Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Cows by Matthew Stokoe

11 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.

missquinnbee's review against another edition

This was an exploration of my own personal gore/torture/horror limits and I can wholeheartedly say I found ‘em! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

rosales2486's review

challenging dark sad tense 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

1.0

Pretty boring aside from the atrocious and disgusting scenarios.

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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, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

umpaola7's review against another edition

dark tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

lindseytsud's review against another edition

dark reflective tense 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

5.0

This book was so good with description but so, SO fucked up. I think it hit every trigger ever made. I had to keep reading it anyway though 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

If you have a weak stomach, or a soft heart, don’t read it.

amymariereads's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, 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

glowingpages's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense 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

3.5

This story is so disgusting, gritty, violent, dark, horrifying, and dreadful… and I loved it. There is no way my review can convey how filthy this novel is. Stokoe plunges you into this hopeless world of isolation, mania, and terror and never lets you breathe. Seriously, every page turn had me gagging. 

This book will NOT be for everyone, not even everyone in the market for grotesque horror or edgy material. I believe I appreciated it because I had to remind myself multiple times that it was just a fiction novel and I was experiencing the author’s very disturbing mind. I appreciated the ride I guess.

While I saw a commentary amongst all the muck, torture, and perversion, I cannot be for certain that there was any deeper meaning to this story than Stokoe just writing shocking shit for the fun of it. 

I haven’t fully formed my interpretations into a fully fleshed out thought yet. I feel like a lot of the content was a criticism or comment on a similar aspect of reality. For instance, the egregious amount of fat phobia. The mother’s body was consistently described in ways to make you feel icky and dirty only by overemphasizing her fat, folds, and weight.  However, it was so over the top, I began to feel like it was just referencing the already pervasive fat phobia that exists and turning it up to 11. Of course I could be reading into it too much and Matthew Stokoe is actually just fat phobic. 

I will say, though I did enjoy the book, I could have definitely gone through it without the abhorrent torture and mutilation of the cows. I also did not care for the cow’s dialogue. The ending also left me wanting, but it could be because I didn’t understand what it was meant to symbolize.

I’ve read some great criticisms of this book here and I agree with all of them, whether they hated it or loved it. This book causes some very visceral reactions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Be warned!! This book is not for the sensitive stomach. While e this book gets very graphic and has a plethora of horrendous content, there is a larger commentary behind it all and it is very well crafted.

rarityfemme's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

:/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail