Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Sluts by Dennis Cooper

20 reviews

ribbenkast's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart. People are quick to say that about a lot of horror, but this time please heed the warning. 

However, I do have to give this book 5 ⭐️. It just does everything right. First there is the mystery: the book mainly consists of forum posts on an gay escort rating website in the early 2000's. There is no way to verify which accounts are real and which accounts are fake (even though the poor webmaster does try). Dennis Cooper does not take the reader by the hand. You have to do some detective work and decide for yourself what is real and what is fake. 

Secondly, it uses gore and violence effectively within the story. (So many times in extreme horror, gore is just simply there for the shock value. I find that rather overdone and boring). Some of the described acts are so vile, I had to put the book down for a bit. Whether these things actually happened or whether these were just the perverted ramblings of someone getting their weird rocks off remains to be debated. (Although we get some answers in the end.) 

When does a fantasy cross the line? What is ethical even if someone supposedly concented? It is a cruel account of what happens when people egg each other on to live their most perverted fantasies. This book written in 2004 is an important early conversation about Internet safety and mass delerium when people can hide in anonymity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cancer, Alcohol, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Excrement, Gore, Slavery, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Classism, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, and Drug use

j_yarbrough's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Stalking, Abortion, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Addiction, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Vomit, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Chronic illness, Drug use, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Cancer, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Slavery, and Violence

paulus_on_the_rocks's review

challenging dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Voir les TW (j'insiste lourdement)

J'ai ouvert le bouquin en me disant joyeusement, enfin un auteur qui ne se fout pas de notre gueule quand il décide d'écrire du cul. Oh boy. Cooper ne se fout pas de notre gueule sur absolument aucun sujet.

C'est à la fois le roman le plus horrible et le plus intelligent que j'ai lu depuis très, très longtemps, si ce n'est toujours. J'ai vraiment hésité à lui mettre un full five stars car ce n'est absolument pas un livre que je conseillerais (cf le nombre ahurissant de TW) mais, en même temps, je l'ai trouvé extrêmement intéressant du point de vue narratif.

Si vous n'avez pas l'estomac fragile et que vous aimez le concept de unreliable narrator, foncez, mais j'insiste : ce n'est vraiment, vraiment pas du petit lait, le livre est extrêmement graphique.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Vomit, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Body horror, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, and Toxic relationship

msdiamar's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Cancer, Pedophilia, Excrement, Gore, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Terminal illness, Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Vomit

dannycrimes's review

dark funny

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

4.75

You know those books that are fantastic, but you cannot ever tell another human being to read them? This is one of those. Brilliantly written whilst being incredibly tough to get through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Terminal illness and Chronic illness

Brief but graphic depictions of deliberate spreading of HIV

angelicardale's review

this book is disgusting honestly lol .. exquisite corpse had more tact than a single page of this book did (and that was another one-star book for me). i hate that i had no idea what i was getting myself into. for all the graphic and horrific depictions of pedophilia and csa in this book (that read less like tragedy and more like torture p0rn, tbh), i really really wish it'd been explicitly stated in the blurb, or at the very least, in a content warnings list ANYWHERE in the book. there's not even an author's note. as a writer, i understand to a certain degree, but it's just plain negligent to not warn readers or categorize it in the right genre !!!! this was under general fiction at barnes & noble. it should be considered splatterpunk tbh. anyway screw tiktok for recommending me this book it was awful and not worth finishing imo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Alcohol, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Domestic abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Addiction, Pedophilia, Blood, Trafficking, Violence, Terminal illness, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Medical trauma, Child death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Drug abuse

cmrnism's review

challenging 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? Yes

oh absolutely not. i feel so ill. 
i’m unbelievably paranoid right now, even though there’s nothing to be paranoid over. worse than any horror.
for some reason, i just didn’t stop reading. morbid curiosity i suppose, all for nothing with that ending though

anyone rating this higher than 2 stars should seek professional help

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abortion, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Cancer

Minor: Abandonment, Chronic illness, and Incest

pierreadsbooks's review

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Sexual content, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Torture, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Death

Moderate: Cancer and Chronic illness

Minor: Fatphobia and Gun violence

jesshadlow's review

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? It's complicated

0.5

So fucked up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Sexual content, Body horror, Confinement, Excrement, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cancer, Abortion, and Chronic illness

bunbobabe's review

dark sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Pedophilia, Cursing, Physical abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Excrement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Torture

Moderate: Vomit and Terminal illness

Minor: Suicide attempt and Cancer