Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

27 reviews

charlizardbookboi17's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

Very well written and engaging. Was a quick read. Very dark and violent. Rough in most spots but couldn't walk away without finishing it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

shysheepys's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

Read for a challenge, found on Book-tok. Don't think I'd ever pick this one up ever again, nor do I want to think on it ever again. I do think the overall theme was intersting, and it reads from an interesting, unreliable narrator, which is one of my favorite book types. Spoiler ahead:

A lof of people seem to hate that Frank turned out to be trans. I don't think that is the problem with this book. the gross over use of animal abuse is really the biggest turn-off for me. Overall, realizing that Frank was done wrong by the only person he ever trusted or seemed to love in his life was the hardest part of all. I think the part with Frank assuming that his dad was trans was a really intersting thought to consider, and the reveal of Frank being AFAB as an "expieriment" is equally frustrating but horrifying, and isn't that part of being a horror novel?

Definately made me sad, but I wouldn't reccomend this to anyone nor share that I had read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, and Sexism

Moderate: Transphobia, Dysphoria, and Blood

Minor: Suicide and War

karaboureview's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Murder, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Sexism, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Blood, Alcoholism, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Gaslighting, Torture, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Violence, Infertility, Animal cruelty, Death, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Ableism, Homophobia, Vomit, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Outing, Cursing, Body horror, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Incest, Confinement, Abandonment, Alcohol, Racism, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Infidelity

This might be just a me thing, but the chapter titled

"What Happened to Eric" really redefines body horror, in my book,

and deserves a content warning all its own. Also, this isn't a tag option, but:

mutilation of animals both dead and living, and the (implied and actual) mutilation of people.

abbieinwonderland's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Murder, Sexism, Alcohol, Violence, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Torture, Gore, and Vomit

Moderate: Suicide

lizardgod's review against another edition

dark sad 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

• I really can't decide if I hate this book or not, on some aspects, the trans representation is decent for the book's genre yet the only reason Frank is trans in the first place is due to trauma. It is interesting that the view of not aligning to the gender he was raised and the struggles with masculinity is more accurately depicted than most books written by actual trans authors. This book is honestly really good to me and my written summary does not do the book justice. It does take effort to start but it escalates very quickly once you realize what's going on. Also it starts with a lot of cryptic symbolism however all of it makes sense by the end instead of having to figure it out based on personal interpretation/author inference, a feature I personally enjoy in books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Stalking, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Incest

pablollopez's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Transphobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Murder, Child death, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Grief, Torture, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Body horror, and Blood

clar_ph's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore, Child death, Mental illness, Death, Body horror, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Racism

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Dysphoria, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

rosesofthespring's review against another edition

I was really enjoying this book, as macabre as it is, until about 20% of the way through. It suddenly becomes deeply misogynistic, and after doing a few keyword searches, it appears to continue in this pattern for the rest of the story. I can't say I like to spend my time reading about how women are weak and stupid and ghostly shadows of men (but don't worry, they are good at one thing! Giving birth.), and since it does not appear to be addressed as a character flaw, I can't justify enduring the psychological beating. If I want to spend my free time being endlessly insulted by men who believe they're superior to me, I could simply go anywhere and wait for one to approach me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, Body horror, and Blood

dmsullivan's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

 So, I think I enjoyed this...as much as one can enjoy a book that includes graphic descriptions of murder, animal cruelty, and genital mutilation.

Frank is not someone you want to be around, but it was interesting getting into his mindset, his daily routines and the rational of why he would do the things that he did (as terrifying and gruesome as they were).

This is a pretty short book, but at times it did feel a little too long with some of the descriptions of the mundane parts of his day. I wish the author would have used some of that space to give a little more background on the "twist" ending, which felt a bit rushed. And while Eric was terrifying, I personally wanted some sort of "answer" by the end, which we really didn't get. (I kept looking to see how many pages were left and wondering if we were going to get any answers by the end). However, this is the first book I've read by Banks (not the last) and this is possibly his writing style. Stories don't necessarily have to have an "end" to be thought-provoking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Torture, and Death