Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

223 reviews

justk's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

this book is phenomenal. it does something that ought have been done a long time ago — imagines that “a gothic house” is haunted and fuelled by fascism. the writing is conversational and beautiful, elegant and brutal, which allows the author to approach very complex topics with precision. i was devastated by it and then brought back to life again. we need more books that are direct about pain, because without looking at it as a part of living we will never be able to understand ourselves. besides, i feel like fascism might be one of the, if not entirely, the most important subject we can discuss right now.

i personally thought that the moral of the story was a bit too on the nose (

if we unite despite our differences, we can resist the biggest evil there is

), but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. especially considering how many people (judging by the reviews here) misunderstood it anyway. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Drug use, Body horror, Murder, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Gore, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Vomit, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Violence, Toxic friendship, Racism, Misogyny, Suicide, Sexual content, Racial slurs, and Self harm

yes, it is heavy on content warnings, but i promise it’s a book worth reading (if you can handle it — please take care)

chefboyavi's review

challenging dark 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

4.25

I like Rumfitt’s writing style quite a bit. I enjoy books that are disjointed, change perspective, and expect the reader to put in the work to understand what’s happening. However, I found it a bit heavy handed and there were times when I think Rumfitt could have had a bit more restraint.

Getting to the chapter titled “You” was probably the highlight of the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Alcohol, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Transphobia, Sexual content, Excrement, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Sexual violence

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

atticusboo's review

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

This book had so much potential - drawing on the basic ideals of a haunted house (strongly inspired by the haunting of hill house by Shirley Jackson). 
The author spend too much time trying to show how clever and deep they were that the story just got lost in itself and fell off into rambling nonsense towards the end.
Some chapters are very good at creating frightening, atmospheric horror but overall this should have stayed as a creative writing project in someone's journal imo. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Transphobia, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Drug use, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Self harm

This book contains VERY graphic depictions of rape and sexual assault.

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

ratkingcole's review

challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Hate crime, Self harm, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Gore, Racism, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

genderbandit's review

challenging dark medium-paced

3.75

As I'm sure other readers have pointed out, i think the house metaphor could have been a little more subtle. I'm sure I missed some of what was going on in here as it's a very British book, but overall it was challenging and interesting and it did make me think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Gore, Rape, Racial slurs, Outing, and Mental illness

partly_stars's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

It's a book that crawls under your skin to stay there. Its dark and gothic and full of trauma and horrible things happening. Si much exploration of trauma and its manifestations. Discossion on gender and transness, fascim and righr wirmng hate rising in britain. Its so very quer and so very british in its matter but also carries a lot of emotional weight that i think would carry over to non british audiences too.
Rumfitt is a skilled writer that boldly delves into darkest places and makes the reader feel them viscerally. The narrative voice weaves and blends tge perspectives of the characters, The House and omniscient narrator referencing things that have not yet came to pass. It makes you qestion what is really happenibg and what is in the mind, the nightmare state
This book is dark, trigger warnings galore, but it's not used for shock value. It all has a purpouse to tell a story and tobcreate thisvbleak universe that explores some of teh darkest things in midern british hearts that yet have roots deeply within this nations heart. It's both the worst case scenario and a warnungod what could happen
I love horror that has a messege that is explored through it and this one certeinly does. It made me want to step away and take a mental shower but i thinkbitsva really good book
Chilkung in its horror elements too like holly shit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Transphobia, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Vomit, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual harassment

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

ophellos's review

challenging dark

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Rape