Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

28 reviews

ivyleiff's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

that was so ??!???! but i also kind of loved it?? 🧜‍♂️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol, Self harm, Mental illness, Drug use, Death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Excrement, and Vomit

s_lorenz's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

kaicedcoffee's review against another edition

funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I don't care what anyone says! I loved this book! I love that the main character is a mess and kind of a big jerk! And (SPOILERS) she develops just enough by the end for you to feel like she's grown but also not to an unrealistic degree.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Mental illness, and Excrement

justusingthisforstats's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Excrement, and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

callmeamelia's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Excrement, Mental illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Drug use

roraisabella's review against another edition

dark sad 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

2.75

this book was enjoyable, but i just couldn’t get past how insufferable the main character is. she is terrible and selfish and while that might be the point i don’t know, i just couldn’t enjoy her never-ending monologues. her internalised misogyny is too much. the love scenes were good but not a lot else. don’t read this if suicide themes, animal abuse and addiction trigger you. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Excrement, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Misogyny, Medical content, Death, Alcohol, Animal death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

firstknight's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

4.5

A really easy read. Got this done in about three sessions. It's one of those books that's easy to pick up and then not put down for the next hundred pages, since the plot flows at a fast pace and the inner monologue of the protagonist - Lucy - is entertaining even at her most pretentious and unlikeable. 
Not usually a fan of romance, modern settings or first-person narrative but can say I really enjoyed this one. Great for light reading if you're not too put off by some of the darker themes. The last third really brought the whole thing together for me. 
4.5 stars for really making me think critically about merman sex anatomy. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Stalking

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Animal death, and Excrement

Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, and Drug use

literarytaurean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Melissa Broder just solidified herself as my favorite author alive (Rooney is probably second). She is always so raw and ugly in the most realistic sense while sucking you into mentally and sexually disturbed scenarios. Her writing is honest and twisted and relatable and I couldn't find anything better for myself. She's the only author I can read 150+ pgs per sitting, she's incredible.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

nicolettae's review against another edition

challenging funny sad medium-paced

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

1.5

1.5 stars. Welp… I uh… I’m not sure what to say about The Pisces. This is definitely one of those “what the hell did I just read?!” kind of books…

I’ll admit, The Pisces had small moments of clever humor/satire and vulnerability I could appreciate. Lucy’s downfall into depression and desperation as she tries to piece her life together is upsetting at a visceral level and her connections with the women in her therapy group were complicated in an intriguing way. 

HOWEVER, those tiny moments were completely overshadowed by graphically nauseating descriptions of vomit, shit, cunniligus featuring a lot of menstrual blood, animal abuse, semen, and… well… a good amount of merman anatomy. 

Don’t pick up The Pisces thinking it is a lighthearted fantasy romance… our aquatic lead is much less Aquaman and more barnacle covered cod at the local fish market. This is not a romance book… honestly I don’t even know what to categorize this book as… I don’t know if there is really a target demo of people interested in in-depth descriptions of somebody trying to physically dig excrement out of their own ass with their fingers. 

Literally the only thing that saved this book from getting a one star review was Broder’s coverage of the therapy groups and Lucy’s hopeless spiral into obsession and depression. Aside from that, The Pisces was gross and uncomfortable in a way that didn’t make you want to reflect, but instead in a way that makes you want to pour bleach into your eyeballs.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, and Excrement

cheye13's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-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

Sigmund Freud and Judith Butler would go to town on this. And the ensuing debate would be more interesting than this novel. This was a boring Rachel Bloom's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and a bland Zaina Arafat's You Exist Too Much.

Unlike many earlier readers, I didn't pick this up for hot mermaid sex; I picked this up because those earlier readers said it was a wild ride. It disappoints on both fronts: first of all, the merman sex, while indeed hot, doesn't happen until a full halfway through the book, and is preceeded by quite a bit of terrible human sex. Second, it was more realism than it was ridiculous.

This novel did help me narrow down my ennui of millennial literary fiction. So much of that niche relies on "shock" fiction, but the "shock" is through explicit realism, which isn't shocking at all when you've lived it. Tragic public bathroom hookups, terrible first-anal-attempt stories, graphic discussion of suicide – I can accidentally overhear all that in a nightclub line on a weeknight.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Addiction, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion, Medical content, Self harm, and Vomit