Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

7 reviews

skogsheks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Body horror, Terminal illness, and Racism

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Cannibalism

mudlizard's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

perfectly meh. I was somewhat interested in its surrealness and I am a fan of literary horror, but I feel like the explorations of beauty and ugliness and 'wellness' were hit and miss. how that intersects with race and class being quite well executed, but the ending left me conflicted (along with other aspects throughout the book) on how other characteristics are being perceived. characters were kinda dull and indistinct. still I can see its appeal and am curious to see what else the author writes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Racism, and Medical content

Moderate: Body shaming and Body horror

Minor: Cannibalism

irenemarie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Grief, Terminal illness, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Body horror, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Body shaming, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Infertility, Rape, Racism, Murder, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Drug use

Minor: Car accident, Eating disorder, Blood, and Vomit

seagullsaga's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Classism, Racism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Body horror, Drug use, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Rape, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Dementia, Eating disorder, Grief, and Sexual content

Minor: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

arayo's review

dark funny 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Rape, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Vomit, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Racism, Gore, and Bullying

Minor: Cannibalism, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

flattrash's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I can't stop thinking about the owner's face being compared to silken tofu. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation, Sexual assault, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cannibalism, Classism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Pedophilia

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Listened to most of this yesterday then finished while coloring moths in a meditation coloring book I own. It felt ironic to read the ending while choosing colors to create art.

This was a grotesque dissection of beauty, marginalization, and the dangers of the male gaze. It was more than that too, I can’t exactly summarize this book into a sentence. The ending felt akin to Carrie Narby’s “Indescribable,” in It Came From the Closet. The nonexistence of beauty, of perception, grants a form of freedom. There is a queerness to ugliness.

Natural Beauty captured the dangers of beauty well. It spoke to the “feminism” of beauty and the cage that surrounds conformity. Reading this was an experience I can’t truly describe in words. But I enjoyed this a great deal. Another example of how the greatest horror stems from reality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Death, Dysphoria, Excrement, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, and Stalking

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Vomit, Terminal illness, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Murder, Vomit, and Excrement