Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

242 reviews

lakewitch's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

4.25

i didn’t know how to feel about this book at any point of reading it! definitely read trigger warnings it was extremely tough to read, but the writing was entrancing the house was so perfectly sinister

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racism, Rape, and Transphobia

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

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

Minor: Genocide

lanternsjourney's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Tell Me I'm Worthless was a challenging read for me, and very hard to rate. This book is important. I could feel so much passion and anger and love coming from the author. The writing style was almost one big stream of consciousness rant... But with a haunted house/haunted people storyline. I'm a straight cis female, but an ally for all those in the LGBTQIA+ community and I this read was super enlightening, though I felt a bit ignorant reading it. It made me want to research and look up terms, which is a wonderful thing. Definitely read this book, just be prepared mentally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Suicide attempt

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: Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Pedophilia, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol

carriepond's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-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

4.0

Tell Me I’m Worthless is a dark, angry political horror novel that pulls no punches. Set in the UK, the novel’s three main characters are Alice, a white, twenty-something trans woman, Ila, her former best friend and lover who has become a darling among TERF activists, and the House where something horrible happened to the women and their friend, Hannah. 

I won’t reveal much of the plot, but this is definitely a book whose content warnings you need to review before reading. It has grotesque and graphic imagery and its characters have a lot of harmful beliefs, do a lot of harmful things, and have a lot of harm done to them. Because of this, this book is not for everyone.

“There are some who immediately feel safer, knowing that the House is there, and there are some who do not. For someone to feel safe, another has to be unsafe. And the one who is safe may not even be safe, they may just feel safe, up until the moment they don’t.”

Tell Me I’m Worthless uses the haunted house horror framework as a critique of the rise of fascism in modern-day Britain and how it infects people and makes them harm themselves and one another. It also explores self-loathing within oppressed communities, particularly the trans community, impacted by hateful messaging from those around them. 

This is a debut novel by Rumfitt, and sometimes she tells too much rather than showing. But largely, this is a visceral, pretty brilliant and hard-to-read exploration of the trauma, sexual violence, and oppression wreaked by both individuals and systems. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Antisemitism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Hate crime, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit

erica_reads_things's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. What an intense, incredible read. Unlike any other horror book I have ever read. The messaging was strong, terrifying, real, and very present. Loved the writing style and the voice that Alison gave these complex characters. The imagery and metaphor of the House was so well done. 

Please please read up on the trigger warnings though, especially for LGBTQ and Jewish folks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and War

youshouldreadthisif's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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, Death, Drug use, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, and Excrement

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

savvylit's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

"Memory is a difficult thing to navigate, especially traumatic memory. It splinters. You can cut yourself on the edges of it so easily."

Tell Me I'm Worthless is a brilliant literary horror novel in three parts, with three primary narrators: Alice, Ila, & the House. This novel is a take on the haunted house trope where the house is both malevolent and sentient. But the house, Albion, is not possessed by just one single spirit. Rather, the house is a manifestation of England's deep-seated fascist roots. Albion comes to represent the slow-drip poison of pervasive bigoted sentiment just under the surface of everyday life. Particularly towards immigrants and trans women. Rumfitt emphasizes this in multiple ways but never is it more effective than in her continual snarky use of the phrase "England's green and pleasant land" throughout the story.

Tell Me I'm Worthless is a book that ought to be read without knowing too much about the plot details. Honestly, the story unfolds so well that I'm not sure I could do it justice by summarizing it anyway. (But that's not to say that you shouldn't check the content warnings before reading, because you absolutely should.) Overall, all you need to know is that Rumfitt perfectly balances real-world terror and violence with hypnotic and disturbing supernatural sequences. I do want to forewarn readers that there is quite a lot of absolutely brutal sexual violence in this novel. To the point where I felt sickened pretty consistently as I read. However, the violence was never superfluous - it always served as a foil to the real lasting power of the story: trans love and trans resilience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, and Classism

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: Animal death, Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Genocide, Excrement, Trafficking, and Classism

Minor: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Fire/Fire injury

"This novel covers racism, antisemitism, transphobia, rape (both in abstract and graphic ways), self harm, and suicide."