Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Sluts by Dennis Cooper

29 reviews

cmrnism's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

oh absolutely not. i feel so ill. 
i’m unbelievably paranoid right now, even though there’s nothing to be paranoid over. worse than any horror.
for some reason, i just didn’t stop reading. morbid curiosity i suppose, all for nothing with that ending though

anyone rating this higher than 2 stars should seek professional help

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abortion, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Cancer

Minor: Abandonment, Chronic illness, and Incest

kibernick's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A very interesting medium for storytelling - the story is told through reviews on a gay escort site in the early 2000s. It gets very dark, very quickly. The book is extremely transgressive, please check a long list of content warnings. 

Certain passages reminded me of stumbling across disturbing blogs and websites back in the day, that left me scarred for days. I had trouble remembering who was who or who was real, but I think that was what the author was going for (maybe profile photos would’ve helped :) ). 

Overall the book is an interesting read, if only to see how transgressive and innovative writers can be (which can be refreshing). Would be curious to check out the author's other works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Violence, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Blood, Murder, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Drug use, and Excrement

shalalalala's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

Impossible to rate

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Cancer, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Drug abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

sophie275's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Child abuse, Cancer, Blood, and Addiction

pierreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Sexual content, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Torture, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Death

Moderate: Cancer and Chronic illness

Minor: Fatphobia and Gun violence

jesshadlow'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? It's complicated

0.5

So fucked up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Sexual content, Body horror, Confinement, Excrement, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cancer, Abortion, and Chronic illness

bunbobabe's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Pedophilia, Cursing, Physical abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Excrement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Torture

Moderate: Vomit and Terminal illness

Minor: Suicide attempt and Cancer

joy_ong's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Violence

devin_raquel's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

This book has the most disturbing imagery I’ve ever read. A really interesting story, one that does make you think despite the graphic content. But I DO NOT recommend reading, and if you do PLEASE check trigger warnings, cause this one gets dark. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Cursing, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Excrement, Drug use, Addiction, and Cancer

tbrnichols's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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

3.5

A truly sick book, some of the most depraved things I've ever read. I think my main problem with it is that the violence depicted didn't seem like a caring and sexy sort of violence? Or even like a personal, domineering sort of violence, instead it felt impersonal and rote, meaningless and horrible. I think this book may have temporarily ruined violence in sex for me by inserting the doubt that those doing violence to me are doing it without the attachment and value it deserves. I think there actually is a way to write about this sort of thing in a hopeful way, and there are definitely glimpses of that here, but being surrounded by such depravity and hatred can make it hard to sift those out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Torture, Body horror, Self harm, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Blood, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy