Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

133 reviews

amessina3399's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Is it weird to say that this book was...beautiful? Terribly deranged, and so sick and twisted, but the writing was *chef's kiss*. Brite has such a way with language that even the most horrific descriptions read like poetry. If you are a logophile like myself, this book is a must-read. That being said, expect all of the triggers (except those about women--to be honest, there are few to no women characters in this book). Brite somehow makes you fall in love with all of the characters--flaws, sins, and all--in a way that keeps the story devastating and strong. While this book is about serial killers, it's also about the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s and how brutally it affected the queer community, and about the intimate lives and fears of the queer community of the time. This book will live on my shelf forever and will forever on be one of my favorites.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Grief

myopicmars's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Murder

readerofdafuk's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Really solid book. Very disturbing and grotesque imagery that I was looking for in a horror novel. 

The author just thought "what if Jeffrey Daumer and Dennis Nilson met up during the AIDS Epidemic"

A lot of themes of poisonous, tainted love with how the serial killers express love over dead bodies, how the gay community is viewed, and how gay lovers can literally be infected with AIDS. 

A lot of commentary about AIDS and the impact it has, along with a bitter hollow ending that, well, matches the outlook a lot of gay men had back then. 

This was a wonderful read, it ticked all the rights boxes for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction and Cannibalism

rikathestrange's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Murder

pinkfloydtwisted's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

abeavs's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

Would have been higher for me except for a couple of completely unnecessary uses of the n word. That really pulled me out of the ending. That being said, the author switches POV’s seamlessly and that adds a lot to the tension. Under everything it’s just a love story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Kidnapping

hippieonsteroids's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

This novel is very much a fictional story based off the life of Jeffrey Dahmer. The author includes an excerpt from Jeffrey Dahmers trial, giving the readers an automatic insight on what this book will be delivering. The story is extremely dark, the chapters each being from a different characters perspective was an interesting tactic for this author to use. The characters all meet at some point so their stories overlap but the author does this by switching midway from third to first person. But it would always be third person from Jay to Andrew Compton. Who because of this the reader would know that Andrew Compton was the main character. The book didn’t do this immediately, it did this when Andrew crossed paths with Jay and Luke, but oddly enough not Tran. This book was challenging in content wise not reading difficulty. Towards the end you get one last chapter in Tran’s third person perspective and it is painful. What this book does is exemplify how homophobia and racism was a major factor in why Jeffrey Dahmer got away with his murders for a number of years. This novel very much resembles Jeffrey Dahmer and his possible perspectives while also providing the perspective of the victims and the victims loved ones.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Vomit

hoarding_wyrm's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Murder

eris_in_chains's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Thoroughly enjoyed this book though I must say that it's very much a product of its time (cannot tell whether the author intented to fetishize East Asian men here.) An interesting Jeffrey Dahmer fanfic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

erica_reads_things'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is one of the "oldest" horror books that I have read on my journey so far and it did not disappoint! I could have gone for even more gore, personally, but I did really enjoy the intense emotional stories of the characters Tran and Luke. The inclusion of the AIDS epidemic and the societal commentary was a pleasant surprise amongst my expectation of a gory horror novel. This was just overall a pretty great, quick read and a must for horror fans. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Classism

Minor: Incest and Stalking