Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Tell Me I'm Worthless

Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

216 reviews

chainsawheartbooks's review

challenging dark reflective sad 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

3.75

*deep breath* Ok, I think this is a very heavy book, one that’s darkly and deeply reflective of society and the ways in which we and others perceive ourselves, as well as the trans community and what people deem the “ideal female body”. It’s well written, and I don’t believe that a cis author could have written this or done this topic the justice and truth that Rumfitt did, but it’s such a heavy book, one that feels like it’s pushing down more on your chest with each chapter, and so (rightly) political that I can’t say I’ve enjoyed it, it’s more like I’m glad to have experienced it, but I couldn’t read this again.

The language in this, especially considering the subject material and events, can often be very crude, cruel and uncomfortable to read, which I suppose is part of the point of the book.

I am very glad that Rumfitt included the trigger warnings at the start of the book, they helped me prepare for some of the events and the language that would be used, not necessarily to the point that I knew just how heavy they would be but enough that I was going into the story understanding that I would be reading things that would (and in certain places did) really affect me.

Content Warnings

itwasmaroon's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

whatsmacksaid's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This book is everything the blurbs say it is: ambitious. Brutal. Brilliant. Gripping. Righteously angry. Horrifying. Lush. Harrowing. Punk. Defiant. Compulsive. etc., etc., etc.,

BUT--as the bookseller checking my purchase out warned me--you need to pay attention to the content warnings. Even if you're anti-CW, make an exception in this case, because Tell Me I'm Worthless is literally one of the darkest books I've ever read. I've spent days trying to think of anything else remotely as messed up and have only been able to come up with Night by Elie Wiesel (which, yes, is a memoir of the holocaust).

Another BUT: if you can get through it--and honestly no shade if you can't--it's worth it. Its darkness seems absolute, but, shockingly, it's not.

Content Warnings

pullingthorns's review

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-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

3.75

Content Warnings

ana_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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? It's complicated

3.5

I finished this book about 3 weeks ago and I still don't really know how to talk about it. I think the best I can summarize my thoughts is just to say that this book is mean. It's mean to it's characters in the violence they experience and perpetrate and it's mean to it's audience in how graphic some of that description can be.

There are so many graphic scenes of all different types of violence, it was both shocking and uncomfortable to read. I know much of it is purposeful - it's a horror novel after all, a lot of that discomfort is part of what the author was intending - but it did put me off of the story over all towards the end. There was just so much and it was so unrelenting, there wasn't really room to take in any individual action and process it before the next bad thing was happening and the shock kicks in again. It started to feel gratuitous. I think that kind of took away a little bit from the overall themes/messaging the author was trying to convey as it left me feeling mostly just numb by the end of the book.

That being said, the writing is quite good. I was drawn in the whole time - more specifically with the flash back scenes with the house's history. Those sections felt like classic Haunted House fiction and while still shocking and gruesome, there was a certain level of disconnect from the present that helped buffer how intense it felt. I listened to the audiobook and Nicky Endres performance was incredible! Their voice was compelling and almost hypnotic, especially in their performance as Albion - it added so much to the reading experience for me.

I don't really know how to end this review. I still don't know if I think it was good or bad, I don't know if I can recommend it in good faith knowing just how packed with some pretty dark and graphic scenes it is. Mostly, I know I will be thinking about it for a long time and maybe that's all that needs to be said about it.

Content Warnings

awesomeallie's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Content Warnings

thebigemmt505's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings