Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Your Body is Not Your Body by Alex Woodroe

4 reviews

corsetedfeminist's review

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

I found this book somewhat disappointing as a whole, perhaps because I expected too much of a collection of short stories focused on body horror and the transgender/nonbinary experience. 
First, for the good things: when the stories in this book are good, they are excellent. Two in particular properly unnerved and stuck with me- that of a monk impregnated and forcibly feminized by a succubus, and that of a pastor’s wife struggling with gender and the expectations of womanhood in a very queered Stepford wives. 
That being said, many of the stories just didn’t resonate with me- much of the prose across these stories leaned a bit purple for me, focusing too much on the imagery and the words than the reality of the body horror and the connection to the queer experience. They felt detached, almost. Perhaps it is that there isn’t time in a short story to learn to love the characters in the same way, I’m not certain. I can absolutely see these stories being very meaningful for a different person, it just didn’t work for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

biobeetle's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

jackass's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.5

This book is really intense. Some stories are deeply beautiful, some are a mindfuck bloodbath rampage, and some aren’t particularly good. It was a slow read for me as I had to put the book down after most of the stories and come back with a clear head for the next one. I don’t mean to imply that the violence/gore was particularly overwhelming, it’s just that many of the stories carried weight and depth that I had to take time to process.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Sexual violence and Suicide

rydwyn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy