Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

113 reviews

emstring's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Violence, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

aceofknaves88's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

When I heard a while back on a Stephen King podcast I listen to that Chuck Tingle was the guest I was surprised. The guy who, for about a decade, has been something of an online celebrity and joke for writing bizarre gay erotica with titles like "Pounded In The Butt By My Book 'Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt'" did not seem like a guy who had a lot to say about King to me.

Boy was I wrong. And ol' Chuck had a lot of interesting things to say about horror in general and about queer culture.

Enter his 2022 debut horror novel, "Camp Damascus", a riveting, horrifying book about religious trauma, bigotry, neuro-divergence, found family, gay conversion camp and demons.

Great horror, great social commentary, and a main character you are behind and root for all the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Car accident, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Death

raneyak's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! That being said, I really wish it slowed down and spent more time on the details. I would have liked to see more internal struggle when

Rose gets her memory back and loses faith in religion

rather than the abrupt shift we see. Additionally, there are many sci-fi elements that I would have loved to learn about in more detail. For example:

How did the mayfly testing work? How long has it been going on? What was the origin of the camp? How did they trap the demons in the first place? Etc.

Overall a good read for those interested in the complicated intersection between religion and the queer community.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Religious bigotry, Death, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, and Lesbophobia

trashgobby's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

Moderate: Gore, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Abandonment, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Torture, Gaslighting, Ableism, Gun violence, and Drug use

midnightgremlin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book delves into the religious trauma and horrors that queer individuals in North America may face as well as what people are willing to do to "fix" what is not broken. Losing one's community, family and friendships for daring to love someone of the same gender as yourself. 
I found the autism representation in this book to be well done and integrated in a way so that readers who do not fall on the spectrum or personally know individuals who fall on the spectrum can relate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body horror

kitrook's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Vomit, Body horror, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia

sarah_shelf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Gaslighting, Gore, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Car accident

Minor: Confinement

Body horror but with insects Demons Religious Cult

cluelessavian's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Body horror, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Car accident and Gore

Minor: Ableism

ashtheaudiomancer's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Excellent! My first book by Chuck Tingle. I only know him by reputation, and I'm not sure what I expected exactly, but those expectations were definitely exceeded. The reason I'm rating it so low (not that 4 stars is low, really) is I wanted more background/flashbacks once we find out what's really happening to Rose. I wanted more of her history and memories. There's a reason those things are hidden from us, it makes sense for the plot to move forward, but I wanted more. This is just what I needed to reset my brain. <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting and Religious bigotry

This is another example where the content warnings are kind of a major part of the plot. "Conversion therapy" is right there on the cover copy, so homophobia is a given. Vomiting live insects is something I did not expect.

maxolotl99's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Gaslighting, Car accident, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit and Suicide