Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

7 reviews

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was fine, but overall it was disappointing to me. The characters all felt very one note and unrealistic (Julia's actions were at least interesting but her reasons for doing them were pretty stupid), aside from

Julia's murders

the gore almost all takes place off-page or is barely described (why else am I reading this?) and the prose was so overwrought and goofy.

There is a part near the end where Barker wants to convey that a dead character is possessed by one of the cenobites so that character turns to Kirsty and essentially just says, "I'm a cenobite!"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Self harm, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Blood, Rape, Death, Infidelity, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Gore, and Misogyny

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, and Cannibalism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Alcohol, Vomit, Sexual content, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

charlizardbookboi17's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Misogyny, Violence, Drug abuse, Torture, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, and Sexual content

hearth_hobbit's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

 Rating: 4 Stars - I liked it

Summary: A man named Frank summons sex demons called cenobites to show him the epitome of sadomasochism only to find out he’s bitten off more than he can chew. Frank’s brother, Rory, and his wife Julia move into the house where Frank first summoned the cenobites and accidently summon Frank’s spirit. Before his spiritual banishment, Frank and Julia carried on an affair under Rory’s nose. To become human again, Frank needs humans to feed on and calls on Julia to lure men to him so they can be together again.

What I Liked: For such troubling subject matter, the writing was actually very beautiful. Barker paints a very messed up picture well. The cenobites are such interesting creatures. I want to read the rest of the series just to learn more about them.

What I Didn’t Like: I did not like the characters but they’re definitely not written to be likable, so that is more a point in favor of the story.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Body horror, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

This is a very uncomfortable story if you do not like horror and body horror. Definitely look up trigger warnings if you are on the fence. It can get pretty descriptive.

crossbun's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Clive Barker is everything to me. All his work is so tender and human, so monstrous and twisted that one uplifts the other. They cannot be separated and once I start one of his books I simply cannot stop reading. I love how he takes characters that start out as rather boring and pathetic, outsiders, misfits, sad-sacks, (from the initial point of view), and as the story progresses, elevates them to hero status simply by letting them say that they have had ENOUGH. Clive Barker is the champion of freaks and losers, he is the voice from the darkness that whispers "don't you want to go apeshit?" and reader and character alike scream a resounding yes and then he says "ok babe go for it, you have everything to be scared of and nothing to lose" and they claw their way to liberation through the most perverse and repulsively delightful horror you've never dreamed. 

This is a fantastic introduction to his work, super fast read and plenty disturbing without delving into some of the other Really Nasty Stuff he writes about in his other works like Coldheart Canyon (also so good but YIKES!!!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit

spooky_ceph's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Murder, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Vomit, and Torture

jenniferlynnkrohn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, and Violence

Moderate: Cannibalism