Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Cows by Matthew Stokoe

11 reviews

laboromi's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death, Cannibalism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Abortion, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Vomit

alex_bousquet's review against another edition

challenging 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

2.75

When someone says DO NOT read this, it peaks my interest I have to see what it is about. This was so horrifying in a way I could not stop reading. I said wtf more than I ever have in a book before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Abortion, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, and Torture

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.

voidcrawler's review

surprisingly, i found this kind of boring… i really wanted to like it though. the author’s incredibly talented and i’d read more of his work, but this fell flat for me. i gave it to roughly the halfway mark to give me something to feel, but… oh well. i’d still recommend it to anyone who wants something a little more on the disturbing side.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Excrement, and Gore

Moderate: Gaslighting and Fatphobia

carinakastano's review against another edition

this reads like a reddit mod's "edgy" bovine fanfic-- the writing is such poor quality and it's animal/fecal gore just for the sake of being gross and shocking

some things shouldn't be written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Excrement, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Vomit

x_spookybooks_x'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Rape, Animal death, Blood, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Excrement, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Abortion, Gore, and Death

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

akeila91's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

The good points of this book is the author is clearly an amazing writer, the book is so well written. The main reason I finished this book was because of how well written it was. It delivers what it says it’s going to. It makes you uncomfortable, anything “dark” you think you’ve read before it completely obliterates. 

The bad points is I think the story and character development fell short for me. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters, bar a marginal pang of sympathy for his torturous life. But that didn’t grip me enough to become emotionally invested. The only character I felt any kind of draw to was dog. I feel like had the gore and disgust been turned down just a touch and the story and characters developed a little further, this could have been a 5 star read for me. But I understand what the author was trying to do. Anyone wanting to read please heed the TW’s as there is some very serious shit in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

nate_gray's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

2.5

terrible, i both loved and hated it. Has just about every sensitive topic in it so take that into mind if you ever decide to pick it up. i only wish it was better written, if it was it would probably be more (in)famous and popular. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Vomit

pumpkinpiechey's review against another edition

This book is written like the author grabbed at every edgy and gross concept they could to try to make the reader uncomfortable, but failed and instead was extremely predictable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit