Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

42 reviews

our_lady_of_perpetual_bad_luck's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Infertility, Outing, Vomit, Violence, Blood, Death, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Genocide, Hate crime, Medical content, War, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, Body horror, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Body shaming, Classism, Drug use, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Outing, and Eating disorder

Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Animal death, Cancer, Deadnaming, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, and Kidnapping

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I am going to be frank - I will likely be processing what I read for a while, so I’m unsure if I’ll have anything coherent to say, other than to check content warnings below (a lot of shock value stuff in this) if you decide to read this book and take care while reading. 

I will try another book by the author, but I feel conflicted about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Excrement, Gore, Murder, Sexual violence, and Torture

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.0

TERFs hate this book because they’re transphobic and weak. I (they/them) hate this book because it’s bad. We are NOT the same. 😤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Rape, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Medical content, Hate crime, Gore, Dysphoria, Death, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Antisemitism and Racism

lots f slurs dropped, right off the bat

noonanjohnc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Medical content, Torture, Abandonment, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Mental illness, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Confinement, Racism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, War, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

aswarmofbees's review

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

babayagareads's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

2.25

I don't think I'm going to make a habit of recommending this read. There are some jarring plot movements without transitional context. 

I'd also add that some of the quirks were a little too on the nose - like naming the ship the Galbraith. That would have been fine individually, but including that detail after specifically killing off Rowling in a side story was a little much. And I'm not a J.K. person either - it's more to say that one of those details would have been a more pure add to the plot and story, whereas both seems too pointed.

This book is definitely not for the weak-stomached.

I'm content with having read this piece, but it's not one that I'm going to recommend to others. If you're thinking of reading something that is going to make you uncomfortable, go ahead. 

The biggest content warning I've got is also a spoiler: very early in this book there is

one of the most graphic anal/yussy rape scenes I've ever encountered in a book or movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Suicide, Drug use, Car accident, Deadnaming, Rape, Confinement, Genocide, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Gun violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Terminal illness, Child death, Murder, Outing, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Body shaming, Biphobia, Sexual assault, Death, Fatphobia, and Body horror

You want to feel uncomfortable? This book has it all!

andykarnik's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

3.0

Mind the trigger warnings! This book was pretty damn intense. The less intense moments where you, the reader, are meant to rest are almost exclusively sex scenes. There were a few satisfying cathartic moments at the ends of part 2 and 3

Bunker brat Sophie getting eaten by her "boyfriend", the ship Galbraith (WTF) being destroyed, and Teach's death

. 

A lot of this book was saying aloud the quiet parts of American society with regards to transgender people so sometimes it was a revelation that other people experience the same things I do and other times horror that things could be so much worse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Transphobia, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Deadnaming, Body shaming, Slavery, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Fatphobia

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

katipheria's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. The general premise of the world-building is fantastic and unique, and as much as I hate to say it, were it to become our own reality I'm sure that the world would ultimately align itself in a similar fashion

in that cis women would be more likely to fall into a TERF or at least TERF-adjacent stance, if only due to the uncertainty and fear. Even those who consider themselves to be the best possible ally are still at risk simply due to the drive for self-preservation.

It's a terrifying situation and highlights a lot of ugly truths in reality.

However, the actual story within this world just doesn't do it for me. There's a lot of unnecessary sex scenes and as someone who prefers to avoid an excess amount of that (regardless of sex/gender of participants), I found myself skimming a lot to get back to the actual plot and feeling disappointed. While I understand that an apocalyptic setting inspires depravity and these moments highlight an innate desire for comfort and companionship,

the MC Fran's general poor treatment and better-than-you attitude towards her supposed friends makes things even more unappealing.

While it's not necessarily a horrible book, it is most definitely designed to be an uncomfortable read centered around characters who don't have many redeeming qualities.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Biphobia, Cannibalism, Classism, Death, Sexual violence, Ableism, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

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