Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

48 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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Self harm, Body horror, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Racism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Vomit, Antisemitism, Bullying, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Deadnaming

whatsmacksaid's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Rape, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Racism, Body shaming, Body horror, Sexual violence, Self harm, and Classism

grey_jayne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Alison Rumfitt's debut smashed my expectations. I wonder if a cis person would get as much out of this art but as a trans person, I felt very seen, especially in the darkness. What a terrifying haunted house and such traumatized people. And that ending! Make sure you check the content warnings: when Gretchen Felker-Martin calls something "brutal", you know it's gonna hit hard. And it does.

Rumfitt is such my kind of author that I will be rolling into her follow up Brainwyrms soon. In the U.S. both books came out this year so I'm playing catch up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Rape, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Body shaming, Bullying, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Animal death

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

3.5 but Goodreads doesn’t have half stars. Tell Me I’m Worthless is a haunted house story that is so much more than that. I went into this pretty blind with no expectations and I’m glad I did because if you pick this up looking for just a haunted house story you will be disappointed because there is so much social commentary on trans rights, misogyny, violence against minorities, and our disjointed and hateful culture in todays world.

This book had scenes that were absolutely horrifying and had so many references to other literary haunted house stories, like The Haunting of Hill House and Bluebeard’s ghost. While the horror elements were superb this book at times read like a fever dream with chapters that were strings of consciousness from the characters, including the house itself. The author intertwines the supernatural horror with the horror of bigotry, hate, and sexual violence so well that there were scenes I struggled to read. 

If you’re looking for a unique horror story with diverse characters and a meld of horror and social commentary then I highly recommend Tell Me I’m Worthless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Gore, Racism, Animal death, Misogyny, Death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Vomit, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Blood, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, and Sexual violence

noemi_qu's review

challenging dark tense fast-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

3.25

This is not a story you read for escapism, it was a challenge to get through most of the graphic yet realistic details. Take the content warnings very much to heart and be in a good headspace to digest it all. 
The third act unfortunately felt too "eyelids forced opened a la clockwork orange" but still feels in line with what the author wanted so I'm going with a mid rating for that and the epilogue. It was a book that had something to say and it said it loud and brutal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, Death, Body shaming, Transphobia, Rape, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Deadnaming, Antisemitism, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit, Racial slurs, Animal death, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, and Pedophilia

jemmers's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Self harm, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Classism, Grief, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Rape, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Misogyny, Gore, Racism, Violence, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, and Toxic relationship

abril_chavez's review

dark reflective sad tense slow-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: Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Mental illness, Bullying, Gaslighting, Violence, Cursing, Death, Body horror, Hate crime, Sexual content, Torture, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Murder, Body shaming, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Hate crime, and Genocide

booking_along's review against another edition

1.5

this was not for me. 

i do not like horror that is mostly shock value, crude and feels like it forced a specific narrative and opinion -be it one that shadows real life, reflects the authors option or is simply the loudest public voices reflected back at this particular time. 


also i felt a but as if this was purposefully badly written? 
and i didn’t like that either. 

look horror for me can be a lot of things to be good or for me to see why other will love it even if i personally didn’t enjoy it as much. 

but it had to have something that works:
- the writing has be what makes the story. be it that it’s unique or different or tells a story in a way that just makes you flip the pages no matter how horrific the scenes your reading are. 
-the characters make the story and you want to see what happens to and with them.
- the suspense horror that builds and builds and while it doesn’t need to be a new kind of horror or even a uniquely told one… if the suspense is there and makes it horrific? that’s horror! 


what i don’t think makes a book horror even if it’s horrific is using slurs, being purposefully crude and hurtful or downgrading towards groups that already face those things every day. 
we don’t need more hateful stories against anyone LGBT+ or women or black people! 
and i felt like that is what the book was doing. it just kept picking  and picking and picking and freaking picking at those topics but not in a good or even horrific way but just doing it. 
now it could be that it was that kind of read for me because the constant and completely unnecessary slurs at every page, that i didn’t feel the writing was anything great… it didn’t do anything? which sounds so mean and hurtful and i hate saying that but this book felt a bit like a ranting internet hate speech to just hear themselves screech into the void!

maybe that was what the author wanted to achieve. 
then points to them! they achieved their goal of that. 

if that wasn’t the intended style… i have no idea what it was suppose to do. 

for me this book tried to be shocking and edging and one of those reads that feel uncomfortable  with showing how the current times treat some people. 

but for me it didn’t get there and fell not only short but didn’t even mange to come near it. 

not my type of book clearly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Cursing, Death, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Biphobia, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, and Sexism

ciaranolio's review

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

One of my favourite books, outright. An incredible, twisted horror story about fascism, womanhood, and social privilege, revolving around a haunted house (which is also England), among the finest of its kind in the storied and ghost-ridden neighbourhood of horror writing. Reminiscent of Gretchen Felker-Martin and Jonathan Sims in writing style and subject matter, this book concerns itself heavily with radicalisation, gender, and intersections of identity. Rumfitt's POV characters are incredible, both sympathetic and unlikeable in their own wholly separate ways. A must read, in my mind, for those not immediately put off by the graphic subject matter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Racism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Rape, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Blood, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Self harm, Gore, Homophobia, Islamophobia, and Body shaming

Minor: Alcohol, Deadnaming, Drug use, Genocide, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death

Violent nazism, fascism, and especially modern white nationalism are at the core of this book. Proceed with caution if these are difficult topics, as Rumfitt (quite rightly) pulls no punches with the subject of the horror she describes.

vixenreader's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.5

A phenomenal novel, if not entirely enjoyable, it is a harrowing exploration of trauma through bigotry and intergenerational fascism can lead to prejudice and self-loathing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Cursing, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Outing, Death, Murder, Self harm, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Deadnaming, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Vomit, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, War, and Excrement

Minor: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

Be prepared for instances of INCEL culture, terrorism, bombing, disturbing hate symbols, TERF culture, woman-on-woman sexual assault, serial killing, self-hatred, strap-on sex, the loss of a friend, and public sex.