked for me - and the ending was much stronger than I thought it would be given a lot of horror books I've been reading lately sort of short-thrift the big climax scene at the end. 

I don't think the author handled the portrayal of a perimenopausal woman badly, it didn't feel off or out of touch (something that can happen a lot when cis het men write women characters, particularly ones who are older). I see the critiques but it didn't take me out of the story - in part because of the unreliable narrator of it all. I also appreciate that the author did use sensitivity readers and acknowledged the limits of their own experience - and still wrote this imaginative story. I just finished reading Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde - and it was a good reminder that the goal isn't to limit authors to write only their experience. Reading this right after that, I may have gone in with a different perspective - though will name I AM a perimenopausal woman and though that's really all I shared with the MC, I didn't feel personally that the voice or perspective was off or at worse, misogynistic.

There is misogyny in the text, but it's intentional - and thankfully there's a trigger warning by the author in the preface heading in. 

This is a different kind of horror in terms of the POV - it's all through the perspective of the POV apart from a few short scenes at the beginning and end.  I may be in the minority here - but I liked this choice. Yes, she is unlikeable - but there are a lot of reasons for that. 

I appreciated the portryal of trauma and it's impact as you get older - apart from the horror elements of the story, there's an interesting portrayal here of what it means to manage PTSD as you age. I will be seeking out more stories with that theme due to reading this book. 

On a whole - highly recommend to horror fans who are okay with gore (this isn't a cerebral type horror).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Body horror, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry