Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

98 reviews

motor's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

2.0

The premise is an interesting take on true crime and it’s written really well, but the content is awful. Many people would be deeply disturbed by this, I could push through as I wanted to know what happened next but there’s a lot of unnecessary themes added. Necrophilia, a lot of it, which I guess makes sense for serial killers but also, an Asian fetish.  Very clearly the authors fetish as the way Tran is described is disgusting and the words used to describe him are dehumanizing, Luke’s personality revolves around his Asian fetish. Lots of slurs that I’m almost 100% sure the author cannot use in real life, all of it unnecessary. Genuinely who thinks of stuff like this, 2 stars because it’s unfortunately written well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jully_bean's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sigynmoon's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, and Police brutality

adorableautist's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad 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

2.0

If you're looking into William Joseph Martin's (formerly known as Poppy Z. Brite) notorious queer splatterhouse opus, then you likely already have some sense of what you're getting into with this one. Its indulgences in sexuality and gratuitous violence is genuinely difficult to read, and I almost gave up on the book multiple times right up to the last few pages.

Exquisite Corpse lacks the campy revelry, magical realism, or self conscious introspection that marks most of the splatterhouse lit that is actually worth reading. Instead it ambitiously attempts to grapple with the cruel confluenceof queerness and violence that became the dominant culural narrative for gay men in the eighties and nineties. Most characters in the book are HIV positive and nearly all of them have received, witnessed, or inflicted grotesque violence by the end of the book. 

This willfully tasteless literary construction might've amounted to something genuinely compelling if it hadn't undermined itself by depicting its serial killer characters as romantically powerful and hyper inteligent super villains. For all of the literary talent on display, which is by no means meager, the end result feels juvenile in its romanticization of serial killers. The monstrous characters would have better served the the book's emotional and thematic needs, no matter how sweetly nihilistic they might be, if they had been allowed to be altogether more pathetic than enticing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Torture, and Murder

introverted_reads's review against another edition

dark fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

well that was fucked up

twink death (literally)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

katelynalice's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Incest and Stalking

issymaae's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

savykw's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Murder

agravereader's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

This book is SO fucked up. So, so, so fucked up. 

I loved it. Not sure what that means for me.

It was character-driven in a way I absolutely cannot resist. Four points of view from four (arguably three) terribly flawed and deranged men in their own ways, but with such love amd obsession interwoven that I felt... something? Toward them. Additionally, the AIDS commentary, specifically how the disease and the tragedy of the people who contracted HIV were treated by society was not what I was expecting from this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

vouija's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder