Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

7 reviews

nostradamnus's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

3.75

Read this if you: thought Hell Follows With Us was great, but wished it wasn't YA; want to kill TERFs; 

The two strongest elements of Manhunt are its prose and characters, in that order and on purpose; by which I mean, despite having the trappings of a traditional dystopia, Manhunt is a horror novel, and the first priority of a good horror novel (which this is) is making its readers connect with their "ugly feelings," à la Sianne Ngai. To that end, the author prioritized viscerality and humanity (however fucked it may be) over worldbuilding and plot. If you go in knowing that, I think you'll have a better reading experience than if you're expecting something more whimsical. 

What struck me most about the prose and characters of Manhunt was the way that F-M was able to weave them together to create an argument-driven novel that rarely feels like it's trying to convince you of something. One of the most poignant commentaries of the book is its perspective on the violences committed against trans woman, particularly non-passing trans women, in spaces that claim to welcome them. F-M weaves this commentary seamlessly into the narrative 

(I'd even argue that the core conflict of the novel is between trans people and the more nebulously queer, not trans vs. cis.)

demonstrating her knowledge, conviction, and persuasive ability.

(Tertiarily, I also think that the marketing campaign for this book was absolutely brilliant--in focusing on the JKR of it all, the outward appearance of the TERFs within the novel becomes more aligned with cishet women who "have gay friends," which then allows a self-selecting audience of queer people/allies who think they support trans women, only to learn that we're the antagonists. Genius!)

 

Where F-M lost me was when this honestly masterful rhetorical work was interrupted by what I can only describe as cloying complaints about issues that are at best, tertiary to the text and, at worst, self-apologetics that bully readers into compliance under the guise of being equivalent to essential issues of self that are above interlocution.

One passage in particular captures this perfectly: "Indi thought with a bittersweet pang of regret that every time she'd heard the words 'queer community'... every argument she'd had... about whether or not sex should be allowed at Pride parades-fuck you, of course it should-...no one ever had any idea what that meant." Regardless of whether or not the reader agrees with this sentiment, such a direct address combined with the otherwise very throughout considered, carefully written passage has the effect of moral forcefulness (the same kind F-M decries throughout the book), that it is in some way wrong to disagree with sex at Pride in the same way that it is wrong to disagree with the idea that the queer "community" is inherently flawed, carrying over and even creating particularly vehement, caustic environments that are unsafe for trans women. But these issues are just not equivalent in nature and further, the former is a misrepresentation of the argument F-M is trying to counter; People try to ban kink at Pride, not sex. Changing the terminology feels like some haphazard attempt to link this conversation to the narrative (which I don't believe ever says the word kink, but is very interested in sex), but it comes at the cost of my ability to take F-M completely seriously as an author interested in legitimate critique, much less active discussion.

 

My point in all of this is that F-M is an excellent creative writer and rhetorician, and so the moments where she is less than excellent are distinctly unpleasant not in the way that good horror must be, but in the way that real people often are. For a different reader, that could be a welcome thing, but for me, it was disappointing. I'll read more of Felker-Martin's work in the future, but if the flaws of Manhunt carry forward, I'll inevitably tap out of her list. 

Tertiarily: Manhunt reminded me a lot of The Handmaid's Tale, in that it engaged in the white literary tradition of reimagining violence committed in the name of anti-Blackness/misogynoir to victimize white women? It was particularly odd in this case because white trans women (our primary protagonists) face their own contemporary struggles that could have been and were taken to their reasonable conclusions within the text, but those conclusions were kind of replaced in the last act by chattel slavery? Very weird, very white. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Hate crime, Body horror, Transphobia, Violence, Torture, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Death of parent, War, Animal death, Incest, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Fatphobia

birbmcbirb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book made me very uncomfortable, and goes at a pace that makes you feel like you can't catch you  breath. The characters were flawed, sometimes to an annoying extent, but in a way that mimicks a found family of traumitized people. I think it's worth sticking through the hard parts, but make sure youre in a good head space before you pick this one up. Especially if youre someone targeted by TERFS & SWERFS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Deadnaming, Bullying, Slavery, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Eating disorder, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Excrement, Body shaming, Body horror, Ableism, War, Transphobia, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Biphobia, Eating disorder, Incest, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Stalking

bestofsons's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Slavery, Torture, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Body horror, Misogyny, Homophobia, Gore, Hate crime, Confinement, Sexual assault, Outing, Medical content, Incest, War, Violence, Deadnaming, Blood, Sexual content, and Death of parent

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.5

The world is unkind to trans women and this nightmare of the future is even crueller.

The violence is so visceral. Picking this up was like choosing to plunge full-body into a pool full of sparking livewires (in the best way). It's electric. It's harsh, dark, ultraviolent, perverted, fast, tense, and all of this makes it so realistic. Wonderfully horrific.

This is SO trans. Not just transgender but transgressive. They refuse to fit into the ideal box set up by neoliberal society. They don't always pass. They're pre- "the surgery". They're violent. Loud. Not sexless, in fact they're horny. They're T4T. They don't always use the most pc language for themselves. They don't fit into the gender binary that many demand trans women must in order to be respected or acknowledged as women.

I loved Fran and Beth. They are perfectly imperfect. This makes them so interesting, so real, so compelling. I also loved Indi's character so much. Her fatness isn't hidden away but always described with dignity. She is desirable, intelligent, hardworking, badass. Things we don't see fat people depicted as very often.

The middle chunk of the book got a little chaotic for me with too many perspective changes (it's hard to follow on audio) and plot that I wasn't as interested in. But then the ending got me good, leaving me with tears in my eyes. As hard and cruel as this story is, there is also so much love and tenderness. The sense of community between the four main characters is everything.

I don't like explicit sex in books (I usually just skim-read over those scenes) so obviously this part of the book wasn't my favourite. But that's a me thing, nothing I'd knock down the book's rating for. That being said, there's a lot of criticism about the sexual content in this book and most of it seems to be coming from cis women who are offended by it. So I'll iterate my stance on that.

Depictions of misogyny do not make it a misogynist book. Review bombing a woman's book because you don't agree with her politics does make you misogynist.

I won't police women's depictions of rape which is unfortunately such a common experience of womanhood, and especially trans women's experience. It is graphic and disturbing in Manhunt and I believe it's meant to shock to prove a point and elicit a response. Mine was sympathy, anger, disgust, and kinship. Unfortunately others have failed to sympathize with these women protagonists and instead are apathetic or irritated by its provocative violence. I wonder if these readers resonated more with the ideology of the XX TERFs. I didn't feel that the sexually violent scenes were glorifying or romanticizing sexual assault and I won't presume to tell women how they should or shouldn't discuss, depict, and process sexual violence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Trafficking, Transphobia, Cursing, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Gore, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Death, Blood, Hate crime, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual assault, Outing, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Incest

babybasil's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

1.0

To say the book as a whole was bad would be incorrect. The premise was cool. It could have been so amazing if the writing wasn’t so flat. I nearly DNFd this book, but I hate quiting, so I slogged on to my detriment. 

Firstly, if the book goes more than 3 pages without mentioning sex or someone’s genitals, it was a lucky 3 pages. Like, it’s constant. Everyone is fucking each other all the time. Everyone is thinking of sex all the time. And if they’re not thinking of sex, they’re thinking about how they or the men they’re hunting have genitals. Seriously, it was alright for the first few chapters, but by the middle of the book, I was pretty fed up. We’re introduced to half the cast via sex and, sometimes, it was just flat out weird. I believe it was Fran who just straight out asked the doctor if they could fuck and I nearly threw the book across the room. 

Another issue was the story. There was no real storyline. It was just the plot of “men are monsters now and TERFs want to kill trans people” and that was it. It never felt like there was an actual story happening, just a bunch of people fucking and killing. Even the “romance” in the book felt crazy forced. Robbie saying he loved Fran in 3 days? Crazy unbelievable since we never got the two even sharing a moment besides fucking next to an unconscious Beth the same day they met. There was a point at the book where one of the main characters was working as a prostitute essentially. She seemed to have the attention of the head hancho of a bunker, but then a chapter later, her boyfriend was told she was apparently doing a bad job??? Since when?? The characterization was never pointed out and it was just such lazy writing to move the plot on. The whole book is littered with lazy writing. 

Next, I hate terfs as much as any self respecting person does, but the way the book sought to victimize the characters constantly was a bit boring. It felt like making a terf army was the easy way out, ESPECIALLY when they later just straight up accepted trans people/men if they did grunt work and got bottom surgery. It took away all the danger of their army and was just dull. 

Then there was the perspective jumping. I love books that have multiple character perspectives, especially when we get to see how their stories over lap. But when your perspective shifts 3-6 times (usually just 2-3 paragraphs per section) a CHAPTER? It gets so fucking confusing, especially when some of the sections just start “she”. One was so bad I never really figured out who it was supposed to be. Like, who am I meant to root for? What is even going on? We went from a tense moment to yet another character fucking. It was awful! Just pick a character per chapter and stick with them. Or if you do switch, at least make it make sense. 

Another thing was the nazi imagery. I get that Gretchen was trying to make an end of the world “the terfs are killing all trans women” narrative, but using the holocaust and nazi imagery made me, a Jewish women, incrediably uncomfortable. I hate when people compare things to nazis and the literal extermination of my ancestors. It’s not a necessary allegory and she pushed it SO HARD I was rolling my eyes. At nazis. Like, enough is enough.  

Not even that but Indi’s fatphobia is so unnecessary. Like, as a fat person, I don’t think about it as horribly or awfully as she does. She’s constantly going on about her rolls or how other characters are touching her “deeply buried collarbones”. It’s so bad.  It nearly tipped into racism half the time with how the book treated Indi. 

Overall, I did not like this book at all. It was such a waste of a story idea because the virus was such a cool idea. I really don’t recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Transphobia, Violence, Classism, Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Incest

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

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

lunmione's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Dysphoria, Gore, Hate crime, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Outing, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Pedophilia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Self harm

Minor: Incest