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purplepickle's review
dark
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
lizl20's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
ezrasupremacy's review against another edition
rating tbd
i find it a bit disingenuous to read extreme splatterpunk horror and then complain because it is, well, extreme splatterpunk horror.
that being said, the first 37% of this were actually pretty good (if you keep in mind that my standards for splatterpunk are significantly lower), it was a pretty creative setting and i was actually really interested in where this would go. if it had been kept in some way psychological and just, you know, contained to human characters i would’ve probably “enjoyed” this more.
unfortunately the author for some godforsaken reason decided to add SPEAKING, INTELLIGENT(ish) COWS??
at first i actually thought it was kind of interesting because i just assumed the narrator was losing his mind and imagining things to justify his behaviour, but unfortunately that was not the case, and the second that this became clear to me i lost all ability to take this book even remotely seriously.
was it gross? yeah, sure, definitely. was it after some time essentially the same as any other splatterpunk? absolutely. this was described to me as one of the worst books they’ve ever read, so horrifying etc. etc., but it definitely wasn’t any worse than other things i’ve read. and i’m not saying this to be like “wow look how hardcore i am and how much i can handle”, it’s just pretty much the same as any splatterpunk. gore, gore sex, sexual violence, dead babies, the usual.
i also don’t mind sexual horror at all as long as it doesn’t feel like it’s just for men to jack off to the suffering of women, and while in the beginning i would’ve argued this wasn’t that, i certainly changed my mind by the end of the book. did i need to read the description of a cow’s vagina? i most certainly did not.
the one thing i didn’t get is why the FUCK did the cow call the narrator the n-word?? it was so out of place and unnecessary, i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. absolutely no excuse that can be made for why this was necessary or even made sense in the context. fully gratuitous. possibly the most horrifying part of this whole thing.
the writing itself was pretty good for this kind of book though, and i am certainly willing to give other books by this author a try in the future if i see something that peaks my interest.
i find it a bit disingenuous to read extreme splatterpunk horror and then complain because it is, well, extreme splatterpunk horror.
that being said, the first 37% of this were actually pretty good (if you keep in mind that my standards for splatterpunk are significantly lower), it was a pretty creative setting and i was actually really interested in where this would go. if it had been kept in some way psychological and just, you know, contained to human characters i would’ve probably “enjoyed” this more.
unfortunately the author for some godforsaken reason decided to add SPEAKING, INTELLIGENT(ish) COWS??
at first i actually thought it was kind of interesting because i just assumed the narrator was losing his mind and imagining things to justify his behaviour, but unfortunately that was not the case, and the second that this became clear to me i lost all ability to take this book even remotely seriously.
was it gross? yeah, sure, definitely. was it after some time essentially the same as any other splatterpunk? absolutely. this was described to me as one of the worst books they’ve ever read, so horrifying etc. etc., but it definitely wasn’t any worse than other things i’ve read. and i’m not saying this to be like “wow look how hardcore i am and how much i can handle”, it’s just pretty much the same as any splatterpunk. gore, gore sex, sexual violence, dead babies, the usual.
i also don’t mind sexual horror at all as long as it doesn’t feel like it’s just for men to jack off to the suffering of women, and while in the beginning i would’ve argued this wasn’t that, i certainly changed my mind by the end of the book. did i need to read the description of a cow’s vagina? i most certainly did not.
the one thing i didn’t get is why the FUCK did the cow call the narrator the n-word?? it was so out of place and unnecessary, i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. absolutely no excuse that can be made for why this was necessary or even made sense in the context. fully gratuitous. possibly the most horrifying part of this whole thing.
the writing itself was pretty good for this kind of book though, and i am certainly willing to give other books by this author a try in the future if i see something that peaks my interest.
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
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
enhays04's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
1.0
Billed in several reviews I’d seen as one of the most depraved and horrific novels ever written with a huge cult following. I can’t vouch for the veracity of either of these statements. The early part of the book was just gratuitous gross out scenes which added very little to the plot and were completely nonsensical. It was hard to discern if the narrator was just unreliable or was a complete moron. His girlfriend was just a sex toy who wanted the narrator to probe her ass with a camera. The narrator’s mother was unrealistic to the nth degree. They would sit around the dinner table and slice up and eat turds. It was so stupid. Thereafter when the narrator descends into lunacy and starts conversing with cows at his workplace, there were actually some well done chapters and some decent social commentary. However, the early part of the book was so cringingly ridiculous and poor that it couldn’t redeem the book as a whole.
thecozyintrovert's review against another edition
At the 30% mark they eat feces. I was done.
raptorred's review against another edition
3.0
You know, this turned into a gory comedy for me. It is obviously a very ridiculous gory ride (pun intended), but it made me think about the psychological torture that the main character's mother put him through since birth. Especially where pretending to be normal is his ultimate goal and attempts to achieve it through literally any means possible. I appreciate the book for its originality. Now off to read a happier book ha.
sommernicole13's review
dark
tense
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
2.75