Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

59 reviews

janbabs's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is not a book for everyone. Literally all the trigger warnings. It was messed up, disturbing and disgusting. It was like picking a scab. I was compelled to continue reading, even though it was uncomfortable.The major themes of transphobia and political terrorism/fascism felt worryingly relevant to society today, and if anything were amplified by the gruesome horror setting. The writing was brilliant and I thought the shifts between first and third person narratives worked well. This was not an easy read, but I think it's gonna stay on my mind for a long time to come

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Incest, Sexual content, Transphobia, Excrement, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Deadnaming, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

dandelionnetwork's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

There's content warnings in the beginning of the book, but they aren't specific enough in my opinion so let me state them explicitly here: incest, pedophilia, excrement, sexual assault. These are mentioned and/or shown on the page.

This has won the award of Most Disgusting Book I've Ever Read and not because of the content warnings I listed above, though the acts themselves are disgusting. Nah, see this book will have you looking at noodles differently. 

It doesn't help I was reminded of a time when my mom's new puppy had gotten her shots for deworming and one day after the dog pooped, we could see some of the worms didn't come out her butt completely so my mom had me manually pull them out slowly. 

If reading the above freaked you the fuck out, let me tell you it's far more tame than what the book has going on. So, read at your own risk. Hell of a way to start my reading for 2024.

Side note - if you liked the movie Titane, then I suspect you'll like this too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Excrement

grey_jayne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

I immediately poured Brainwyrms into my head after reading Rumfitt's debut Tell Me I'm Worthless. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors with both books her perversely poetic filth ragebombs lobbed at society. I absolutely loved that she introduced the book as if she was writing from the 2030s and reporting back, the satire has no bounds this time around and it's pretty great.

I still don't know if her work is accessible to cis people but honestly I don't fucking care. We needed her voice from out of the darkness and I will follow her wherever she goes next. Trans books for trans people!

This is also officially the book with the most trigger warnings that I've logged so far. The label "Extreme horror" should be treated with respect and care. Enter at your own risk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

minxtte's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

5.0

I had to physically force myself to stop reading this for my own welfare. Obsessed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Islamophobia and Fire/Fire injury

seawarrior's review against another edition

4.0

Brainwyrms is as dark, disgusting, and wormy as promised. Rumfitt excels at ironic wit and at writing thorny characters who encounter brutal pulses of horror within their otherwise mundane lives.

The leads in Brainwyrms treat themselves and others with an aggressive disregard that unfurls into gruesome violence of cosmic proportions. I recognized their ideas and actions in some of the worst and most unwell people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. Rumfitt is obviously someone who has grown up on the Internet, and was able to depict its underbellies and relentless noise of voices with deftness. However, I did not understand how some of the plots and themes of the book related to one another. This may be because I read the book so quickly, or it may be because I had no familiarity with Edgar Allen Poe's "The Conqueror Worm", which should be a prerequisite for this novel. I would recommend this book to other readers willing to sit with their disgust and read a story that makes no attempt to alleviate their fear of the future. The future for transgender people may be a horrifying one, and Rumfitt knows it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

My second read by Alison Rumfitt and I was so excited to be brought back into her world and unique writing voice. I was not disappointed in that regard! I do think this would be a 5 star for me on my second read, as the themes were a bit harder to follow than in Tell Me I'm Worthless. Im for sure going to give this a second read in the future to focus more on what it all means, what the wryms represent, and so on. That's really a huge part of what I have loved about Alison's work thus far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Dysphoria

vixenreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

Unapologetically disgusting and unflinching in its commentary against the spread of transphobia, this novel is a riveting example of how pain and fear can disrupt the minds and growth of those unfortunate to be infected

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Be aware that this is frank depictions of parasitic infestations with human bodies, urine, water sports, scat-play, anal sex, cyberbullying, online harassment, bombing, terrorism, eating and inserting excrement, fisting, running away from home, homicide, and extreme TERF behaviour.

gia0203's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Rumfitt’s narrative voice is very clear and direct in this book - the purpose of the novel felt very clear compared to her last one. I very much enjoyed it, in a different way from Tell Me I’m Worthless.

The same themes pervade both books: being transgender in Britain, and how it links sexuality and trauma. Rumfitt writes about how it feels like we’re going backwards. She touches again and again on how extremist ideas spread. Interestingly in this novel, the internet is also a major theme, for example the fetish community. She pulls at the tension between fetish communities as a bit of fun, a sanctuary and as a coping mechanism.

This book is at times very satirical. I really enjoyed that. It isn’t scared to expose the underbelly of hypocrisy in modern politics. There’s a passage in this book that says everything is about sex, and people just like to pretend that it isn’t. This book is daring when Britain at the moment is leaning towards conservatism and tradition.

In this book, the worms are the metaphor for extremism, similar to the haunted house in Tell Me I’m Worthless. But Rumfitt’s books can’t really be defined as just one thing. She juggles many metaphorical plates at once.  I criticised Tell Me I’m Worthless for it’s lack of clarity, and I don’t hold the same criticism for this book. In many ways it’s a stronger novel. Rumfitt is growing really well as an author.

Subjectively however, I think the difference between them is that Tell Me I’m Worthless was more emotional, more zoomed in on the two people at the heart of it, whereas Brainwyrms takes a broader perspective. I prefer Tell Me  I’m Worthless on a personal level, but Brainwyrms is the better book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Ableism, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Infertility, Rape, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

Terrorism/Bombing

ahliahreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Not for the faint of heart or easily squeamish. However if you're tough enough to handle the parasitic, subversive nature, this might be one of the most important stories of the year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Excrement

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

caidyn's review against another edition

dark fast-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? Yes

4.5

What. The. Fuck? And what does it say about me that I enjoyed it a lot? This is in the same vein as Eric LaRocca. Incredibly fucked up. Not for the weak.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Drug use, and Transphobia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Incest, and Dysphoria

Minor: Rape