Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

11 reviews

chelbawamba's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Just wasn’t for me! The writing style and pace were confusing with massive time jumps that I didn’t realise had happened and had to keep going back and trying to find what I missed. There was also a lack of character and relationship development, with lots of new characters introduced towards the end. There are also constant explicit, rough sex scenes which isn’t a “bad” thing, just not my cup of tea.

I definitely see why there are people that love this book. I love a lot of weird gross unhinged horror books. Just not this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Rape, War, Body shaming, Drug use, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, Cancer, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Outing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Child death, Excrement, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Alcoholism, Cursing, Dysphoria, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical content, and Toxic friendship

biljnavjestica's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Genocide, Medical trauma, Outing, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Minor: Vomit

very triggering for mentioned triggers, check them beforehand if senstitive because there are very graphic descriptions throughout (mainly different forms of violence and sex)

sydneynorman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Classism, Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Body horror, Sexism, War, Outing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Transphobia, Violence, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Body shaming, Bullying, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Infidelity, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Addiction, and Self harm

Minor: Deadnaming

arrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow this book is a trip! If you're mad at toxic cis men and terfs, then this book is super cathartic. If you're trans and fragile, then be warned that there is a lot of trauma here. Like. So. Much. Trauma. Queer zombie apocalypse tho, very early 2000s vibes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Transphobia, Slavery, Medical content, Gore, Death, Vomit, Violence, Self harm, Excrement, Death of parent, Classism, Blood, Rape, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Deadnaming, Chronic illness, Child death, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Confinement, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Bullying, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Child abuse, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Cancer, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Body horror, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Eating disorder, Drug use, Torture, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

jemmers's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

cw// sexual assault, forced sex work, coercive sex, gore, violence, transphobia, hate crimes, body dysphoria

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Grief, Gore, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Hate crime, Death, Transphobia, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War, Vomit, Death of parent, Sexism, Deadnaming, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Torture, Self harm, Outing, and Medical content

danimacuk's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Dysphoria, Cursing, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Transphobia, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Infertility, Medical content, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Cancer, Suicide, Slavery, Chronic illness, Drug use, Infertility, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Confinement, and Lesbophobia

bunny_boy's review against another edition

I do not want to be at the forefront of trans-centered trauma. As a trans person, I get enough of that in my life. The writing style was awesome, and the critiques of transphobia in women's spaces is insightful, but I have to prioritize my mental health.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Gore, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cannibalism, Violence, Body horror, and Dysphoria

Minor: Chronic illness

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

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

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