Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler

28 reviews

growintogardens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I've been meaning to read her work and this book fit one of my reading challenges. A great collection of stories. Some were super disturbing at times, but all them were well written and made me think. The second to last one was probably my favorite. So strange, but powerful. She's definitely great at Sci fi and I'm excited to read more of her stuff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Medical trauma, War, Grief, Misogyny, Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Incest, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Slavery, Body horror, Confinement, and Medical content

Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Drug use, and Racial slurs

I'm probably forgetting stuff- there's a lot of triggers.

quarkie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-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? No

4.75

I've never read any Octavia Butler before, and now I'm wondering what took me so long. Even though in the preface she talks about how she's nor really a writer of short stories, I found these very compelling.

The overarching theme seemed to be "take a societal rule or norm, break it, and then tell a very human and empathic story about those who are involved." In this collection, Butler picked a few very heavy topics such as forced pregnancy, genetic disease, incest, paranoia and delusion, government interrogation, and utopia. But in all cases, she shines such a human light on these challenging topics, and presents you with such different perspectives. I also love that she gives a brief afterward for every story, giving you a glimpse into her thought process or the inspiration for the story.

Really, the only reason I took off a fraction of a star is because sometimes the topics are quite heavy, making them difficult to read.

The two essays that she includes are incredibly compelling. She says that the best part of her is her fiction, but the contents of her essays had me in tears. They contain so much wisdom not just for writers, but for everyone pursuing a path that is difficult.

There were a few quotes that I liked so much that I am considering buying the book, just so I can look back on them:
"If you hard enough at something that doesn't matter, you can forget for a while about the things that do."
"Decide what you want. Aim high. Go for it."
"Make a habit of doing your best."
"If the idea of doing this scares you, fine. Go ahead and be afraid."
"It's amazing what we can do if we simply refuse to give up. I suspect that this is the most important thing I've said in all my interviews and talks as well as in this book. It's a truth that applies to more than writing. It applies to anything that is important, but difficult, important, but frightening. We're all capable of climbing so much higher than we usually permit ourselves to suppose. The word, again, is "persist"!"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, and Body horror

Moderate: Incest

nica_chan's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

ahhh, octavia e. butler, quanto è stato piacevole fare la tua conoscenza!!!

essendo questo libro una raccolta di racconti, ho avuto l’onore di vedere butler brillare in più storie diverse, e alcune che hanno colpita più di altre; in particolare le mie preferite sono state “la sera, il giorno e la notte”, “fonemi” e “il libro di martha”.

scoprire la prima scrittrice donna Nera del genere fantascientifico alla mia età di 24 anni per me è una rivelazione. in 200 pagine, butler mi ha insegnato che non bisogna essere maschi bianchi per immaginarsi mondi fantastici, utopie o alieni arrivati sulla terra (anche se è ciò che sembra dal mondo della fantascienza mainstream).

grazie octavia, non vedo l’ora di leggere anche i tuoi romanzi, tra cui “legami di sangue” e “la parabola del seminatore”.

ps: la fantascienza non è il mio genere, ma la penna, bravura e dedizione di butler rende piacevole ogni suo scritto

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Body horror, Child abuse, Torture, Incest, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Abortion and Rape

readingbrb's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Rape, Confinement, and Self harm

Minor: Miscarriage, Death, and Gore

jakobvongunten's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Confinement, Medical trauma, and Gore

Moderate: Incest, Ableism, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Body horror

lycheejelly's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gun violence, Addiction, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, War, Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Grief, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Ableism, Incest, Abortion, Addiction, Bullying, Classism, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Racism

doctorw0rm's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical trauma, Body horror, Chronic illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Incest, and Gun violence

Minor: Drug use

allymute's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

A fabulous writer, as always. Noted that this collection doesn’t run with one cohesive theme, but are just compiled together. My highlights are Bloodchild, Speech Sounds, and Amnesty. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Body horror

Minor: Incest

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Similar to many of the other reviews, it is crazy to believe that Butler was not a person fond of short stories, since she really excels in this little collection! And like all short story collections, there will be some that are not the most interesting, are harder to get into and envision, and some that hit powerfully and, before you know it, you are reading the same page over and over again to picture the scene again and savor such. All in all, something that I really loved about this collection, and where I think every story connects, is that— whether they be utopias or personal hells— every story centers on communication. By communication I mean what it takes for one to understand another while also relaying messages common to any science-fiction stories on self-determination, hope/longing/desire (what defines and separates them), and critically wondering what humanity has to offer in times of great political, social, or even moments of intense moral despair. Mesh that with slightly philosophical musings on free will, religion, and human domination in our interactions with our environments, and in the end you get a stunning and powerful book that fits itself well within Butler's collection. In particular, I really enjoyed Bloodchild, Speech Sounds, Positive Obsession, and The Book of Martha!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Suicide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Colonisation and Incest

sarahnh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Amnesty was my favorite story in the collection, but all of them are fantastic and thought provoking. I loved reading the afterwords where Butler discussed her stories and what inspired them. How I felt about each story changed a lot with the added context, and made it more interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Incest, Pregnancy, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Rape, Self harm, and Suicide