Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

54 reviews

naomymarr's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Torture, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Body horror, Cannibalism, Blood, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Incest and Pedophilia

millawi's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Vomit, Body horror, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Drug use, Excrement, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Racism

nightmare_maven's review against another edition

dark medium-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

3.0

The gore was almost too much for me omg

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, and Gore

Moderate: Police brutality and Homophobia

Minor: Suicide and Incest

booksofautumn's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Incest, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, Murder, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

nexadon's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

The peak of an ultra-specific genre, strongly reminiscent of regular non-horrific 90's gay pornography with some charming twists. Each and every introduced character is in some way a tragic figure, so do not go into this book expecting goodness and naivety to be rewarded by the narrative.
My only criticism would be directed at the unbalanced nature of the cast and the length of the book (which go hand in hand).
Character talk (DEFINITELY SPOILERS):

While I like Andrew's exclusive access to first person pronouns in the narration because it makes his sections that much more ominous, characters like Luke and Tran who would have benefited from deeper development feel that much flatter in comparison. Luke is the source of my biggest gripes, I feel like a book exclusively focused on him would have drawn me effortlessly, but his role in Exquisite Corpse is a little bit annoying. I love his hateful and "offscreen" monstrous nature, but within the pages of the book he feels rather useless, almost like a bridge between Jay and Andrew and the audience, not "that bad" but still patently reprehensible enough that he's difficult to like.
Tran also seems to suffer a little bit from a similar problem, in that his role as a perfect victim seems to consume his agency. I suppose this is part of his character, but if he has the self-determination to essentially "disown" himself and stay away from Luke I should not be this unimpressed by his efforts to escape. I get that Brite wanted Jay to have his Dahmer moment at the climax of the book, but felt that it sacrificed some clarity in the prose and sunk Tran's character at his final moment to "shine" so to speak. I dont have a lot to say about Jay, hes a bit of a sexy Hannibal Lecter shaped lamp.

Anyways! :3 While the graphic nature of this book cannot be understated, I challenge you to examine the lighthearted elements as well, I honestly found some parts of if... kinda cute!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Gore, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Incest

Incest content is either superficial (Two sexually involved characters lie about being cousins) or mentioned in passing and NOT unpacked (a character is quite blase about his past sexual relationship with his brother.) HIVAIDs and characters having, living with, infecting eachother with, and dying of AIDS is central to the plot of this book.

desertlurker's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cursing, Gore, Outing, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Blood, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Rape, Drug use, Violence, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death, Cannibalism, and Body horror

Moderate: Racial slurs, Police brutality, and Self harm

Minor: Incest and Slavery

raccooonhands's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Torture, Terminal illness, Murder, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Medical content, Drug use, Blood, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Xenophobia and Alcohol

Minor: Incest

finleyfrogreads's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Gore, Homophobia, Body horror, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Incest, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Suicide, Vomit, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Racism, and Stalking

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I have never had a book cause such a visceral reaction in me before, it literally made my stomach turn - I had to stop reading it in moving vehicles to settle the nausea.

This was absolutely repugnant to read, and frankly not enjoyable. The characters all sucked in their own ways, some more than others obviously - the discourse on HIV/AIDS was heinous and the grotesque descriptions of carrion and murder were horrifyingly indulgent. The love affair with abuse that all the characters (even the good ones) seemed to foster was gross as well. 

I’m not naïve in expecting this book to be pleasant reading, but it could’ve been done in such a better way. This was just literal torture porn. In addition one of the fundamental plot points is just… unbelievable? Andrew somehow managing to basically die without actually dying, getting the better of actual medical professionals and then coming back to consciousness at the exact right time? Sure. Made the whole book even more ridiculous.

I wouldn’t recommend this even if it was good, but it wasn’t. So what’s the point?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Classism, Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Outing, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence

katrione's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Rape, Gore, Animal cruelty, Violence, Incest, Addiction, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Torture, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, Body horror, and Blood