Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

246 reviews

curryduttan's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

withlivjones's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was a wild ride. Eliza Clark does unsettling really well, the book started off fairly normal but things took a turn for the “wtf did I just read” pretty quickly. All the characters are pretty terrible, but particularly Irina, whose descent into madness is depicted really well. I thought the ending was very abrupt, though? Like there wasn’t really any resolution and because of that I wasn’t surprised to learn that this was originally meant to be a short story. I’m going to need 2-3 business days to recover from reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

randiymkje's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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

Even if I felt uncomfortable reading some of this, it left me trying to grasp reality again and I don’t think I will ever forget it. A book that can properly disgust, anger and shock or invoke any other real feelings is deserving of my 5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Eating disorder, Rape, Self harm, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

liv934's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

katierobertsonshaddix's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

bluedesi's review against another edition

challenging sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I like the build-up of the story and was hooked, read it quickly because I did want to know what happened next. Just some issues with the end result and some of the pacing towards it but overall, great book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

carojust's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I keep saying I won't read more books like this, and I end up only reading books like this -- model-like waif girls who stumble through drugs, alcohol, vomiting (so much vomiting), questionable sex, and with smeared mascara and broken faces, always stare in the mirror to see how relentlessly beautiful they are. 

See: The Guest by Emma Cline, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon

What redeems "Boy Parts" from this tiring blueprint is the Gen Z sense of humor that gives the unreliable narrator, Irina, some personality. She's self-aware, albeit narcissistic, damaged, abusive and horrible, and going through her mental circus with her is incredibly entertaining and honestly thrilling. Eliza Clark gives structure and purpose to the mania, and her general commentary on pretty privilege, consent, sexual violence, and women's shift in power, is really well done. 

I recommend this if you're okay with hateable and gross characters, graphic content, and moral ambiguity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kendallinthewild's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.5

The extremely violent female gaze is intriguing, the casualness to sexual assault is really honest, but the rest was just too gruesome for me to personally enjoy as I don’t look for that in literature, art, entertainment, etc. For me, there was not enough warning in general reviews that the content would be so unbelievably disturbing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

imperials's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

ebee96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It's honestly a little difficult to put in to words how I felt about this book... I was drawn in by the idea that it combined horror and art, but there is a quality about it that is just very different from most things I read. I think the best verbiage I can use, is to say that this book feels *grimy*...

I feel it compulsive, and was unable to put it down at points- while at the same time noting that it made me feel more uneasy than almost anything I have ever read before. It is profoundly disturbing. I have seen a few others describe it as a gender swapped American Psycho, and while yes, it sort of is- it feels like it goes further than that.

I found the way it explored women looking at men through the sort of objectifying and often violent lens, that we typically see men looking a women through fascinating- as much as it was terrifying. There is a point about 80% in, where everything just seems to happen at once and the insanity is turned up to 11. I can't exactly say I enjoyed it.. in all honesty I felt a little sick while reading it, but I understood what it was trying to say, and that I appreciated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship