Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Ruins by Scott Smith

32 reviews

frances_frances's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Phew! This book is bleak as hell, but overall, I really enjoyed it. It's gory and deeply unsettling. The physical and psychological anguish experienced by each character is relentless. The pacing is slow and meticulous but somehow manages to be consistently engrossing throughout. The "monster" in this book is refreshing in its originality. I found it much more disturbing than an actual monster, ghost, etc. And the constant shift in perspective was expertly pulled off. 

There were a few things that bothered me about this book. The biggest problem I have is when Jeff accidentally sees Stacy's breast and then contemplates  the differences and similarities between Amy and Stacy's nipples. I really hate when male authors include that kind of shit. The women characters are sexualized for no reason and in ways that the men never would be. Amy and Stacy are written as Madonna/whore stereotypes. I guess there's some "commentary" about this when Eric describes how Hollywood would write their story, but still, the only two women in the book are comparatively two dimensional and clearly written from a male perspective. The shallowness of the women and the references to their bodies really made this book go from 5 to 4 stars.
I thought the whole pretext for the group to be in the jungle in the first place was weak and could've been fleshed out more. 
I feel uncertain about how the Mayan community was portrayed. They are nameless, voiceless, and for our purposes basically interchangeable. And like the environment itself, the Mayan people are a lethal threat to our (white) main characters, with unknown motives. On one hand, the way the Mayans were presented felt realistic to how the main characters would view them. At the same time, it's hard to say where the characters end and the author begins. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Moderate: Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

ssummar's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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: Blood, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Self harm, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Excrement and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty

rainstar's review

dark tense

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Death, Sexism, and Self harm

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Sexual assault

akevaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Self harm, Confinement, Gore, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Excrement

kyleeb4by's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.5

i really liked this book!! i found it to be genuinely unsettling throughout and very well written.

i do think they should’ve brought phones?? like come on dude be serious how are you on vacation and not one of you is bringing your phone…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Gore, Suicide, Self harm, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Vomit, Excrement, and Sexual content

madicastle's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Gore, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Excrement

kyra_joy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.5

This books isn’t fast it’s an incredibly slow burn but it builds the tension so well, and I enjoyed it. Though at some places it did drag a little and took me longer to read than I was expecting. The characters were great for the most part flawed but they feel real even when unlikable. I love story that takes place in basically one setting, and this one did a great job not feeling to stale. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Gore, Self harm, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Minor: Cannibalism

add_a_little_spook's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Animal cruelty, Gore, Murder, Death, Vomit, Body horror, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

secretcistory's review

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

despite how fast the main plot/‘horror’ aspect starts, i was so god damn bored.

all the deaths shoved in the last 50 pages, making us wait so long for such lame deaths? like right before the deaths r always really good, eric skinning himself but then dying of a stab wound. pablo hanging on the entire book to get smothered randomly as if the author forgot about him

the ritual was one of my favorite horror books to date and this was a let down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Murder, Self harm, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cannibalism

zarakoconnor's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Completely horrifying, bleak and disgusting. First venture into horror literature so was a bit intense in body horror for my liking but would be great for someone who loves gore. The setting was so tangible and the ruins were written in a terrifyingly beautiful way.

The ending left me empty, knowing that everything was for nothing and that rescue was so close the entire time, with everyone giving up a second too early.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Excrement, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

Minor: Misogyny and Sexual content