Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Cows by Matthew Stokoe

15 reviews

katiefloyd's review against another edition

challenging dark sad

1.0

Disgusting, vile, made me wanna puke. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body horror, Rape, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Gore, Torture, and Vomit

goldencinder's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense 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 story is so disgusting, gritty, violent, dark, horrifying, and dreadful… and I loved it. There is no way my review can convey how filthy this novel is. Stokoe plunges you into this hopeless world of isolation, mania, and terror and never lets you breathe. Seriously, every page turn had me gagging. 

This book will NOT be for everyone, not even everyone in the market for grotesque horror or edgy material. I believe I appreciated it because I had to remind myself multiple times that it was just a fiction novel and I was experiencing the author’s very disturbing mind. I appreciated the ride I guess.

While I saw a commentary amongst all the muck, torture, and perversion, I cannot be for certain that there was any deeper meaning to this story than Stokoe just writing shocking shit for the fun of it. 

I haven’t fully formed my interpretations into a fully fleshed out thought yet. I feel like a lot of the content was a criticism or comment on a similar aspect of reality. For instance, the egregious amount of fat phobia. The mother’s body was consistently described in ways to make you feel icky and dirty only by overemphasizing her fat, folds, and weight.  However, it was so over the top, I began to feel like it was just referencing the already pervasive fat phobia that exists and turning it up to 11. Of course I could be reading into it too much and Matthew Stokoe is actually just fat phobic. 

I will say, though I did enjoy the book, I could have definitely gone through it without the abhorrent torture and mutilation of the cows. I also did not care for the cow’s dialogue. The ending also left me wanting, but it could be because I didn’t understand what it was meant to symbolize.

I’ve read some great criticisms of this book here and I agree with all of them, whether they hated it or loved it. This book causes some very visceral reactions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Suicide, Vomit, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Torture

Be warned!! This book is not for the sensitive stomach. While e this book gets very graphic and has a plethora of horrendous content, there is a larger commentary behind it all and it is very well crafted.

jcapati's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Death, and Child death

Minor: Racial slurs

angreadseverything's review

dark medium-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Cursing, Vomit, Rape, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Body horror, and Death

dreamyari's review

dark medium-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? Yes

0.5

content warnings: animal cruelty, animal death, blood, body horror, cannibalism, child abuse, child death, death, death of parent, emotional abuse, excrement, gore, islamophobia, mental illness, misogyny, murder, physical abuse, pregnancy, racial slurs, rape, sexism, sexual assault, sexual violence, torture

i’m not even kidding, this and dead inside have the exact same problem of being so formulaic where every chapter is the repeat of the previous one with like. a sentence of a difference. extreme horror is great but only when done with an iota of something that isn’t just ~oooo disgusting description that will make the reader gag~. it sure will!! but what’s the point if that’s all there is? WHY did so many influencers recommend this lmao

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, Racial slurs, Sexism, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Mental illness, Child death, Rape, Islamophobia, Death, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Animal death, and Excrement

katenorman17's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Excrement, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Vomit, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

dumaurier's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

0.5

skimmed this because i had superiority complex and thought i could handle it, turns out not really. can’t give the full zero stars bc the plot is interesting to say the very kindest, and the writing is technically engaging. but good god the content …………

out of everything going on in this garbage pile im really getting stuck on the fact bro was jealous of the cow

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Excrement, and Gore

vile

catsy2022's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Gore, Pregnancy, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Murder, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, Death, Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Self harm

earsore's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-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

2.5

Not sure if this was an allegory that flew over my head or just a total exercise in shock value, but either way it was... uh... something I guess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, Gore, Mental illness, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Racial slurs

tigrah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship