Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

3 reviews

birbmcbirb's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The queer urge to have your darkest side seen, and still be embraced. 

The ending of this book was amazing, and the slow burn in the beginning makes sense in hindsight, but I agree with other readers who struggled through the first part. The growing tension is subtle, in the same way it often is in an abusive home where the abuse is long stretches of neglect between blow ups. That ending though will almost definitely make this a book I revist from time to time. A love letter for everyone who grew up with the darkness as their only friend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Excrement, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was maybe the most scary and horrifying book that I've ever read?? Gailey does body horror and body descriptions like no one I've ever read. Will definitely read them again, but whew, this was terrifying. My only little things were that the reveal felt a little bit muddy to me, and I kind of felt like I was bonked in the head with the idea of stains/residue over the course of the book until I was sure that it was meaningful in some way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Vomit, and Alcoholism

Minor: Pregnancy, Excrement, and Sexual harassment

The gore and torture totally made me lose my appetite until I finished the book, so beware, my sensitive-to-words friends!

coddiwomple's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

As a person that has lived in a house filled with a strange kind of love and abusive parents, this book was both thrilling and difficult to read. I've read many reviews by folks saying they don't understand this book or understand what Sarah Gailey was trying to do. Perhaps this book wasn't written for those people. This book contains a representation of trauma and domestic violence that isn't easily rendered in fiction. Yes it is slow paced, but each line has a purpose if you read carefully.

This book is about love, is about homes and what they hold after the people that built them are no longer the same or are gone, is about tension, is about things left unsaid, is about parents and how they shape us, about fear of ourselves and everyone else, and about embracing the ugly, greasy, and the foul. This is not a pretty book, but I do think it's one worth reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, and Death

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Toxic friendship, Excrement, and Torture

Minor: Violence and Sexual harassment