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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
dark
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"there are places only books can go."
I always forget how gross his books are. This was a very weird collection of stories, most horrifying but thought provoking. I am definitely haunted.
I always forget how gross his books are. This was a very weird collection of stories, most horrifying but thought provoking. I am definitely haunted.
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not badly written, just horrifying, and I couldn't wait for it to be over.
Almost every short story here is amazing, the strung-together narrative is just kinda ugly and lazy coming from Palahniuk, though. But the last full short story makes me think that Kurt Vonnegate, on Kurt Vonnegate's best day...
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Hate crime, Suicide, Transphobia
A few glimpses of 5 star in the stories of Guts, the shaaarooook one and the nightmare box but otherwise the first half dragged and the ending just didn’t feel enough for everything
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is certainly impossible to recommend, but I picked this up during my gross out/disturbing book trip I was on a while ago. I knew this was on a bunch of disturbing book icebergs, talked about on a lot of lists of books that pushed people to their limit when it came to themes explored and scenarios described. I have also heard and read a lot of reviews that described this novel as "disgusting just to be disgusting", a collection of short stories that only existed to showcase the absolute worst a person could put into text essentially. This book is such a mixed bag, which i expect from short story collections. While I was reading though, the main plot as well as the short stories would sometimes really make me think and reflect. Sure, a lot of it was disgusting, things I wish I wouldnt have had to read, chapters I wanted to skip because they made me uncomfortable, but I was surprised with how many of the described scenarios felt so oddly and uncomfortably...relevant? Idk maybe I am giving this too much grace, maybe I am too desperate to always find a meaning and a lesson in whatever I read, relate it to what I am experiencing now, wonder if the author looks back at it now and feels shocked and how disgustingly mundane things we once thought of as indescribably cruel have now become. This book is now 20 years old and I was a little shocked at how relevant I deemed a few of these short stories. They made me sit and think about the world, about how a scenario in a horror novel, written to gross out and disturb, doesnt seem so far fetched nowadays. Stuff like this, it probably happens, I wouldnt be surprised if it happens, I can see that it is happening. I know the intention behind this work was to make horror out of the mundane, find a way to twist every day scenarios into something gross and disturbing and that really affected me because I feel like the world grows harsher and more violent every day.
I cant really get into everything I am thinking about this, I really wish I could because I had a lot of thoughts while reading this. Overall, there were a lot of chapters and stories I found actually didnt have a lot to say, or rather got too caught in themselves to say what I thought they might wanted to say. Sometimes I noticed words contradicting the message of a piece, chapters that could really underline a point well are kind of muddled with a bad choice of descriptions, if that makes any sense.
Overall I would say if you scare easily, if you arent up to reading about extremely upsetting topics, this novel is not for you. But i found the premise sort of fascinating, it reveals a lot about humanities real nature in a similar way that movies like Saw do. I would say if you enjoy the Saw franchise you might enjoy the main plot of this, it pushes characters to their absolute limit and makes them deal with the consequences amongs themselves. Interesting to see how far people could go, given the circumstances.
I cant really get into everything I am thinking about this, I really wish I could because I had a lot of thoughts while reading this. Overall, there were a lot of chapters and stories I found actually didnt have a lot to say, or rather got too caught in themselves to say what I thought they might wanted to say. Sometimes I noticed words contradicting the message of a piece, chapters that could really underline a point well are kind of muddled with a bad choice of descriptions, if that makes any sense.
Overall I would say if you scare easily, if you arent up to reading about extremely upsetting topics, this novel is not for you. But i found the premise sort of fascinating, it reveals a lot about humanities real nature in a similar way that movies like Saw do. I would say if you enjoy the Saw franchise you might enjoy the main plot of this, it pushes characters to their absolute limit and makes them deal with the consequences amongs themselves. Interesting to see how far people could go, given the circumstances.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War