Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

32 reviews

yccmqb's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Sexual content

o3ovin's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective medium-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

3.5

I absolutely understand what Palahniuk is trying to do, but he doesn’t quite succeed. This is true in multiple departments.

Firstly, does the narrative style work? occasionally. It’s an interesting experiment in storytelling and does make reading to the end all the more satisfying, but the repetition of specific phrases and transitional beats is slightly jarring.

Now the big one: is Brandy Alexander a transphobic representation of a trans woman? yes. do i think she’s meant to be? no, because the character is not trans, rather a complicated depiction of a damaged queer man. Does this fact make the situation even more complicated? yes!

I appreciate that it is explicitly stated that trans healthcare is saving care for some people, rather than self harm across the board, but the messy rhetoric that may not matter so much to a cis person is the reason I (as a trans person) nearly dnfed this book. It became hard to read after a point.

And yet I didn’t. Despite my issues with the novel I was still gripped by Palahniuk’s style. He is witty, quippy, and unafraid to use unconventional or vulgar manners of description. I really enjoy the strange hyper capitalist hellscape mirror of reality he’s created. Every scene is eclectic and snappy and strangely familiar, I’m excited to read more from him (because I absolutely plan to).

I have heard whispers that there is an anti-terf short story in Haunted, another Palahniuk novel with an unconventional narrative style and next on my tbr, so i’m really interested to see what’s done with both things there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

venidasdemarzo's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Transphobia, Body horror, Suicide, Self harm, Outing, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Dysphoria, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Mental illness, Death, Eating disorder, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Incest and Gun violence

ohsnapsabrina93_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Infidelity, Transphobia, Blood, Hate crime, and Violence

rachellosacco's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

What a great and crazy dive into ideas of beauty and hyper-femininity. There are plenty of twists, some you might be able to guess, others that are truly shocking. Consumerism and spectacle are criticized throughout, and the line begins to blur between hate and love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Outing, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident, Deadnaming, Cursing, and Body shaming

Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Rape

milsforreals's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Medical content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Outing, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, and Gun violence

Minor: Dysphoria, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Eating disorder

violetstarling's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Homophobia

grunbean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

Whenever I read a book by Chuck Palahniuk I can only describe my reaction with that one clip of Brian David Gilbert going ‘What the f***’?!’. For me this picked up over half way, but it’s not a bad read. Definitely interesting with plenty of surprises, which is what you’d expect! It just didn’t have its hook in me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Drug use, Dysphoria, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Outing, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Mental illness, Infidelity, Homophobia, Deadnaming, Child abuse, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Addiction, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Death, and Car accident

anicemyth's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

1.0

This is the most hateful book I have ever read. I get the feeling Palahniuk hates women and despises trans women especially. I don't recommend this book. Scrolling through kiwifarms will have a similar effect. The ending simply sucked shit. It felt like he got to the climax of the story, when "oh god oh fuck i need to end this somehow" and farted out the most pitiful ending of any novel I've read - ZERO payoff for having read 300 pages of nigh-hatespeech. Disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Homophobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Medical content, Body shaming, Deadnaming, and Drug abuse

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

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Incest

c_aitli_n's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.0

Very transphobic and edgelord ego stroking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Transphobia, Self harm, and Sexual violence