Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

17 reviews

horizonous's review

dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Child death, Kidnapping, Blood, Murder, Transphobia, Death, Excrement, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Deadnaming, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

killmoore_'s review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Razorblade Tears was perfect in every way. Tons of very heavy content and gore, but so beautifully written it was like watching a movie. I'll be thinking of this story for years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, Deadnaming, Addiction, Outing, Sexism, Cancer, Car accident, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Racism, Transphobia, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

searobin's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Listening to this book felt like watching one of those ridiculous movies where it seems like the people who created it just want to be able to shoot everything, and are imagining themselves as the vigilante/heroes bringing down the bad guys, eighty bullets at a time, violence porn, if you will.
On one hand, I loved it in a guilty-pleasure kinda way and couldn't put it down. On the other hand, a lot of the actual plot was rather weak, the twists were obvious a mile out, the similes were excessive, gross, and/or weird (e.g., "his chest was as tight as virgin pussy"), and the characters were two-dimensional at best. It was just really, really, really violent. I have aphantasia, so gore in books doesn't bother me in the same way as in movies/tv shows, but some of the descriptions were just unnecessary - like, way too much detail about someone's guts spilling out like taffy that had had merlot spilled on it or something, for example.

Also, it was not at all a surprise that Tangerine was trans, so that "twist" was especially weird. I also don't understand at all what the article on her ex would have been about - was it going to be some sort of queer-shaming the conservative politician kinda thing?  If so, gross. It wasn't really clear, largely because we didn't learn much at all about what either of the two did or their lives before being murdered.

I am queer, but don't have a lot of queerphobic trauma, so that aspect of things wasn't triggering for me, just terribly sad and hard to read, but I can see how it would be really terrible for some. 
Idk, it was a weird read. I was so hyped when I finished it; it felt like I had whiplash from the whole thing. However, the more it settles and the more time I have to process it, the more I realise that I think it was more an adrenaline high than a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Sexism, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Racism, Car accident, Abandonment, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Torture, Homophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Stalking, Violence, Transphobia, and Vomit

Minor: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Cancer

cadence99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.5

I really wanted to like this more than I did as it came highly recommended, but unfortunately it wasn’t a runaway hit for me. A story of two fathers, brought together in their quest for vegance after the murder of their sons. Throughout, both grapple with how their homophobia towards their sons destroyed their relationship. I liked the fast paced, whodunnit aspects of this novel but did struggle a bit with the intense graphic nature of it. If you have a weak stomach, this book likely won’t go over super well. Our characters are as morally grey as you can get, stopping at nothing to attain their own version of justice. I think there is a conversation to be had here about how the only way these characters were able to accept their sons was at the cost of their lives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Racism, Murder, Cancer, Lesbophobia, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Homophobia, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Deadnaming, Death, Medical content, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Addiction, Body horror, Grief, and Kidnapping

hkveit's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Homophobia, Hate crime, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Sexism, and Transphobia

Minor: Excrement, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Grief

gknott's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Gore, Transphobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Grief, Homophobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Cancer

narbine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racial slurs, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent and Alcoholism

Minor: Outing, Hate crime, Infidelity, Deadnaming, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia

sarah984's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this novel about two ex-cons who team up to avenge their sons' murder but I just found it silly and kind of cheesy. Aside from the leads all of the characters felt like caricatures (the "anarchists" were genuinely embarrassing to read, I can't believe that made it to print) and the dialogue could get as preachy and didactic as the worst YA novels. Felt like a long unironic version of the "I love my dead gay son" monologue from Heathers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Gore, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Medical content, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Infidelity, Murder, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Car accident, Excrement, Terminal illness, and Transphobia

Minor: Outing, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, and Deadnaming

amanduhhhpls's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Wow. I have not read a thriller this challenging in my whole life.

This is action-packed in the most brutal way, and there is a lot of violence depicted on page, both physical and against peoples identities. Check your trigger warnings, but if you can look past that there is an amazing story here.

While I can’t say I found any of these characters redeemable, I did find them realistic and this story of revenge forces the reader to focus on the parts of humanity that are uncomfortable and hard to swallow. These fathers have horrible opinions and have done horrible things, but they are attempting to move towards understanding for their sons in the wake of their grief, and that unfortunately is a common story.

This book did everything it set out to do, and I only knocked it a half star because it was incredibly hard to read with the violence, homophobia, and racism on page. Again, be sure to check trigger warnings for this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Gun violence, Violence, Child death, Hate crime, Racism, Racial slurs, Death, Blood, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Cursing, Deadnaming, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Vomit

Minor: Cancer

chaosdemonmonster's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved the way intolerance and learning went hand in hand for this book. It was written in a way that made it really believable that people were able to change their views on people unlike themselves. I found it very uplifting to see that given the current political climate in the USA. This book managed to take on a number of themes but still made them feel cohesive and like they belonged together in the story. I definitely would recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, Racism, Murder, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Cursing, Chronic illness, Excrement, Addiction, Infidelity, and Vomit