Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Cows by Matthew Stokoe

26 reviews

abbiey34's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No

0.25

This is possibly one of the worst books I’ve ever read. The author should be ashamed of himself. The writing is poor. Very focussed on down talking women, obsessed over the word c*nt for vagina, degrading women. Understand that the women in the book are not pleasant, but you do wonder what the hell this author thinks about women. Couldn’t fully finish the book it and made me feel disturbed and unsettled. Disappointing. I wanted a challenging book to rood as Tender is the Flesh really wasn’t all that good either. But this takes it too far. I have a strong stomach, massive fan of horror films, but this is too far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Any trigger warning you can think of, this book has it.

kayajay's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

It’s gratuitously gruesome. Not a well developed story. I’m glad it was short I would’ve DNF’d

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

smvslvt's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

This book is vile. Every page is revolting, stomach churning nightmare after nightmare. Bleak. Disgusting. Violent. It actually made me wonder how someone thinks of things so vividly repulsive. It’s not good. Nothing about it is good, but there is a message in all the filth and I think it stands as a very effective messenger, sickening as it is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Pregnancy tw

a pregnant woman carves her unborn child from her own body mid psychotic break killing them both

child death/abuse

Steven crucifies the corpse of the fetus with knives

noonanjohnc's review

challenging dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

microcactus's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

ok I guess

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm and Cannibalism

Minor: Racial slurs and Rape

why did the author have to use the n slur though wtf 😒

laciebug's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

psychogen's review against another edition

dark sad 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? It's complicated

2.25

Obvious reflection of society and the place of an individual in said society. Focus on darkness and emptiness of the world and people within.

For my taste too much focus in disgusting details for the sake of being shocking. There is no natural development into crazy things, all is described as horrible as possible. 

In comparing for example “American Psycho” managed to show insanity inside the normal world, which “cows” misses to deliver on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

kingnixon's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

jocelyn73c's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I'm not a big splatterpunk reader. Extreme gore is not really my thing. This book really pushed a lot of my boundaries, but that being said I thought the writing was good and there was an actual message about male isolation and dominance over others that I thought was well illustrated. I won't ever read it again, but I'm not mad I read it this one time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

This is a splatterpunk book and probably should not be read by someone who isn't familiar with the genre. It's very graphic and challenging.

laboromi's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail