Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

19 reviews

ee_comins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexism, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Transphobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Addiction, Hate crime, Incest, Medical trauma, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, and Suicidal thoughts

megpckls's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.5

Not for faint-hearted, horrible at times but I am so glad I've read it, I loved the take on transphobia in Britain, really good modern horror as it's terrifying 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, Gore, Hate crime, and Body horror

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction and Death

jessnrusso's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Vomit, Biphobia, Blood, Drug use, Self harm, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Transphobia, Body horror, Cursing, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Addiction, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Excrement, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

jemmers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Drug use, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Alcohol, Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, Death, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

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

3.5

I have no idea what I just read

This was so so weird, but I think I enjoyed it? There were parts that made me feel so icky, the language and descriptions are grotesquely detailed and don’t shy away from anything.

This book certainly isn’t for the faint hearted or easily offended, there’s a lot of dark and disturbing stuff that probably isn’t for your casual horror reader. I do think there should have been a content warning on the back of the book because this was being sold in Waterstones where anyone could pick it up not realising how graphic and sexual it is until they begin reading. 

I can’t say I was a huge fan of the writing style, the ‘slam poetry’ kind of sections were a little hard to follow at times. I get the effect they were going for, but it was just a little difficult to keep up with. 

I do think the author was trying a little too hard to make this book disgusting, and it felt at times that the actual message of the story was being strayed away from in favour of grotesque descriptions. I get what the worms and the whole community around that was trying to represent, but i don’t know, it felt a little bit like it was missing the mark at times. 

I don’t really know what to take away from this book other than that i’m now really fucking grossed out by worms

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Kidnapping, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Sexual content, Mental illness, Blood, Body shaming, Drug use, Dysphoria, Incest, Medical content, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Cursing, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Classism, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

vixenreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

Unapologetically disgusting and unflinching in its commentary against the spread of transphobia, this novel is a riveting example of how pain and fear can disrupt the minds and growth of those unfortunate to be infected

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Death, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Excrement, Gore, Murder, Rape, Deadnaming, Infertility, Medical content, Violence, Body shaming, Transphobia, Blood, Cursing, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Outing, Suicide, Child death, Classism, Incest, Addiction, Confinement, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

Minor: Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Racism, Animal death, Stalking, and Antisemitism

Be aware that this is frank depictions of parasitic infestations with human bodies, urine, water sports, scat-play, anal sex, cyberbullying, online harassment, bombing, terrorism, eating and inserting excrement, fisting, running away from home, homicide, and extreme TERF behaviour.

gia0203's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

Rumfitt’s narrative voice is very clear and direct in this book - the purpose of the novel felt very clear compared to her last one. I very much enjoyed it, in a different way from Tell Me I’m Worthless.

The same themes pervade both books: being transgender in Britain, and how it links sexuality and trauma. Rumfitt writes about how it feels like we’re going backwards. She touches again and again on how extremist ideas spread. Interestingly in this novel, the internet is also a major theme, for example the fetish community. She pulls at the tension between fetish communities as a bit of fun, a sanctuary and as a coping mechanism.

This book is at times very satirical. I really enjoyed that. It isn’t scared to expose the underbelly of hypocrisy in modern politics. There’s a passage in this book that says everything is about sex, and people just like to pretend that it isn’t. This book is daring when Britain at the moment is leaning towards conservatism and tradition.

In this book, the worms are the metaphor for extremism, similar to the haunted house in Tell Me I’m Worthless. But Rumfitt’s books can’t really be defined as just one thing. She juggles many metaphorical plates at once.  I criticised Tell Me I’m Worthless for it’s lack of clarity, and I don’t hold the same criticism for this book. In many ways it’s a stronger novel. Rumfitt is growing really well as an author.

Subjectively however, I think the difference between them is that Tell Me I’m Worthless was more emotional, more zoomed in on the two people at the heart of it, whereas Brainwyrms takes a broader perspective. I prefer Tell Me  I’m Worthless on a personal level, but Brainwyrms is the better book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Body horror, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Excrement, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Outing, Fatphobia, Animal death, Addiction, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Murder

Minor: Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy, Ableism, Antisemitism, Infertility, and Rape

Terrorism/Bombing

iheartm4m's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Death, Excrement, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Self harm, Gore, Sexual harassment, Torture, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Transphobia

bohemian_yogini's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

Not for the squeamish. A shamelessly refreshing — and compulsive — exploration of political terrorism through the lens of deeply unorthodox lifestyles. This book oozes with a parasitic quality that is sure to linger after you’ve finished.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Excrement, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Body horror, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, and Sexual content

Moderate: Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Violence

Not for the squeamish. A shamelessly refreshing — and compulsive — exploration of political terrorism through the lens of deeply unorthodox lifestyles. This book oozes with a parasitic quality that is sure to linger after you’ve finished.