Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede

26 reviews

jomama78's review against another edition

gross and graphic for no reason. it didn’t add to the plot. also the story didn’t seem to be going anywhere. the plot wasn’t clear. there are too many good books in the world to waste my time waiting for this book to “get good”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Excrement

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

What a deeply disturbing and fantastic book.

Have was such an unhinged character but I somehow rooted for her and was utterly devastated by the ending.

There was a humorous yet strange scene that was definitely an ode to Patrick Batemen watching himself having sex.

This was such a captivating story. It was like a train wreck - I just couldn't look away. Every time I put the book down, it was all I could think about.

It had me physically cringing in disgust and shouting out in disturbance and I loved every moment of it.

This is going to stick with me for a very long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Torture

kittiesss's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Body horror, Excrement, Murder, Sexual violence, Death, Blood, Gore, and Rape

Minor: Cannibalism

jamie_rich's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

Truly depraved....

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Death, Alcohol, Violence, Torture, Murder, Gore, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Blood

jctur2's review

dark funny tense 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

4.0

If a Disney princess was the main character in American Psycho.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Violence, Eating disorder, Stalking, Kidnapping, Blood, Body horror, Death, Excrement, Cannibalism, Drug use, Murder, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, and Torture

fangirljeanne's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

I don’t know what it says about me that I was sad that this didn’t have a happy ending, but it is what it is.

This is a great horror novel, beautifully grotesque and emotionally raw to an uncomfortable degree. It’s very much more lit fic than in tone and execution than horror or splatter punk, though it absolutely holds its own in both genres. The experience of being a woman, especially one who doesn’t fit the unattainable hypocrisy of socially acceptable feminine ideals, is a horrific mind-bending experience.

Maeve is not unique in her weird or messiness, take out the overt violence and this would be like many other women’s lit narrative about the trauma of living under patriarchy. But here, in the framing of a horror novel this narrative feels more authentic, more autonomous compared to the passive victimhood of a lot of white women’s navel gazing fiction, at least until the end. Maeve felt like she was going to give the cliche narrative of the weird girl, the creepy girl, the femme fatale a newer better ending. One where she embraces that aspects of herself that fear of society tells her to suppress and hate. While she escapes the typical fate of “fallen women” of literature, she is still punished for refusing to conform to society. That’s the only aspect of the story I disliked. It felt like a step back after so many subversive strides forward.

I get it, this is a horror novel. Heartbreak is an important aspect of that genre. But I would also argue that few things are quite as frightening to patriarchy as a villainous woman getting everything she wants including love and acceptance. 

Highly recommended to fans of graphic horror and dark humor. If you love the movie May (2002) this book might be for you too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Grief, Torture, Animal death, Bullying, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Cancer, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Medical content, Sexual assault, Classism, Ableism, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Stalking, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Drug use, Excrement, Rape, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Chronic illness

squids_can_read's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

Please look up content/trigger warnings.

Maeve Fly works as a princess at a theme park. She loves her life as it is but when her grandmother gets sick and her best friend gets a big break in her acting career. Now Maeve Fly's life is crumbling around her. 

How can a book this disturbing make me want to sob like a little baby? I think that a very specific set of people will really enjoy this book and I think that most people will not. The main character is not a good person, she does things and says things that are fundamentally wrong. But I honestly really enjoyed that. It's gross and it's disgusting but it discusses a lot about codependent relationships, finding your true self, and having someone know you truly. Overall, I thought that the characters were really interesting and the plot was super intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Excrement, Gore, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Deliciously unsettling and dark! It reminded me of Boy Parts, which I loved, so that immediately got me on board. Maeve’s voice was compelling and fun to read, if sometimes a little over the top. There were some threads and aspects of the story that could have been more fleshed out or dropped altogether (like Maeve hooking up with a famous, unnamed director… how? Why? Does she do this often? Unclear why it was included). But I loved how twisted and terrible this story was, really no punches pulled. A great book for Halloween!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Violence, Murder, Excrement, Death, and Blood

cmdonaghy's review

challenging dark tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Sexual violence

shelilton's review

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical content, Violence, Blood, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Vomit, Body horror, Cannibalism, Excrement, Gore, and Torture