Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

16 reviews

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I promise I'm not trying to be funny, but I fear I am not smart enough for this book. Was it gorgeously written? Yes, absolutely. I highlighted a lot because the sentences were woven together so beautifully. However, with so many characters to follow, I found myself getting lost. I don't think this is a "bad" book; I just struggle with what it really was. It was the most genre-bending, atmospheric, eerie book, and maybe I need to re-read, but my head hurts. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

Moderate: Murder, Rape, Incest, Eating disorder, Sexual content, War, and Animal cruelty

mobooks_mojoy's review

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

amiegold's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• 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

4.0

I was sure I was going to rate this book lower, but in the last 25% of the book, the author expertly weaved all of the missing pieces to tell a story of colonization, the objectification of woman's bodies and revenge.  And it's all told in the form of a ghost story.  

While I loved the ending, I was restless along the way with the sometimes nauseating and frustrating characters and plot lines.  If you enjoy deep symbolism and dark themes, this may be a good book for you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Excrement, Alcohol, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Colonisation, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Cursing

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Gore

georgiesutton's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

3.0

I picked this up because I was interested in a story set in Vietnam and I enjoyed the descriptions and setting in Vietnam, and liked the ghost/spirit element but also that the Fortune Teller seemed to be a bit of a scam.

 I normally like multiple time lines and characters but this was too much back and forth with too long in between timelines to follow and make the connections. Not having dates, just using time before and after, and the sheer number of characters made this quite confusing. I felt there wasn't enough plot or chronology to carry it and I felt that meant some of the connections didn't pack the punch they should have because I forgot who was who etc. 

Most of the characters had no redeeming features although the female experience was centred which was interesting there were so many women I would have liked more of. 

Some of the writing was beautiful but also sometimes dragged with several long drawn out descriptions of unpleasant men getting drunk and making women uncomfortable for no real purpose. 

I'm also really frustrated that

Winnie never realised that she met the two brothers

. 

Overall this was eerie and atmospheric but not enough plot for me with hugely dislikable characters. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Self harm, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Blood, Death, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Sexism, and Sexual content

mmefish's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

Incredible. I wanna talk about it for days.

The way Winnie found true happiness in becoming a rat is just delightful.

How could I explain the way time seemed to slip from my fingers, the way I became incrementally more detached, more unable to reach out a hand to take anything I wanted? 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Drug use

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Eating disorder, War, Incest, and Rape

ashwaar's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-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

4.5

Build Your House Around My Body is, to me, an example of perfect novel construction - an interesting, deeply thematic story where the author trusts us, readers, to figure out what’s going on and even if we don’t entirely understand it, that ends up not mattering because the writing style is so enthralling and engaging.

I’ve seen several reviews saying they didn’t really ‘get’ this book or didn’t understand the end or how the individual stories were connected. Whilst I understand why some people would feel this way, I don’t share these sentiments. All the things listed as negatives in these reviews I thought were absolutely brilliant. I wish more books were written like this instead of the clunky, overly-expositional writing I see in many other novels.

The book alternates between different characters and timelines, and this can be hard to follow, especially at first. However, the storyline is so compelling, and it's really compelling as you start to understand how these different narratives come together. Some of our main characters include Winnie, a 20-something Vietnamese-American who has come to Saigon to teach English; Tan, a corrupt policeman; his brother Long, who works at the school with Winnie; their childhood friend Binh; a fortune-teller and his assistants; a small dog; an old woman selling lottery tickets, and a two-headed cobra.

I thought the characters were a perfect mix of engaging and repulsive. They were all very flawed and not really great people. I didn’t root for them at all which is usually a huge turn-off for me, but I was motivated to keep reading because their roles and stories were so interesting, layered and complex. I think this would be a great book to study in a literature class because there is so much to explore in terms of different themes, including Vietnamese folklore, ghost stories, trying to find belonging in a new country, the treatment of women, and backpacker culture in Vietnam.

In conclusion, I loved this book! I thought it was fascinating, sharp, creepy and highly compelling. I can tell that on re-reading, you’ll notice so much more about the story, and it will be like a completely different experience. It is slightly longer, but I think it's so gorgeously written, and the pay-off is completely worth it. This is a book with so many nuances it's impossible to explore in one review, but the author manages to pull it off expertly in these 400 pages.

Rating: 4.5/5

Read the full review on Bookmarked by Ash or follow me on @bookmarked_by_ash

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

radfordmanor's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

lemaog's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I don’t normally like books with magical elements, but this one was a nice surprise! Even though it featured numerous ghosts and magical abilities. 
The atmosphere was dark and the amazing prose transported you right to Saigon, the place where most of the story is set. To summarise the plot is impossible to me because even after finishing the last pages I’m still a bit confused about all the crazy shit that went on. I still rate this book quite highly because of it‘s uniqueness and because I overall enjoyed reading it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

bahamyulala's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Murder

adam_nie's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

Dramatic irony! Crossed paths! I'm too squeamish for capital h Horror, but Kupersmith handles upsetting material well.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Blood