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Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Maeve Fly by CJ Leede

35 reviews

musingsbymichelle's review

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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bdingz's review against another edition

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dark funny tense 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

4.5

A woman must first endure a victimhood of some sort—abandonment, abuse, oppression of the patriarchy—to be monstrous. Men have always been permitted in fiction and in life to simply be what they are, no matter how dark or terrifying that might be. But with a woman, we expect an answer, a reason.

This was a wild ride and my first foray into splatterpunk. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did! Creepy, funny, icky. I support women’s wrongs.

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katizwitchy's review

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challenging dark 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

WOWIE. Wow. 
My first thought after finishing this was "I need to walk this off."

Man, what a novel. If you have the stomach to read this, please do. Yes, it is awful and grotesque at times, but oh my god it is also ART. Women being horrible, complex, violent beings in the way men have been allowed to be for years is a perspective I didn't know I needed. The scariest thing about this novel is how easily you can find yourself agreeing with Maeve, seeing the line of thinking, right up until the brutal reality hits you full force and you feel the weight of shame and disgust for ever even slightly agreeing with her. 

I cannot put into words how this novel affects me, other than saying that I will be thinking about it for a very long time. Where the R-rated scenes started to lose me, Leede would hook me back in with a beautiful piece of prose about grief, identity, and the depravedness and inherent evil that exists in simply being human. This book makes you confront the parts of yourself that are a bad person, even when you're nowhere near Maeve's level of bad person. 

I didn't like American Psycho the film, mostly because it gave me anxiety from all of the violence against women, but switching the narrative and confronting our gendered understanding of violence made me approach with curiosity instead of fear and disgust. And I think that's what I'm left with. I have so many questions I'd love to ask the author, and lots to think about in terms of how I approach typical horror media. 

If you don't have a stomach for some of the things I've described here, or aren't ready to confront darker shades of humanity than you deal with in your day-to-day, then don't read this. There were definitely parts that made me viscerally uncomfortable, as all good horror should have. But there were also very poignant commentaries on the idea of what makes an idol, what separates good and bad in a person, and what lies in between. 

I don't know that I could pick up this book again. And, in my opinion, that's what makes a great psychological horror story. 

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laneychaney's review

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3.5


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whatkatyread87's review

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

4.0

It’s almost as if someone looked at Patrick Bateman, and then said “Hold my Fucking Beer”. 

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bella613's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This is wild. 
Gross. 
Edgy for the sake of being edgy. 

I didn't like it persay, but it was somewhat well done. I agree with most of the criticism I've seen about it, but I also don't disagree with most of the praise, so... I guess make of that what you will. I would not recommend this. Unless you're into very dark gory horror with no real point. 

I liked Gideon.
I didn't like Maeve herself and I can't tell if you're supposed to sympathize with her or not. She's very much a pick-me, impulsive, evil character without any intelligence or forethought. Extreme self-centeredness is typical for a killer in most cases, though, am I right? 

I heard reviews say it was funny. I did not find it funny. It wasn't dark humor, it was just dark. 
But I'm not mad that I read it, and I think in most cases with books like this I probably would be. So the author gets brownie points for making it somehow ok without anything ok in it lol. 

It was rather predictable and the pacing went up and down throughout the story. The characters are pretty flat, but it's clear that this isn't supposed to have redemption or growth because that's not the purpose of the book. It's definitely just a story as a catalyst for bringing the reader gore and graphic shock and repulsive horny murder. Psychological thrillers do more for me than horror that is only horror for the gore. 

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booksandcoffeewithlexi's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0


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madi_summerr's review

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

5.0


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chloeburton's review against another edition

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

2.5

I really enjoyed the first two halves of the book. The writing is really engaging and quick, I liked the setting and the mixed tone. I like the idea of this freaky woman playing Elsa at Disney. Maybe this is too far into the zone of being splatterpunk for me. The last act all I could think was “I get it, you’ve read American Psycho.” And yes, I get that’s a thing she’s obviously doing on purpose but it becomes so overbearing by the end. I’ve already read American Psycho…and I didn’t care for it. 

That being said,  I do appreciate a fellow fan of Werewolf Bar Mitzvah. 

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bwoo's review against another edition

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

4.0


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