Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

34 reviews

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

miggyfool's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body shaming, Death, Excrement, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Classism, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Body horror, Addiction, Outing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Colonisation, Gore, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, and Rape

bayleaff's review against another edition

dark

2.75

I have mixed feelings about this one. It was way darker than I expected, with elements of classic gothic fiction meshing with lots of body horror and political discourse. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did an amazing job bringing the horror element to life, but it also felt a little bit like spending hours and hours in the worst parts of the internet. There were some parts that were very stream-of-consciousness in a way that almost worked, but mostly felt overdone and repetitive and like the author accidentally copied and pasted a blog post in the middle of the book. Ultimately, while I appreciate what the author was trying to do, the gratuitous violence and hatred outweighed everything else and I didn't end up liking this one very much. (The trigger warnings are listed at the beginning of the book, but be aware that they are hit pretty much constantly.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, Sexism, Physical abuse, Addiction, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Self harm, Misogyny, Excrement, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Cursing, Violence, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Torture, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Body horror, Blood, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

gorejoyous's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape, Transphobia, Body horror, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

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

thebankofbooks's review

challenging hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Racism, Rape, Violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Suicide, Vomit, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Excrement, Deportation, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Ableism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, and Toxic friendship

wallflowersperk's review

This book is...hard. And it's supposed to be hard. But the subject matter isn't something I want to engage with -- is something I have the privilege of not engaging with -- at this time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Rape, and Self harm

Moderate: Addiction, Hate crime, Racism, and Xenophobia

gia0203's review

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.25

This book showed how fascism is circular - how our history is shared and how quickly our anger at our own circumstances becomes hatred for others. It was hard to read at times, but that’s the point. Horror is a fantastic way to examine the world around us, and Alison knows it.

The climax of this book is harrowing and I felt nauseous reading it. What a fucking ride. The way the text splits into two… Original, terrific. 

I will say though that the idealistic ending between Alice and Ila is forced. This book should have ended on page 252. I don’t buy for a second that they could’ve escaped that house and moved on so happily. Maybe I’m pessimistic, but trauma isn’t so easily erased and radicalism can’t be so quickly undone. These two were doomed from the start. It was just too quickly wrapped up. I felt like Alison was just too fond of them to give them the ending they should have had.

 

I also think that the social commentary became too much at times. I understood the point was that all oppression is similar, but it was just a bit too much to comprehend.

That said, I will never read this book again, but I would completely recommend it. It is not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, Death, Suicide, Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Self harm, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Excrement, and Gun violence

emimli's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

0.5

I wanted to love this book so badly, but it left me feeling extremely disappointed and kind of pissed off.

Things I liked:
- A very original twist on the haunted house trope that explores how ideological violence leaves its imprint on people, spaces, and cultures
- Some genuinely horrifying imagery that will stick with me for a while
- Deep explorations of trauma, repression, and the ways in which violent victimization can reshape a person’s perception of reality
- A complex central relationship, wherein both characters love each other as people but hate what the other represents ideologically

Things I hated:
- This book was edgy purely for the sake of being edgy at times, to the point where it became tedious; Rumfitt could not go two lines without having a ~welcome 2 my twisted mind~ moment
- The blurb refers to this book as "darkly funny" but there was not a single ounce of humour anywhere in here. What am I supposed to be laughing at? Violent anti-Semitism? Graphic sexual assault? Fuck off
- The political commentary was extremely heavy-handed, to the point where it almost seemed intentionally corny, as if the book was mocking its own denunciation of fascism, which definitely isn't a good look
- The two main characters are horrible fucking people. One is a TERF and one is a straight-up neo-Nazi. Okay, fine. Unlikeable characters can make for interesting stories. Yet the book pushes you to sympathize with them, particularly the neo-Nazi. No. I will not sympathize with them. They both fucking suck and I hate them
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The character “development” is handled poorly and inconsistently. At the end of the book, the main characters get some kind of attempt at a redemption arc, where they’re finally in a seemingly healthy relationship and are doing activist work. The aforementioned TERF character has come out as trans and renounced his former ideology, which was an interesting conclusion to his arc. But the other main character’s literal Nazism is never brought up again. Let me repeat that: the author never addresses that one of the main characters is a LITERAL NAZI again. The reader is clearly meant to root for the couple in this epilogue, but how the fuck am I supposed to do that when ONE IS A FUCKING NAZI. I absolutely could not stand the book’s attempts to make me sympathize with Alice or want the best for her, because she. is. a. Nazi. All the way to the bitter end.
- Hannah?????? What the fuck was the point of her death and subsequent imprisonment in the house?? For a book that beats you over the head at every turn with the messages it wants you to internalize, it sure did lack any  explanation whatsoever for Hannah’s role in the story. “White women are symbols”  is repeated several times throughout the book and I presume that this is somehow related to Hannah’s fate, but I could not for the life of me tell you how. Like yes it applies in a literal sense to Hannah (*shudder*) but what is it supposed to mean in relation to the broader themes of the book???

- The book’s historical engagement with the topic of fascism is strangely limited to WW2, even though it alludes to ancient Britain (Albion) being some kind of source of fascism and fascism-adjacent beliefs. Soooo what happened in the years between Albion and WW2? Fascism didn’t emerge out of a vacuum, fully formed in the 1930s - it was built on the foundations of existing ideologies. So where is the discussion about the ideologies that fascism grew out of? Imperialism, colonization, the ideological construction of whiteness, of masculinity, etc.? There was no clear connection between the ancient source of the house’s power and the fascist ideology that haunts it, because the author never attempts to draw one. She just jumps from ~the vaguely ancient times~  to WW2 without linking anything together.

Overall, the message of this book can be succinctly summarized as “fascism bad.” Which yes, that’s absolutely true, but I already knew that. While this book has a lot to offer to the horror genre, it adds nothing new or interesting to political conversation. And it’s weird efforts to make me sympathize with its anti-Semitic main character pissed me the fuck off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Genocide, Transphobia, Violence, Animal death, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Misogyny

carleneb's review

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.75

I can lie the writing is fantastic but this is so so dark i could barely handle it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Transphobia, Torture, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gore, Gaslighting, Addiction, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, and Drug use