Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Mr. Parnassus' Heim für magisch Begabte by TJ Klune

38 reviews

amberrenfrey's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

isaaah's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Death of parent

gracefully_jk's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Xenophobia

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent

Any violence/horror type stuff is entirely just threats/jokes made by a child—nothing actually happens.

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury

atlas_shruggs's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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V. E. Schwab described this book like getting wrapped in a warm, gay blanket, and going into this book it was exactly what I needed. It was warm, it was comforting, it was jarring, it was uncomfortable, it was like lying on a cloud or dancing with rainbows. It was so vibrant. The shift from the scenes in the city to the scenes in Marsyas felt like switching from black and white to a world of technicolour. The character creation was beautiful, and watching them blossom over the course of the book felt like I was watching something wonderful happening before my very eyes. 
I don’t feel like I can give this book a more solid review. It was perfect. It was a feeling more than a thought. I loved every moment of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment

ferocious_reader's review against another edition

4.25

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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(As I was not aware, at the time of reading, of the quite horrifying implications of taking genocide on Native American peoples as inspiration about such a rather light-hearted story, this fact is not taken into consideration in my review.)

This book was quite slow and seemed to drag on, but it also seemed realistic. Linus is a man used to routine and a monotonous life. That this might be mirrored in his recountings makes sense. Not having read any other of Klune's works, I cannot say whether this is intentional or not. It also seemed to easy at times: There is a village that hates everyone from the island. But do not worry, they just need to talk to them to understand that they are normal people, too, though they might look different, and voilà - wide-spread acceptance! Linus holds the power of suggesting doing things differently or at all and it all working out in the end as if by magic.

It is great to see Linus become aware of the systematic unfairness of the system he's working in and then actively see him take a stance against it. I would have prefered it if it went beyond

a brief reveal that he took all files to a reporter to reveal how bad the system is à la wikileaks

, but I understand that this is not a story about fighting against a discriminatory system, it's a story about two men meeting and falling in love. The intrigue behind Arthur's identity draws you in and makes you guess along.

Overall, though I had wished for a faster pace, I quite enjoyed this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Xenophobia

Minor: Body horror, Confinement, Religious bigotry

faranae's review against another edition

5.0

funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Mental illness

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

The book handles a wide range of potentially difficult topics with the lightest and gentlest of touches, so I think most of them will not pose a problem. However, Lucy's a bit morbid and has "spiders in his brain", and these elements recur frequently. There is a past confinement incident that is described in some detail towards the end of the book, but it is softened by

knowing the person it happened to has already mostly healed from that trauma.

strange_little_ranger's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Hate crime, Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail

saliceae's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cursing, Eating disorder, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry

the book has generally a light tone and does not dwell on painful events too long (it focuses more on institutional violence)—many of the characters have previously been through traumatic events and are healing, so though we hear about their traumas, we don't experience them in real time with the narrative. a lot of the minor content warnings are for graphic threats made by a disturbed child and do not reflect events in the book. if you can read "alice in wonderland," you can read this.

spookily's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury