Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison

19 reviews

bccorrea's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

When people warn you that this book is disgusting and vile. They are not joking. I read the whole book with my jaw on the floor and horrified. It's a good read that I'll never read again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Cannibalism, Rape, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Gore, Death, Body horror, and Blood

hannah_allen's review against another edition

dark fast-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

2.0

I believe there are two ways to write a disturbing book. The first way is to develop the characters, their personalities, their backgrounds, etc to give the reader full insight into why each character is the way they are; the story calls for dark scenes because the characters have been intentionally created to be dark people. The second way is to say to yourself, “What are the most disgusting/vile/disturbing things people can do? I want to write those things and have my characters do them.”

Unfortunately, this author chose the latter of these options when writing Dead Inside.

The reader receives limited information about the two main characters and their backgrounds. There isn’t a full-fledged story told- we go from one horrific and gruesome situation to the next, until the book eventually ends. And in my opinion, if an author is going to commit to the dark and disturbing parts of the human psyche, then the author has a responsibility to the reader to write a story, not a series of disturbing happenings loosely woven together with necrophilia and cannibalism.

Aside from the author’s descriptions of the books’ settings, the prose is underwhelming, and the dialogue feels forced. The twist is predictable, but is set up very well throughout the book. The author gives the reader a lovely, ironic dichotomy of the two characters’ “final forms” in the last pages that gives some relief from their grotesque tension. I also enjoyed the brief periods of time I found myself “rooting for” the main character; these were also welcomed reprieves from the book’s (at times) unnecessary graphicness. 

With all that being said, I *am* sitting here thinking and talking about this book, and this could very well be one of the author’s goals. In that sense, he did what he set out to do. I just think this book could have been written with a clearer point of view. Maybe I’ve interpreted this in a way it’s not meant to be interpreted, but I will not be re-reading this book to parcel that out. 

If you want a much darker, shorter, and more disturbing book with the same vibes as Verity by Colleen Hoover, this *might* be a book worth your time. If you absolutely love body-horror movies, this might be a book worth your time. If you’re looking for something purposefully shocking, this also might be a book worth your time. 

TRIGGER WARNINGS (graphic descriptions): necrophilia, cannibalism, sexual assault, rape, abortion, infant death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Rape and Murder

Graphic descriptions of necrophilia are included 2-3 times throughout this book.

mossroot's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-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

I forced myself to finish this book. Every minute was painful and I almost genuinely (scouts honor) vomited on two occasions. Wanted to see if this type of horror was for me and I grossly underestimated how vile it would actually be. This story does not use its vile actions to further the plot, tell any meaningful story, create any suspense, or make any type of commentary. Truly regret reading this book. It had well written descriptions, don't get me wrong, with a story that was aware of how disgusting it was, but it was not something I enjoyed at all. I am a horror and thriller fan, but this is anything but. This is splatterpunk to the extreme. Reader beware. 

I feel incapable of currently giving this book any type of star rating, due to the how absolutely disgusting and vile the subject matter is.

No part of me feels that I can say this book deserves any stars. Fucking a dead baby is just something that I cannot get behind. Not even mentioned off hand, this sex act is VISCERALLY explained. There is no true justice or anything for this MC and it's very bleak and disgusting.

 

Dead Inside took me a little over two hours to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Violence, Rape, Medical content, Sexual content, Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, Gore, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Sexism, Abortion, Vomit, Suicide, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Blood, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Child death, Murder, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment

grimoireofsabotage's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Cannibalism, Drug use, Pregnancy, Gore, Sexual violence, Child death, Cursing, Pedophilia, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Suicide, Torture, Abortion, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Body shaming, Car accident, and Eating disorder

kristinawidda_k's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

nerolireads's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

Honestly... I don't know where to start. I picked it up out of curiosity after hearing one of my mutuals on tiktok mentioned it, thinking 'pfffff... how bad can it be?'. BAD. Really bad. I honestly think the entire goal of the author was to gross people out. It worked. I initially DNF'd it after being introduced to the "hobby" of the second character. And then stupidly picked it back up and finished the read. I regret every word I read. 

In short; it's about a security guard in a hospital who likes to have smexy times with the dead bodies in the morgue and a maternity doctor who likes to snack on dead babies while having fun with herself. They meet and then science what combining their "hobbies" would look like. And the book ends in gore. 

It's very graphically, descriptively written with the sole purpose of making it as twisted and gross as the author is capable of. 

DO NOT RECOMMEND READING IT
(literally the only plus is that other horrorbooks are childsplay now)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Excrement, Gore, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abortion, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death, and Medical trauma

Rape is glorified in the book

chloseencounter's review against another edition

First book I’ve ever DNF. I’m on an extreme horror kick currently so I wanted to give this a try but almost halfway through this book I still felt as if it was written by an edgy teenage boy.

It seems like reviews are either “this is the worst book I ever read, I love it.” or “this is the worst book I ever read, I hate it”, but all the good reviews have no commentary about the actual substance of the book, they’re all just “well that was gross.” I understand feeling as if a book must be good because it gave you a visceral reaction but l personally need a little bit of substance with my violence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Blood, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Gore, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Child death, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism

becaboo77's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I don't even know what to say about this book! I feel like a terrible, dirty person for giving it the rating I did. I was NOT at all prepared for this. Ive heard stuff about it, but this... This was fucking insane! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Child death, and Drug use

The content warning, yeah it's a lot, but it has it all!!!!

laurensparkles's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

To start, I find it extremely cool that we never know the name of the main character and we never even question it. (At least... I didn't realize it until I was finished and went to talk to someone about how funny the main character is.) I audibly laughed SO many times because he's just genuinely funny even though he's sooo twisted. We know every single character's name, even the scabby bartender whose presence takes up only a page or two... but never the one narrating. Idk why, but that's just really interesting to me. In terms of actual content... There's one scene that's just unnecessary, really all of them are, but they're also necessary to make the book what it is I guess? Why do we read things like this, guys? Lol. Every boundary was blown past and made laps around. Read at your own risk and choose a more lighthearted book afterward to wipe the slate clean. Or if you're like me, go to Reddit to find another demented one to dive into. xD

(P.S. - Necrophilia wasn't listed in the content warnings, but be aware it is mentioned all throughout the book.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Body horror, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Violence

_daintybunni's review against another edition

dark fast-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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Ableism, Abortion, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Sexual assault