Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger

14 reviews

lizardgod's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Kudos to a book making me queasy? That's about all it had going for it, nothing really to write home about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Child death, Cannibalism, Torture, Suicide, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Cancer, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Stalking and Infidelity

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

If Fight Club and Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke had a baby, it would be this book.

I think the synopsis of this book is both misleading and too direct. Here's a better summary of the basic plot:

This book is about a troubled young woman who develops and deep fascination with vultures that turns into an obsession. This story follows her as she becomes more and more unhinged.

This book is very different and I loved it way more than I expected to. The reason I enjoyed it so much is that the writing itself is very good. The subject matter is macabre and even quite gross at times but it's written in a way that's so poetic (in a similar way to how the writing in fight club is interesting).

Would I recommend this book? Not to everyone. It's definitely a weird book and I know many people would find it offputting. But if you're looking for something unique, poetic, and enjoy a semi-unreliable narrarator that becomes more unhinged as the story goes on, this is a good one for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Car accident, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Cannibalism and Vomit

Minor: Infidelity

Our MC breaks into the neighbours barn and kills and eats a baby piglet raw. Then throws it up later. This scene is both sad because it's a poor animal, but also it's gross.

There's one fairly explicit sex scene between two women.

Our MC shoots her neighbour, killing him, then cuts him up to feed him to the vultures.

The MC eats raw and rotten meat.

skienight's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Gore, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

0ogazanami's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

The secrets I locked down in the cellar of my gut have crawled away to expose their horrors into the light.

The book does a fantastic job of describing the horrifying nature of intrusive thoughts, and how sometimes, when they're left unsupervised within a mind that was not made to harbor them nor deal with them correctly, it can lead to a very disturbing and grotesque reality. The way many thoughts and feelings are described are in such a way that I felt so genuinely understood; the way it touches on such a shunned upon mindset and experience of the disturbing and extreme was comforting, in a gross fucked up kind of way.

However, the book itself is not at all what I wanted from it. I started it with hopes and dreams of reading something so utterly disgusting and revolting, based simply on the experience of others in the reveiws, and yet I came out of it... unsatisfied. If you get grossed out easily, or at the very least easier than I do, and want a quick read of something unsettling, then I'm sure this book is perfect for you. But for someone who maybe fails to get that feeling of disgust from any form of  fictional media that you may get in a real-life situation, this book may have very little effect on you like it has with me.

Over all, I believe it's a very good read and was most definitely worth the time and money I spent on it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror and Addiction

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Child death, Misogyny, Torture, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Car accident

bookishvampire's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

It's an okay short book, but I think it could have benefited from being a longer more fleshed out story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Sexual content

heartachesbi's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Gore, and Animal death

Moderate: Vomit, Child death, Death of parent, Violence, Sexual content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Racism

hayleyw's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Body horror, Torture, Grief, Mental illness, Vomit, Murder, Car accident, Sexual content, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual harassment

decaying's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

A macabre and agonizing story of a never-ending hunger. I think Tantlinger's writing here is best described as festering. It is absolutely dripping with exquisitely putrid details of horror that makes you crawls under your skin and make you squirm. Although I really enjoyed her writing, I didn't find the overall book compelling. It is still a fun piece of horror and worth the read especially if you're interested in obscure and gore-y horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Grief, Drug use, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual assault, Racism, and Death of parent

perkyanda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

Whaaaaaaaaaaat

So normally I don’t really love the

women be crazy

genre of horror, or

gross out

horror, but here they join together perfectly in a <spoiler >gross disgusting sad fucked up tense whirlwind of ewwwww. </spoiler >

I can’t recommend this to anyone. It was literally nauseating. But it felt authentic and real and rough. 

The Dr. Fawning thing

was a bit obvious too early for the reveal to have proper impact, but overall, I loved it bc it did show that deep inside she had juuuust enough self awareness to almost be able to help herself. But not enough, not enough.</spoiler >

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

emmacartlidge's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Cannibalism, Sexual content, and Addiction

Minor: Racism and Cancer