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kimaiya222's review
1.0
DNF. I almost made it through but it was too rough. Another review said it best - the mass amount of hate in this book is nausea inducing. It’s written by a trans author but painful to get through this read. There is also heavy handed rape that is prevalent through the book.
andromede's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
2.0
cass_lit's review against another edition
2.25
This wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the language (tons of trigger warnings here for hate speech, vile language, sexual language, etc etc), I didn’t get the metaphor (fascism, racism, transphobia, antisemitism are bad yes but what did they have to do with the haunted house), I didn’t like the characters (both of them need therapy and god are there literally ONLY unhealthy relationships in this), I don’t know why we had to be so racist/ transphobic/ antisemitic/ etc to prove a point, and I don’t understand the house plot. I still don’t know why the house is haunted. I know why Alice and Ila have trauma but I don’t know what I’m supposed to take from it — that sometimes rape accusations are all in your head? That can’t be right.
Maybe there was a point to this book and maybe it will mean something to someone, help them feel seen. Not me, but I wasn’t the target audience, so…
Maybe there was a point to this book and maybe it will mean something to someone, help them feel seen. Not me, but I wasn’t the target audience, so…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Blood, Body horror, Rape, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Murder, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Drug abuse, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Drug use
goodbroth's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
phenomenal. incredibly compelling and effective parable on the malignancy and insidiousness of fascism
jent412's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
amberguenette's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
thebobsphere's review
4.0
There are times when one reads a book that just knocks your brain, makes your jaw drop and generally wonder the limitless amount of creativity people have. Alison Rumfitt’s debut novel Tell me I’m Worthless just bashes every type of convention possible.
On the surface it’s a haunted house story but to call it that is an understatement. This book takes that genre and pushes it beyond boundaries. There’s multiple angles, playing around with text structures and many many bizarre happenings.
The centrepiece of the novel is a house, which has had a nasty reputation for centuries. This is a house that kills, makes things disappear and haunts the psyche if one survives it . The three main protagonists, Alice, a trans woman, Ila, a multinational and Hannah stay one night in the house and leaves after affects, mostly Alice being the worst as signs of the house still haunt her own living quarters, namely a certain gladioli waving indie star who leaps out a poster at night and kills anyone who Alice brings home (probably my favourite part of the book). Ila undergoes ‘therapy’ and Hannah has disappeared.
Eventually the pull of the house is too strong and Alice and Ila meet in order to resolve all the problems that came from their one night.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is a powerful tale about transphobic attitudes that are present in Britain. This also a novel about trauma and websites such as Tumblr and Twitter and the culture that springs from it. . Throughout the novel there are TERFS, fascists and racists from poets to pop singers, Alison Rumfitt makes it clear that in Britain there is a problem with attitudes. The fact (and this is a tiny spoiler) that the haunted house is called Albion goes to show what the current situation is like in The UK, which means that a lot of people are suffering from traumatic events. Tell Me I’m Worthless may be a horror novel but these mentalities do exist and that’s where the real scares lie.
Earlier this year I read Isabel Waidner’s Sterling Karat Gold, another highly original novel depicting Britain’s views towards the transgender community and refugees. Tell Me I’m Worthless can be seen as the more grotesque version of SKG but both are depicting attitudes that are present. As a cisgender male, I think such novels are essential to helping us realise the problems that certain mentalities are creating and that there is still time to change that (which Alison Rumfitt does hint at during the conclusion of Tell Me…). Thankfully more indie presses are bringing out more distinctive and original voices out there.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is not only essential reading during the spooky season. This book should be essential reading. Fullstop.
On the surface it’s a haunted house story but to call it that is an understatement. This book takes that genre and pushes it beyond boundaries. There’s multiple angles, playing around with text structures and many many bizarre happenings.
The centrepiece of the novel is a house, which has had a nasty reputation for centuries. This is a house that kills, makes things disappear and haunts the psyche if one survives it . The three main protagonists, Alice, a trans woman, Ila, a multinational and Hannah stay one night in the house and leaves after affects, mostly Alice being the worst as signs of the house still haunt her own living quarters, namely a certain gladioli waving indie star who leaps out a poster at night and kills anyone who Alice brings home (probably my favourite part of the book). Ila undergoes ‘therapy’ and Hannah has disappeared.
Eventually the pull of the house is too strong and Alice and Ila meet in order to resolve all the problems that came from their one night.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is a powerful tale about transphobic attitudes that are present in Britain. This also a novel about trauma and websites such as Tumblr and Twitter and the culture that springs from it. . Throughout the novel there are TERFS, fascists and racists from poets to pop singers, Alison Rumfitt makes it clear that in Britain there is a problem with attitudes. The fact (and this is a tiny spoiler) that the haunted house is called Albion goes to show what the current situation is like in The UK, which means that a lot of people are suffering from traumatic events. Tell Me I’m Worthless may be a horror novel but these mentalities do exist and that’s where the real scares lie.
Earlier this year I read Isabel Waidner’s Sterling Karat Gold, another highly original novel depicting Britain’s views towards the transgender community and refugees. Tell Me I’m Worthless can be seen as the more grotesque version of SKG but both are depicting attitudes that are present. As a cisgender male, I think such novels are essential to helping us realise the problems that certain mentalities are creating and that there is still time to change that (which Alison Rumfitt does hint at during the conclusion of Tell Me…). Thankfully more indie presses are bringing out more distinctive and original voices out there.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is not only essential reading during the spooky season. This book should be essential reading. Fullstop.
orizenda's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a difficult book to review, I think. Parts were scary, horrifying, etc, in different ways, but then other parts felt very long-winded to me. Which like, the book starts off telling you it’s about fascism so it’s not super surprising that the author has opinions, it’s just hard to tell what is the characters and what is the author. Because I feel like all of it wasn’t just a novel. idk. It felt like a manifesto sometimes or something. Which is fine, but it’s somewhat jarring in a haunted house story.. also, I don’t know if it was just because I listened to the audiobook but the harsh language really got to me. like I hate the word cunt sorry can’t we just say vagina like hello idk. anyway, I gave it 4 stars so I obviously liked it overall
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Body horror, Self harm, Hate crime, Rape, Vomit, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, and Drug use
There’s a content warning at the beginning of the bookhuffydalek's review
challenging
dark
medium-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? Yes
5.0
Can be brutal to read head on. Definitely some points that were very intense. That being said, I really enjoyed the dichotomy of real world horrors vs haunted house. I thought it was very well written, and an interesting read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault