Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh

8 reviews

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.25

look, i love otessa moshfegh’s writing style, but i can’t looks past the recurrent use of slurs throughout the book. it would be different if they only appeared every once in a while, but there were times when there were 3+ slurs on a single page. and i didn’t fuck with that. i understand what she was trying to pull off with the narrator, but it was too extreme. i love a good unlikeable or unreliable narrator—if done right. mcglue was not done right. it could’ve been done right if it had been written as “gay pirates with internalized homophobia learn to love each other and themselves.” sadly, i would instead describe this as “the narrator drops the f slur and racist comments every ten sentences while pining for another man.” disappointment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Cursing, Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Vomit, Blood, Confinement, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Body horror

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Child death, Rape, Murder, and Slavery

book_slay's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

espears's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I keep seeing stuff about McGlue being a pirate story?? It is not. McGlue is an alcoholic sailor, struggling to deal with himself and the reality of what happened between him and his best friend. TW: There are a lot of homophobic/racist slurs being flung around here. The prose is beautiful. The journey of self-loathing and reflection that McGlue experiences over the course of these pages felt visceral. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Homophobia, Blood, Alcoholism, Cursing, Racial slurs, and Racism

readerette's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.5

The writing style made sense for the character's inner voice, but it was difficult to get a lot of meaning from it sometimes. This definitely feels intentional, and while I appreciate why the author did it, it also made the story and characters harder to follow.

I'm glad it is a novella; a whole novel of this writing style and this level of darkness would have been too much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Alcohol, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, and Misogyny

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Fatphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Blood, Child death, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

elise_allberry's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is very well written in the way that it conveys alcoholism, however for this reason the prose can often be very confusing and difficult to understand. Despite this, I found myself very attached and sad for the main character by the time I got to the end. A very open ended and ambivalent ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Self harm

kazy's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

reading mcglue is like picking at a festering wound i didn’t realize i had but now that i’ve noticed it i can’t stop digging my finger into it again and again and again until eventually i’ve got this big ugly hole where chunks of flesh used to be but i’m still running up to people i know asking if they would please consider trying this new form of self-mutilation. 

the VA for the audiobook is very good and really brings it  to life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

juliapetal's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-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

5.0

One of my favorites of all time, holy cow. What a writer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, and Violence