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emily_koopmann's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual violence
Moderate: Death and Suicidal thoughts
vivica's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Ableism
Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Misogyny, Grief, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Drug use, Death, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Vomit
emory's review
- 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? Yes
2.25
I was puzzled reading this about all the positive reviews I had seen of it. Every story seemed a pointless excuse for Moshfegh to describe something disgusting, insult a random fat side character, and call somebody r*tarded. A few of the later stories, such as Slumming, The Beach Boy, and A Better Place were (comparatively) charming and driven, but the abrupt endings in the latter of these two were discouraging.
The only saving grace I could find for these stories was that Moshfegh is clearly creative in thinking of vignettes of different shades of upsetting people. However, I don't feel as if her writing was strong enough to carry them. Each sentence was short and blunt. The simple sentences lent themselves to the subject matter I suppose, but it was not an artful or particularly nice reading experience. It read more like the begrudging English assignment of a super senior than that of a critically acclaimed author. Not to mention none of her characters were distinguishable from one another. All spoke with the same voice. The most discription anything received were fat characters that Moshfegh seemed to delight in calling disgusting and horrible. And anytime someone from a minority was mentioned, there was some weird aside that the narrator needed to have.
The idea of challenging what the purpose of fiction is and the role of a main character is an intriguing prospect, and this, along with the few stories that stood out to me as genuine, are the reason I'm giving this a higher rating than 0 or 1. But there's no skill or point behind it, to me, other than to shock and disgust. Most of these stories had nothing to say. To make something realistic in its unappetizing circumstances means nothing when you're doing the same trick over and over again. "It's so bad here, what if there were something better? Well, there's not." Cool!
And unfortunately there's not even a single story that's about aliens.
Graphic: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Excrement, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Vomit, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, and Death
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Animal death, Antisemitism, and Sexual assault
Unbelievably terrible descriptions of fat people throughout for no reason. Additionally any time a main character meets a person who is not white or straight, they are very weird about it.tessa_specchio's review
- 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
3.0
grotesque in a good way
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Stalking, Eating disorder, Addiction, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and War
theminimalistbookclub's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Stalking, Fatphobia, Suicide, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Vomit
thelibraryofanolive's review
Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Vomit, and Toxic relationship
qnwebster's review
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
simonipatel's review
- 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
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Sexual violence
minkler's review
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Excrement, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit