Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

5 reviews

writewithapendragon's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book is short but it took me a longer time to read than I expected. Vo’s prose is beautifully poetic, each word carefully chosen. I want to go back and annotate, I enjoyed the language so much. Gatsby itself is so over-done that I wasn’t expecting this to be so unique and captivating, but it is a truly singular work.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Abortion, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Racism, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, and Physical abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Racism, Toxic friendship, War, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Deportation, Xenophobia, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

midnightrubies's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

 I found it difficult to seamlessly engage with the book without more world building and exposition on the magic systems. However, it maybe a perfect read for fans of magical realism. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Racism

abominablesnowaro's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-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

Points for diversity and queer characters. Some points off for connecting them to demons and doubling down on the antisemitism from The Great Gatsby (but only in a brief mention). Overall weird, but pretty good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Homophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Infidelity, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Biphobia, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

Minor: Antisemitism and Physical abuse

5aru's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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

4.75

I don’t know how to describe this other than as an experience. It preserves so much of the essence of what made the original The Great Gatsby so bitter and disturbing, but explores a whole other side of America and its dreams and excesses as embodied in the 1920s. And I do think no Gatsby content I’ve consumed before has quite encapsulated that sense of pretense, of superficiality and absolute indifference the way this does.

Jordan is a fascinating character throghout, and while the inclusion of magic and the supernatural was surprising, it ended up fitting so well and being so well-woven within the context that it almost seems incredible that it wasn’t in the source material at all. While it remains a retelling, The Chosen and the Beautiful is very much its own story; it had something to say, and delivered it with a lyricism and a passion that would’ve been difficult to find anywhere but with Nghi Vo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Racism

Minor: Homophobia

whatiskatelynreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

This is a dark and alluring take on the familiar Gatsby story. Told from a queer and Vietnamese Jordan Baker’s perspective, we get snippets of what Daisy would have been like before the events of West Egg and what it meant to be a part of Gatsby’s glittering world. The writing in this feels like it belongs with the original, as someone who read all of Fitzgerald’s works I find this to fit so snugly into what I expected from a Gatsby retelling, and yet there’s this simmering layer of magic and unease throughout the whole book. The fantasy element to this book feels natural, organic, like it was always meant to be a part of the story. Don’t expect there to be overt world-building or explanation of any kind of magic system, there’s simply magic underlying every interaction and hiding in the corners of the story. The queer rep in this story also makes the dynamic between the original characters much more nuanced and complex and yet still feels totally natural and true to the original. I really enjoyed this book. I will definitely be seeking out Nghi Vo’s other works. 

CW: death, homophobia, racism, mild body horror

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Body horror