Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Sluts by Dennis Cooper

13 reviews

jemmers's review against another edition

Too many characters and a convoluted storyline. I thought it was cool at first trying to piece this, albeit fucked up, mystery together from escort reviews and discussion board posts. But there are WAY too many characters to keep track of. My brain felt like that Pepe Silvia meme. The mental work to figure out who snuffed who, if any snuffing actually occurred at all, is not worth it, imo. Like I just don’t care enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Blood, Gore, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Sexual violence, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

ribbenkast's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart. People are quick to say that about a lot of horror, but this time please heed the warning. 

However, I do have to give this book 5 ⭐️. It just does everything right. First there is the mystery: the book mainly consists of forum posts on an gay escort rating website in the early 2000's. There is no way to verify which accounts are real and which accounts are fake (even though the poor webmaster does try). Dennis Cooper does not take the reader by the hand. You have to do some detective work and decide for yourself what is real and what is fake. 

Secondly, it uses gore and violence effectively within the story. (So many times in extreme horror, gore is just simply there for the shock value. I find that rather overdone and boring). Some of the described acts are so vile, I had to put the book down for a bit. Whether these things actually happened or whether these were just the perverted ramblings of someone getting their weird rocks off remains to be debated. (Although we get some answers in the end.) 

When does a fantasy cross the line? What is ethical even if someone supposedly concented? It is a cruel account of what happens when people egg each other on to live their most perverted fantasies. This book written in 2004 is an important early conversation about Internet safety and mass delerium when people can hide in anonymity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cancer, Alcohol, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Excrement, Gore, Slavery, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Classism, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, and Drug use

j_yarbrough's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Stalking, Abortion, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Addiction, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Vomit, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Chronic illness, Drug use, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Cancer, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Slavery, and Violence

angelicardale's review against another edition

this book is disgusting honestly lol .. exquisite corpse had more tact than a single page of this book did (and that was another one-star book for me). i hate that i had no idea what i was getting myself into. for all the graphic and horrific depictions of pedophilia and csa in this book (that read less like tragedy and more like torture p0rn, tbh), i really really wish it'd been explicitly stated in the blurb, or at the very least, in a content warnings list ANYWHERE in the book. there's not even an author's note. as a writer, i understand to a certain degree, but it's just plain negligent to not warn readers or categorize it in the right genre !!!! this was under general fiction at barnes & noble. it should be considered splatterpunk tbh. anyway screw tiktok for recommending me this book it was awful and not worth finishing imo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Alcohol, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Domestic abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Addiction, Pedophilia, Blood, Trafficking, Violence, Terminal illness, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Medical trauma, Child death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Drug abuse

finleyfrogreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Trafficking, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Drug use

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Vomit, Alcohol, Death, Excrement, and Suicide

cmrnism's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

oh absolutely not. i feel so ill. 
i’m unbelievably paranoid right now, even though there’s nothing to be paranoid over. worse than any horror.
for some reason, i just didn’t stop reading. morbid curiosity i suppose, all for nothing with that ending though

anyone rating this higher than 2 stars should seek professional help

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abortion, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Cancer

Minor: Abandonment, Chronic illness, and Incest

pierreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark fast-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Sexual content, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Torture, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Death

Moderate: Cancer and Chronic illness

Minor: Fatphobia and Gun violence

priceliketag's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Gaslighting, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

devin_raquel's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

This book has the most disturbing imagery I’ve ever read. A really interesting story, one that does make you think despite the graphic content. But I DO NOT recommend reading, and if you do PLEASE check trigger warnings, cause this one gets dark. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Cursing, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Excrement, Drug use, Addiction, and Cancer

horrorhayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder