Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Walking Practice

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Walking Practice by Dolki Min

39 reviews

shannanigans's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

Content Warnings

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

buying this in print both because it was lovely and because my ereader did not do the art justice!

wow! what can i say. such a fresh premise, the narrative voice was so refreshing, i don’t think I’ve ever read a book anything like this. if you have, PLEASE recommend! favorite book this year i think

unapologetically queer and making very interesting points about who this world is designed for both physically and in a more abstract sense. definitely graphic and gory but that takes a surprising backseat to the emotions of the main char. idk this book was just great and a lovely opener for Halloween month.

Content Warnings

sisa_moyo's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

Absolutely weird and darkly unhinged book, with queer themes paralleling the experiences of queer people in unsafe and ‘conservative’ spaces. It also speaks on disability; gender, what it means to be one or the other, what it means to be human.
I listened to it as an audiobook and the narration by Nicky Ernes it truly spectacular, thoroughly enjoyed this.

Content Warnings

danielles_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny 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? Yes

4.0

I wondered how it was even possible to divide something with so many visible variants into just two groups [men and women]. But humans keep bringing up their criteria and judge me by it. In the subway, in the street, in restaurants, in shopping malls, in parks . . . their expressions and words that question my humanity irrespective of where I am made me tear myself apart and rebuild myself piece by piece. I’ve invested close to ten years of my time figuring out what exactly their criteria are. My conclusion is that there are no such criteria.

This book is sooo weird lol. I knew it would be weird going in, but somehow it ended up being even weirder than I thought. There is a huge focus on sex, with explicit sexual content combined with blood and gore in a way that I’m sure will turn off a lot of readers. There are also a few fatphobic descriptions that felt entirely unnecessary to the story.

I’m always a fan of stories about aliens observing humanity from the point of view of an outsider, so I liked this book from that standpoint. It had a lot to say about humanity’s rules and expectations for how people should act, especially in terms of gender roles, and how isolating that can be.

This book doesn’t have much of a plot, and is mostly just the day-to-day life of the main character. It did start feeling a little repetitive in the second half (so many complaints about stairs lol), but then the book ended. The ending was pretty sudden and kind of bittersweet, but I think it worked well for the story.

Mumu (cute!) is finally taken down by someone of their own kind.

The real highlight of the book is the character’s extremely sardonic way of speaking directly to the reader. This really differentiates the book from other alien characters, and is strengthened even more by the audiobook narrator, who did a fantastic job bringing this strange character to life. There were also some cool sound effects that enabled the listener to feel as disoriented as the MC does. The ebook also made tons of interesting stylistic choices to convey the alien’s shifting mindset, so I was glad I had a copy of it along with the audio.

There is not much world building in this book, which I think was fine for the story the author wanted to tell. We got a tiny bit of the alien’s backstory, but the story mostly leaned into the weird aspects of the alien’s physical body and lifestyle on Earth. Really this book feels more like horror than science fiction.

Overall, I think Dolki Min wrote a very unique story, and Victoria Caudle’s translation was very effective. I’d definitely be interested in reading more from them.

To tell the truth, having someone not reply and treat me as a nonentity is a teeth-chatteringly frightening experience. There are so many people who ignore someone as naturally as eating. […] Answering human leeches like her is almost like a reflex for me, probably because the violence of going unanswered has cut me to my core.

Honestly, relatable

Content Warnings

lbelow's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

4.0

If not for the fatphobia, (it is one thing to have an unlikeable main character

compare a fat female-coded character they see as prey to large mammals, and quite another for said character to be unbathed in such a way as to be described as being covered in sweat and shit that transfers to the main character during sex)

, I would have given this book 5 stars. For one thing, it is really f***king weird and I love that. For another, the themes of gender performativity and transness are top notch. And so many passages make my little disabled heart glad. I related SO MUCH to this journey of invisible disability, chronic pain, and an uncooperative body. For these reasons, I consider it well worth the read (though check the content warnings).

Content Warnings

jayisreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny reflective medium-paced

4.5

This was a fun and short book to read, though I should add that it's rather gory and violent (i.e., "fun" is subjective here). The protagonist, Mumu, is an alien who disguises themself as a human (sometimes a woman, sometimes a man) in an attempt to get by and be accepted in the human world. This is explored through dating/sex, though this usually leads to a grisly end for the human, considering that they are "hunted" in order for Mumu to survive—

Mumu serves as an allegory of sorts for queer people (particularly trans people), expressing their fears of society and the harm that they might face, but also desiring acceptance. Mumu is doing what they can to "pass," and if it's not appearance, then it's how they carry themself (e.g., struggling with walking on two feet). I thought the author did a wonderful job showcasing the range of emotions, from grief to love, as Mumu went from one date to the next.

Most interesting about Walking Practice is the language and typesetting. I'd be curious to see the original, just to see what got lost in translation (e.g., onomatopoeia, which is rich in the Korean language). I also thought the typesetting was absolutely fascinating in some places, where the text expanded and contracted to show the constant shifting happening for Mumu (not only bodily but also mentally). In addition to the language, the act of seeing these shifts add so much dimension.

If you can stomach body horror and violence, this book is worth picking up.

Content Warnings

mrpatperkins's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The author has an interesting premise, the alien posing as a human hunting humans for food, but its execution came off as awkward at times. That premise became a device for the discussion of what it means to be human, and I don’t feel it worked as well.

Content Warnings