Reviews tagging 'Deadnaming'

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

61 reviews

owlribbon's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Dysphoria, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Antisemitism, Blood, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Body horror, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Outing, Deadnaming, and Drug use

emilia_digi's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Classism, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Racism, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Violence, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Body horror, Suicide, Sexual assault, Torture, and Physical abuse

books_onthe_ground's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Child abuse, Classism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Death, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Sexism, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Addiction

book_creature's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Drug use, Hate crime, Self harm, Animal death, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Transphobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Sexism

Moderate: Classism, Trafficking, Body shaming, Genocide, and Excrement

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs

"This novel covers racism, antisemitism, transphobia, rape (both in abstract and graphic ways), self harm, and suicide."

tulilipz's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

i cannot say that i recommend this book unless you are 2000% sure that you can handle the very long list of trigger warnings. be aware that this book is full of hate, i cannot describe it in any other way, and the sexual content including the rape scenes are explicit and graphic. 

this isn’t your typical haunted house story, despite the book being marketed as one. i guess it’s mostly about the aftermath of having been inside a haunted house, if that makes any sense. personally, i found the writing style too chaotic and messy for my liking, but i know that some people would disagree. so if you want to read this book, do it, but be cautious. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gore, Vomit, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Racism, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Rape, Suicide attempt, Torture, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Deadnaming

Minor: Pedophilia

tigger89's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

4.0

This was a deeply unpleasant read. Not bad, but viscerally uncomfortable, with no semblance of thrill when the suspense breaks, only a sense of relief. The author, a trans woman herself, pulls no punches when it comes to depicting transphobia(and, to a lesser degree, racism and antisemitism), to the point where I felt myself thinking okay, I get it now, you can stop…oh my god please stop. I originally intended to mention this as a negative, but the more I sat with that feeling, the more I think it was Rumfitt's intent to make the reader feel that way. It would have been too easy to throw out something shocking and then stop. But that's not how bigotry works, right? It doesn't slap you in the face and then just stop. It slaps you in the face and then it knees you in the gut, punches your head, now you're on the floor, can't even get your breath back between each strike. It persists long after you're done with it, refusing to let up even if you beg.

So maybe that's why she chose to write that way, with the repetitive stream-of-consciousness rants that stretched on for pages after the point where I wanted so badly for them to stop. Or maybe I'm  just making up justifications, because it feels better to say I had a transgressive art experience than to say I read a bunch of horrible thoughts and was uncomfortable the whole time. Regardless, this is a book best encountered when you're mentally secure and able to grapple with the unpleasant truths it brings to light, because at its core this book isn't about a haunted house, or a trans woman, or her Pakistani-Jewish ex-friend. Rather, it's about fascism: how it perpetuates itself and what's necessary to defeat it. As I was reading, I was strongly reminded of some of Contrapoints's darker, bad-trip youtube videos. It had that same juxtaposition of ugly darkness with laugh-so-you-don't-drink-yourself-to-sleep-tonight stabs of humor. It's certainly not going to be to everybody's tastes.

The only thing I would highlight as a true negative is that I had a difficult time following the narration at times. It got better as I got used to the author's style, but in the early chapters I'd often find myself confused when the narration would step outside of Ila's(or Alice's) mind and start narrating omnipresently, or from the point of view of another character. But by the time I got to the middle of the book I'd gotten used to it, and didn't have much of a problem with it anymore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body horror, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Racism

Moderate: Deadnaming, Rape, Sexual violence, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racial slurs

kirsty_laird's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Animal death, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Blood, Deadnaming, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Deportation, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Rape, Dysphoria, Excrement, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

grimdark_dad's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Hate crime, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Antisemitism, Cursing, Excrement, Gore, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.5

I’m honestly not sure how to rate this one. I’m a trans femme writer (in a different medium, but writer nonetheless). I tend to like really confrontational storytelling. So I wanted to love it. It felt in many ways like a rehash of Helen Oyeyemi’s “White Is For Witching” which is one of my favorite books, by way of Chuck Palahniuk. There were passages that really worked for me. There are some interesting ideas being explored. But there was a whole lot that felt bordering on pornographic for no real narrative necessity. The result for me was kinda a mish mash wash from someone who I suspect is a very good writer, but needs some more experience. So I look forward to what Rumfitt does next. But this book was rough for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Physical abuse, Self harm, Antisemitism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

rachmco's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Rape, Transphobia, Mental illness, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence