Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

8 reviews

lrgluck's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

5.0

Alison Rumfitt once again crafted a brilliant critique of fascism through the lens of body horror

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Transphobia, Body horror, and Self harm

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Incest

Minor: Antisemitism and Xenophobia

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Rape, Blood, Drug use, Mental illness, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Lesbophobia, Deadnaming, Murder, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Excrement, Incest, Transphobia, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Ableism, Genocide, Chronic illness, Death of parent, War, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Police brutality, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Trafficking, and Antisemitism

thistle_rose's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Child abuse, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Death, Dysphoria, Excrement, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Classism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexism

cburns13's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Classism, Drug use, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Eating disorder, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Murder, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Child death, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Animal death, Death, Grief, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Vomit

janbabs's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is not a book for everyone. Literally all the trigger warnings. It was messed up, disturbing and disgusting. It was like picking a scab. I was compelled to continue reading, even though it was uncomfortable.The major themes of transphobia and political terrorism/fascism felt worryingly relevant to society today, and if anything were amplified by the gruesome horror setting. The writing was brilliant and I thought the shifts between first and third person narratives worked well. This was not an easy read, but I think it's gonna stay on my mind for a long time to come

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Excrement, Gore, Incest, Sexual content, Dysphoria, and Transphobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Medical content, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Self harm, Rape, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Infertility, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Mental illness, Bullying, Blood, Antisemitism, Deadnaming, Drug use, and Alcohol

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

ellisdex's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

jesus christ. i have brainwyrms brainworms

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Excrement, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Gore, Death, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Body horror, Violence, Sexual content, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Classism

Moderate: Blood, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Genocide, Stalking, Torture, Suicide, Dysphoria, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Infertility, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, and Grief