Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson

7 reviews

cleot's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Medical content, Gore, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Body horror, Outing, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Suicide, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Genocide

the transphobia by a sex partner was particularly upsetting to me as a trans person, as was the graphic on-page sexual assault of trans man resulting from bathroom harassment

boyinajar's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

echoing some previeious concerns, it did feel a little off color to a transmasc reader  of theis novel but the surrealist experience of finishing the book was evocative enough that I give it some points

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Misogyny, and Transphobia

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Sexism, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Gore, Body horror, Transphobia, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

lily_peach's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

2.0

I very much enjoyed parts of this book, and really did not enjoy others.

If Ry had been a nonbinary character, a lot of the things he said regarding his gender and his body would have made sense. As he is explicitly a trans man it instead came across as though the author does not see trans men as ‘real men’ and projected this onto Ry - I do not know a single binary trans person who would happily deadname themselves to strangers, call themselves ‘anatomically [their assigned gender at birth]’ or be happy with a partner who constantly invalidates their gender in the way Victor does.

There were moments that played around with gender in a way I thought was interesting (e.g. Ron constantly filp-flopping on whether or not Ry was a ‘real man’ based on completely arbitrary things) but not enough to save it imo.

A kind of enjoyable story, but I don’t think it really went anywhere. The ending was disappointing. 

Also I felt that the sexual assault scene was entirely unwarranted and added very little to the plot. What was the point of it? To show that absolutely no one sees Ry as a ‘real man’? The transphobia of the other characters did that well enough.

All in all a clever concept and I very much enjoyed the writing style but I found it lacking.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

This is an interesting exploration of what our future could look like: bionic humans, AI sex robots and eternal life (the brain as data). I loved how Winterson connects these ideas to Mary Shelley's ideas of human life and reanimation after death. This connection between the past and present shows how prevalent this idea of eternal life and making the impossible possible has always been. Shelley's perspective was engaging to read and reminded me how much I love her novel Frankenstein (perhaps more praise should be given to Shelley here than Winterson lol). The modern POV follows a non-binary trans person (Ry) and their relationship with Victor Stein, a scientist (of sorts) trying to bring his mate's beheaded head back to life. This was (perhaps purposefully) less engaging, as Ry often lacks agency amongst the people around them who shove their opinions of gender and identity down their throat.

I've read several reviews of this novel in which people describe Winterson as transphobic. In this novel specifically, I don't see the ignorant views of the characters as a reflection of her own views. However, there is very crude language used throughout which focuses on the anatomy of the characters. I don't feel that this narrative focus on bodily features has aged well (I know this book is only 3 years old but even then)  in response to present ideas of gender, sex and identity. The characters around Ry are consistently transphobic, denying their identity, misgendering them and deadnaming them. This is a book to read if you're interested in the future of AI and human relationships, but not if you're looking for a story with good trans rep. Had this book not featured Frankenstein but a different cautionary tale, such as Brave New World, I probably would've hated it.

Alternative reads with trans rep/trans authors:

https://bookriot.com/best-trans-fantasy-books/
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/126482.Novels_by_Trans_Authors_with_Trans_Protagonists

Jeanette Winterson//transphobia:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-lgbt-books/no-rush-to-change-gender-uk-writer-joins-trans-debate-idUSKCN1T028R

Non-exhaustive list of TW: sexual assault, transphobia, homophobia, child death, miscarriage, misogyny, body horror/gore

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Medical content, Death, Child death, and Transphobia

Moderate: Miscarriage

circesophelia's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

oh wow. update to come.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Moderate: Death

Minor: Gore

mryshells's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

1.0

Huge TW for transphobia towards characters in the book but also in the clearly problematic views the author must hold that come through in the writing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism

sophiewelsh's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

1.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia