Reviews tagging 'Death'

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

111 reviews

errie's review

challenging dark

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Mental illness, Body shaming, Torture, Dysphoria, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Rape, Hate crime, Alcohol, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Murder, Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Transphobia, and Self harm

mesy_mark's review against another edition

dark tense

• 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

3.0

 This is transgressive horror, a genre I don't know much about and heard of in another book in the same genre reviewed by Jessie Gender. It was in short a grossly weird ass book that I liked even if I was confused at times by the text.

Listening to this book, the narrator sounded androgynous and was present to listen to (even if the content was any but). I like the description of the house and how it festers through time-changing motives but always has the same result in the end. Ila, our terf, Alice, our trans friend, and Hannah, the third, go into the house abandoned and hunted and only Ila and Alice come out. Now both women need to return home after some years of hard life.

This is my first foray into transgressive horror and to say it is interesting genre is lacking the depths of the graphic nature of this text. Heave handed in the fascism of Britain weave through the people that in turn are all tied to the house. It festered and you want to come home. Besides being graphic and jarring to get through that I did have some difficulty at some points seeing what the author included and what scenes. Some of that confusion was cleared up by the end but a couple lingered out.

In short I think this is a weird ass book that does intrigue me to try this genre again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Animal death

spinebinding's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

A compelling horror novel that felt like looking in a grimy bathroom mirror. A complex story dealing with the complex intersections of transness and racial identity, how fascism or psudo-fascist states and cultures eat into and violate every person living under them and how it violently separates us and turns us against each other for it's own benefit, making us both the victim and victimizer. 

This story focuses heavily on the fascism and socio-political climate of England.  As an American reader, the themes and concepts did translate and the story resonated deeply with me, but you will find it feels slightly misaligned with American fascism simply because they are different breeds of the same species.   

Some may find the imagery and messaging too heavy handed, but for me it never really felt out of place.  When reading others' opinions I would think 'of course it's heavy handed, fascism is heavy handed.  It beat's itself into you and many do not even notice.'

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Xenophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Racial slurs and Death

Minor: Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Misogyny, Blood, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Hate crime

eanna's review

dark 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: Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Racism, Rape, Torture, Antisemitism, Murder, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Transphobia, Violence, Hate crime, Self harm, Sexism, Body shaming, Blood, Death, and Sexual assault

trashgobby's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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: Antisemitism, Murder, Misogyny, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Racism, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Deadnaming, Animal death, Classism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Hate crime

Minor: Excrement, Drug use, Confinement, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Sexual content, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

sylvieleggatt's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Dysphoria, Gore, and Vomit

dodgeremerson's review against another edition

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

3.5

Absolutely brutal. 

This book made me deeply uncomfortable the entire time I read it. I don't regret reading it, as it is a good look at how easy it is to fall into fascist ideology, especially for young people and marginalized individuals. 

It is not for everyone, but if you have the stomach for it, it's worth a read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Hate crime, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Body shaming, Gore, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, Racism, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Bullying, Confinement, Dysphoria, Grief, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, and Vomit

cburns13's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Racism, Homophobia, Rape, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Gore

thebigemmt505's review

dark emotional funny fast-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

1.5

“Sometimes, at the end of everything, the only option you have is to make it worse.” This sentence essentially summarizes the book. 

Tell Me I’m Worthless is a story about trauma and fascism…or…is it? The story follows two woman, Alice and Ila, as they navigate the trauma they faced after visiting an abandoned house. In this house, they lost their friend Hannah, and this is the only part of their memories that doesn’t conflict with one another’s. Throughout the book, each of them accuses the other of rape. After this trauma, Alice, turned to drugs, partying, and a bit of racism, and Ila became a TERF. The reader journeys through the hate and pain that fascism forces onto them and what this ultimately results in. 

There’s a good, great, even, story within this mess of a book. It’s received a lot of love, so much to the point I feel as though I’m crazy for having not liked it. In fact, it’s probably one of the worst books I’ve ever read. 

Before I criticize, I admire the author for tackling difficult topics and not shying away from graphic content to make a point. Trauma should not be sugar-coated and I am always happy to see transgressive horror push the boundaries. There are harrowing descriptions and great body horror that made me squirm. The chapters about the history of the house were well done; I genuinely enjoyed reading these. The story overall is fast-paced and engaging. I was never bored, much as I was annoyed. Morally grey characters are my favorite, so to see marginalized characters portrayed in an imperfect yet human way was nice. Somehow, at the end of the clusterfuck, I still found the ending really touching. 

However, that’s it, and this is being generous. Tell Me I’m Worthless is a goddamn mess. Every metaphor is put under the brightest flashlight, gleaming in apparency, then shoved down the readers throat so far it comes out of their ass. The book insists on its themes more than it lets story speak to those themes. The name of the haunted house is Albion, for fucks sake. Theres a poster in Alice’s room that is supposedly a reference to Morrissey; whoever it is, it sure isn’t subtle in its depiction of celebrities’ influence on the culture war. Much as I agree with many of the sentiments the author presents, with each long political rant that is clearly just the author venting, I felt my eyes roll so far into the back of my head they got stuck there. On that note, the writing got on my very last optic nerve less than a quarter of the way through, with unbelievably bad writing and cringe-inducing dialogue, not to mention the clumsy references to internet culture. I stumbled blindly to the end of this narrative, tracing my fingers along the page in the hopes of finding some coherence, some elegance in the indentation of these words that disappointed me over and over. It’s ham-fisted, too on-the-nose, funny when it’s not meant to be and cringy when it’s trying to be funny. Tonally, it’s all over the goddamn place, much like uh, uh, England is all over the place because colonization!!! Get it!!! Do you get it reader?!? 

I wanted so badly to like this. I love transgressive LGBT horror with bold themes. Perhaps this is why my aggravation is so strong. So honestly, in my opinion, avoid this one. It is Alison Rumfitt’s debut novel. Maybe, her second one is better. Maybe, every one of her writings after this will be better. Maybe, it’s just not for me. Many people loved this book, so who am I to say? I rest my case though. 

Admittedly the funniest part of the book to me was the fact the only slur she shied away from was r*tard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Body horror, Sexual violence, Cursing, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

kessejeen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Transphobia, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Grief, Death, Vomit, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Racism, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Drug use, and Alcoholism