Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

67 reviews

hevlav's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

Incredibly solemn yet surprisingly hilarious. I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, but Roach did a wonderful job of balancing the sad and gory with reflection and fun. I’m glad I already don’t eat meat, because there’s no way I would after the many many comparisons between cadavers and lunch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Animal death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Gore, Child death, and Death

teganbeesebooks's review against another edition

funny informative fast-paced

5.0

I would be interested to see an updated edition with how practices have changed in the last 21 years. Super informative and I'm looking forward to reading her other books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Child death, Excrement, Gore, Blood, Cancer, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Cannibalism, and Vomit

lmneal87's review

challenging funny informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Medical trauma, Car accident, Gore, and Cannibalism

klbreyfogle's review

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was an interesting read! I listened as an audiobook which was fine for the most part but having someone tell you about mellified man directly into your ears is a little jarring. It’s now a little old so if you regularly consume mortuary content (a la Ask a Mortician/Caitlin Doughty) a fair amount will be familiar, but it’s still very informative and the tone is pretty funny, so overall a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Animal death, Grief, Gore, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Excrement, Abortion, and Terminal illness

teafrog's review against another edition

challenging funny informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Animal death

e_claire's review against another edition

dark funny informative slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Child death, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Medical trauma, Cannibalism, and Murder

wandering_canuck's review

funny informative medium-paced

3.5

This is my second reading of the book and I found it less intriguing than previously. Roach is a good writer who is adept at delivering death in a way that is neither too depressing nor too blasé. Not for the faint hearted, but even those to whom the idea of death is a bit "icky" will find this a compelling and lighthearted read. I believe I previously rated this 5 stars; my reduced rating is likely due to it being a reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Car accident, Child death, Medical trauma, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, and Death

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective slow-paced

3.5

Wasn't expecting a chapter to cover cannibalism so I guess that's where my squeamish line lies in the sand.  I knew some of the info about modern bioethics, and in contrast the historical ethics that were lacking respect, consent, and autonomy, so I was glad to hear that it is an emphasis in cadaver labs.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death of parent, Excrement, Fatphobia, Medical content, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Trafficking, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Body horror, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Torture, and Confinement

halfcrispyduck's review

dark funny informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, and Gore

eggboybee's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

5.0

I loved this, but I knew I was going to, because I've watched interviews with the author.

Stiff was shockingly funny and beautifully written. Mary Roach was incredibly detailed and sensitive to her difficult subject matter, while staying engaging and down-to-earth. I imagine that I'll be returning to this book often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Gore