Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

20 reviews

redkeys's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

shirtypantser's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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? No

3.75

Overall, a decently written, gory, post-apocalypse romp in the woods. The writing was proficient though I think it could have been a bit longer. Parts felt rushed. Organization was rocky: lots of jumping around between characters, to the point where it was difficult to keep track of who was who. Due to writing style, sometimes it was difficult to figure out where we were or who we were with until a few paragraphs in. This is fine if you aren't jumping back and forth between three groups and eight people. It gets confusing. This is pretty gory in general, some sex, and the author most definitely has a spitting fetish. (No shame, just observation.) One of the main characters is alright at first but fast becomes very unlikely. Her only redeeming quality is that good people love her, but I could never figure out WHY they did. She was beautiful and such an ugly little shit.

She dies. Everyone is sad and will miss her dismissiveness and people-using ways so, so much.

 

There are some very poignant observations amidst the violence and gore. I look forward to reading more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Self harm and Xenophobia

nixieba25f's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

emmague89's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lycheejelly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Excrement, Abortion, and Pregnancy

amybouwer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

This is one of the worst books I've ever read. It was absolutely unreadable, on multiple levels.

The writing was extremely poor. So much so that it was incredibly difficult to tell whose viewpoint we were in at any given point. The characters relied very heavily on stereotypes & were generally one dimensional. The one character that was given more dimension was consistently treated poorly & discussed negatively even by people that she was supposed to be close with. The body horror was near constant & added nothing to the plot. Every single sexual scene was written to shock & disgust not just the reader but also to make the characters feel shame & disgust with themselves & people like them. Not only that but the aftermath of the sexual encounters left either one or both characters involved feeling violated in some way. Again, this book relies on and heavily perpetuates negative stereotypes about trans people specifically and the LGBTQ+ community & women in general. (I came across this while writing this review but this is the same author who proudly proclaimed on Twitter "I'm a woman, and a professional author, and I've never written anything without at least one rape scene in it." which she defends by saying that not writing these scenes in media is pretending it it doesn't exist in real life. So, that sounds like a lot of internalized misogyny to me & it really comes across in her writing.) This book was marketed as a narrative that would turn the gender plague trope on its head but I don't believe that the author succeeded in subverting a single thing about it. Beyond that, the writing was just bad. It's the literary equivalent of movies like Human Centipede which have no cinematic value and only want to shock, disgust, and upset the viewer. The authors desire to upset the reader overwhelms anything else she might have to say about...anything. As such, it seems that plotting was planned around specifically horrible things that the author wanted to describe but that don't actually make any sense in respect to the narrative. 

I, frankly, can't believe this book was published. It's bad from a technical standpoint. The writing, pacing, plotting, and character development are all over the place. The horror serves no purpose to the plot & the author seems to be seeking up upset, overwhelm, or disgust the reader. But's it's also bad from the standpoint that it relies on & perpetuates negative stereotypes about marginalized communities that already suffer a lot of harm & hate. I think we can do better in 2022. 

Please check the content warning. I tried to tag literally everything I could for readers who might struggle with the graphic nature of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

ecn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Definitely not what I thought it would be- which is definitely on me. But it hurt to read a realistic story of what the world would actually look like if this happened irl. I thought the story would have more likeable characters and focus more on killing TERFs and queer solidarity. But unfortunately that’s not the case. 

Almost every character was white and it FELT like it. However, it feels realistic for white people to stick together and but think of others in a post-apocalyptic world. I did have a lot of issues though with the two non-white characters essentially not being developed and only used by the main characters. Sure they grow together but ugh. 

The entire book could have been condensed but the ending came way too quickly. The pacing felt off and made it hard to read, especially with every few paragraphs/pages switching off to another character. at times it felt dizzying trying to understand who was who for a bit.

Overall, I enjoyed the book for what it was but think I would have enjoyed it more as a movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

madisonhh666's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ponydanza's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Deadnaming and Alcohol