Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Any Man by Amber Tamblyn

27 reviews

cursivewolf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is so powerful. The writing style is so unique, but I loved it. I am not a man, so I cannot attest if this is accurate to male victims of assault. But to me, it brings a voice to something most don’t consider or take seriously. Sexual assault itself is a topic explored so much, but sexual assault on men and the aftermath of such is rarely, if ever, explored. Tamblyn did it diversely, respectfully, and accurately. This book is personal to me. It shows so accurately how sexual assault can take over and affect you afterwards. I wept reading this. Part of me wishes Maude was explored more, just a tiny bit more. But I loved this book, in a weird way. In a therapeutic way. I don’t know if it’s one I could read again, it’s a hard read. But it’s so beautifully and delicately done, but rips the bandaid off all the same.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Rape, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

mermaidsherbet's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Animal death, Kidnapping, Torture, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Bullying, Gore, and Medical content

Minor: Stalking, Sexual content, Cursing, Cancer, Suicide, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Excrement, Vomit, Transphobia, Sexism, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Murder, and Deadnaming

literaryliaisons's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Child abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Self harm, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Transphobia, Animal death, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

tamimin's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Body horror, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

erinbarton's review

challenging dark slow-paced

3.0

if you are looking for a ‘promising young woman’ style thriller following the female attacker then this is not it.

what this book actually is the aftermath of a series of attacks following each male victim, told through the form of: diary entries, emails, chat room conversations, talk show scripts, monologues, tweets etc.
any man was well-written but not exactly what I was expecting, I really wish more than just the epilogue was maude’s pov.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Eating disorder and Suicide attempt

bakerreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Body horror

gymbeannz's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

2.0

 This book, including the author, is everything wrong with the world.

The most disconcerting thing about Any Man is that it is written by a female.
To think that a female would have any clue what it feels like to be a sexually assaulted male is beyond me. And to think, she attempts to do it... what... seven times? Sevenish different men? I can't even remember. And all in first person, or from emotion-based poetry.
Based on this alone, I realised I couldn't take the novel seriously.
And I was correct. It's not made to shed light on the male's point of view.

Uncomfortable as it is to say, while the novel's purpose is to somehow promote feminism, I suspect it also acts as therapeutic revenge porn for the author. That's... concerning to say the least.

Maude is never caught. Her single communication with the press is a four page list of rhetorical questions that would make anyone feel like a guilty slime, even the reader! We learn she's never been abused, she does these things... for fun. My assumption then? She hates men.

I don't mind a character hating men. We get all sorts in this world and their point of view is a rare and interesting one. But I just can't shake the feeling that the author approves of Maude.

Amber Tamblyn turns a book about male rape victims into a "lesson" about female sexual assault. To be honest, the attempt to connect the two is very impressive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit