You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. The only thing it manages to say is that fascism is bad maybe. There are so many graphic scenes of sexual assault, various hate crimes, and gore in a way that feels like it is trying to shock the audience without thinking about having anything interesting to say or advancing the plot at all. This book also does not explore fascism beyond, fascism=bad and the evil house is what causes all fascism ever. Like at the very least trust your reader to know being racist is bad. Most of it is written in the style of a very angry teenager who is actively having a breakdown and who's entire literary education comes from AO3. I hated every part of this and am shocked I finished it
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Tell Me I’m Worthless holds nothing back in this extreme horror novel. It’s vile and uncomfortable to read at times, but also necessary in order to get across its points of trans hate, racism and fascism in Britain across.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder
Being trans, British, and a massive fan of horror, I really thought this would be up my alley. However I have finished this book distinctly disappointed in many regards.
The prose often comes across as wanting desperately to feel transgressive, with heavy usage of slurs and violent sexual imagery (which I do not have a problem with, and deeply understand it's importance to horror) giving passages a feeling of an edgy teenager. I have no problem with the choice to use slurs however much of the contextualised usage (particularly of the t-slur) becomes truly abrasive. Left me feeling like I was reading a self-flagellation. It's important, yes, for we as trans people to write on transphobia and reclaim slurs however this became too much. The transphobic rhetoric and internalised transphobia that is rife in the book is met with little questioning as to why these ideas are planted, an aspect that you think would be at least a little explored given the focus on the roots and undergrowth of right wing ideologies that the book posseses.The TERF actually being a trans man felt juvenile, and this being featured right at the end was unsatisfying and felt incomplete. Much like the ending itself, which seemed rushed and did not offer a complete reflection on the themes. It is not enough to have two trans characters embrace in the face of the oncoming tide of far-right ideas, when it feels as if you haven't explored this tide. But I guess it was all just the big scary house that caused it.
As a haunted house tale, it felt like a cheaper imitation of what has come before. As well as this, the metaphors and themes are hamfisted and ultimately feel clumsy - they would have been more effective and affecting if Rumfitt could trust the reader and not reiterate the ills of bigotry or facism over and over. Trust the story, trust the characters, trust the imagery you're showing the reader(a white blonde "perfect" girl twisted into a swastika is distinct enough and does not need overexplaining) . Your reader absolutely does not have to endure 3 pages of a nonsensical 4chan post, we get the picture 2 sentences in. Giving the house a voice was initially interesting, but subsequently became yet another way for Rumfitt to retread the same tired narratives without truly making them progress anywhere. If your book is about the creeping rise of facism, why not let it creep up? Why not surprise and shock the reader?
Rumfitt also consistently seems to conflate facism with one of its tools - various forms of bigotry. This limits the book's exploration of its themes as we never get a sense of what exactly this threat means beyond bigotry. Beyond eugenics, anti-immigration ideas, transphobia, racism, anti-semitism there isn't a clear idea on the collective and subsequent horrors that facism's co-opting of bigotry means. From Eco's essay on Ur-Facism: contempt for the weak, appealing to a middle class, cult of action, cult of tradition, and the Ur-Facist hero are a few of examples of components of facist ideology that an exploration of would lead to richer understandings of the inherent horror of the control and populism that facism fosters.
The prose often comes across as wanting desperately to feel transgressive, with heavy usage of slurs and violent sexual imagery (which I do not have a problem with, and deeply understand it's importance to horror) giving passages a feeling of an edgy teenager. I have no problem with the choice to use slurs however much of the contextualised usage (particularly of the t-slur) becomes truly abrasive. Left me feeling like I was reading a self-flagellation. It's important, yes, for we as trans people to write on transphobia and reclaim slurs however this became too much. The transphobic rhetoric and internalised transphobia that is rife in the book is met with little questioning as to why these ideas are planted, an aspect that you think would be at least a little explored given the focus on the roots and undergrowth of right wing ideologies that the book posseses.
As a haunted house tale, it felt like a cheaper imitation of what has come before. As well as this, the metaphors and themes are hamfisted and ultimately feel clumsy - they would have been more effective and affecting if Rumfitt could trust the reader and not reiterate the ills of bigotry or facism over and over. Trust the story, trust the characters, trust the imagery you're showing the reader
Rumfitt also consistently seems to conflate facism with one of its tools - various forms of bigotry. This limits the book's exploration of its themes as we never get a sense of what exactly this threat means beyond bigotry. Beyond eugenics, anti-immigration ideas, transphobia, racism, anti-semitism there isn't a clear idea on the collective and subsequent horrors that facism's co-opting of bigotry means. From Eco's essay on Ur-Facism: contempt for the weak, appealing to a middle class, cult of action, cult of tradition, and the Ur-Facist hero are a few of examples of components of facist ideology that an exploration of would lead to richer understandings of the inherent horror of the control and populism that facism fosters.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a really unsettling and compelling read about how britain's fascist past (present, future...) corrupts everything it touches: places, peoples, beliefs, relationships. also an intensely good and uncomfortable haunted house book with just enough black humour (i'm obsessed with the figure of Young Morrissey haunting alice's room) to keep you going.
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The imagery was vivid but all the images that were built out were kinda terrible. We don’t need a book this bleak given the times. The book introduced too many characters but none of them were well fleshed out. It tried to deal with all the isms and tried to over explain things to the reader. It was ambitious but ultimately I don’t get what the book was trying to do or who it was for.
This books contains so much, it ends up feeling claustrophobic at times, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The story of the haunted house is used as a platform to examine politics, the concept of gender, immigration, patriarchy, colonialism, the complexity of relationships, and probably more that I’m forgetting to include. It was a difficult book to read at times, as it contains graphic body horror, as well as voicing some toxic ideology. However, I felt invested in the characters of Alice and Ila, and wanted to keep reading to know what would happen to them.
Trigger warnings for sexual assault, antisemitism, racism, transphobia, and self-harm - the author was kind enough to also include a warning at the beginning of the book.
Trigger warnings for sexual assault, antisemitism, racism, transphobia, and self-harm - the author was kind enough to also include a warning at the beginning of the book.