Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

22 reviews

ecn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

I don’t even know what to say about the book. It was absolutely brutal in every possible way and I could barely get through it. This book contains seemingly every trigger so check that before moving forward.
I can’t say I enjoyed this book but it was really well written and reflective of everything evil and vile about the world we live in. It’s hard to read a book with shitty MCs who are also not shitty and oppressed by society. I know that’s the point but phew. There was nothing light or good to hold into in this.

The ending also left me kind of confused as to what actually happened (whether this was bc of the multiple POVs, the jumping around of timelines, or bc I read the audiobook, I have no idea).

Overall feeling very ???? I would like for my scowl and jaw to unclench but I doubt that will happen any time soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Antisemitism, Rape, Vomit, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Racism, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Deadnaming, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Dysphoria, Drug use, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Animal death, War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Hate crime, Drug abuse, Deportation, Death, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Classism, and Blood

gagereadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

3.5

This book is not for the faint-hearted. It's a story of a racist, xenophobic, hateful house representing the racist, xenophobic, hateful history of a country with racist, xenophobic, hateful people as the main characters. And FUCK, it does mess you up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Alcohol, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Deportation, Pedophilia, and Colonisation

More specifically, there is cutting.

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This book was written by someone who was terminally online during a pandemic lockdown and unfortunately it shows. Parts of it are spooky and insightful but most of it is shadow boxing with imaginary twitter opponents which is both uninteresting and already dated.

Also personally I don't like "ambiguous" rape stories so if I'd known in advance that's what it was I probably wouldn't have read it.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia, Torture, Blood, Classism, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Ableism, Body shaming, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Minor: Genocide

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."

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

ellisdex's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Rape, Racism, Antisemitism, Body horror, Sexual content, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Misogyny, Alcohol, Blood, Dysphoria, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Car accident, Torture, Death, Infertility, Murder, Vomit, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

laiva's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Excrement, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

throwback682's review against another edition

dark tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This is the most disturbing book I’ve ever read in my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Animal death, Classism, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Rape, Blood, Dysphoria, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Antisemitism, Gore, Excrement, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Deportation, and War

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

nialiversuch's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Cursing, Dysphoria, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship