Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

34 reviews

darkmattersoybean's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Death

ghulsona's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I really did like this read, but my goodness, is this book nasty . . . the descriptions are so visceral and gross, and I know that was kind of the point, but it's honestly kind of nauseating at times sorry aslkdjaslkdj 

Also, I think the buildup to the resolution was excellent and really good, but the way the resolution was actually executed felt kind of rushed and did not feel like it was earned (even though it should have!), so I was a bit bummed out from that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

hannakutlu's review

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, and Gore

kinomatica's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

Primarily well-written descriptions of creating taxidermy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Outing, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer

frecca95's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness

fendergender's review

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

yes i recognize the irony of me becoming absolutely engrossed in a book about sometimes illegal taxidermy but the exploration of self and grief and where they intersect Got 2 me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Suicide

himboluvr's review

dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

fucking funny dark and made me cry exactly what i needed and i didn’t know it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

foramen_magnum's review against another edition

This book was non-stop trauma filled with utterly unlikeable characters and Gore. Moreover, it WAS worsening my depressive episode-- NOT why I read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Sexual content

kry_yang's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

 "We were collectors, dismantlers, and artisans. We pierced together life from the remnants of death. Animals that might have weathered into nothing got to live on indefinitely through out care. Our heart was in the cure of a well-rendered lip smoothed over painted teeth."

I've been sitting here for a hot second, trying to formulate my thoughts on this book.

I knew of Kristen Arnett from her short stories, and I was really drawn to the flamingo on the cover of this novel, so I thought, hey why not give this book a try.

Going into this novel with absolutely no idea what to expect, the whole *vibe* of this book really shook me to the core. I honestly love reading messy, gore-y, beautifully-horrific prose, and this book just gave me so much of that. This isn't an easy read (also lots of NSFW warnings for the graphic sex scenes)--there's so much deeply disturbing, gag-inducing imagery about cutting, ripping, bleeding, burning, and anything else "gross" that you can possibly imagine.

But somehow all of that disgusting imagery was... so beautiful. There's not a lot that *happens* per se in the book--it's one of those stories where not a lot happens, but the characters meditate a lot on their past/future--yet for some reason, I felt incredibly drawn towards this book. Once I got with the whole "taxidermy as a metaphor for everything that's going on in the rest of the story" vibe, I enjoyed this book immensely, and finished it quite quickly. Something about Arnett's style drew me in, and kept me hooked the entire time.

Mostly Dead Things is about grief, sex, family, and loss, packaged in lyrical descriptions of the strange and disturbing. A slow-paced read, but one that breaks your heart, makes you gag, and leaves you feeling like you just traveled to the swamps of Florida and back. Would not recommend this book to the faint of heart, but if you want to immerse yourself in a bizarre world for a couple hours, then you would love (and hate) this novel. 

What an emotional rollercoaster. Maybe one of the strangest novels I've read, and I definitely have a love-hate relationship with the characters. But oh my god Arnett's style is absolutely to die for. This book scrambled my brain in a good way (I think?) so I'm not even sure how to give this a rating out of 5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, and Grief

stayathomereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship