Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

14 reviews

arirose's review

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wasn't a huge fan at first, with all the POVs and timeline jumping, it's just not in my taste. But I was suggested to read up to a point which did finally intrigue me about halfway or after. I couldn't seem to go beyond intrigued no matter how far I was or what happened in the story though. The story itself was interesting and I was invested, which is what kept me going. 

But is this really Violet Kupersmith's first novel? Props to the author, for keeping up with everything and managing to keep it all so well connected! I can't help but imagine her plotting this book like that one meme of the It's Always Sunny guy with the yarn and newspapers lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

takemetomilos's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

The ending >>
Also this book was straight up difficult to read, but it was worth it in the end. I’m a big DNF kinda guy, and the multiple time periods and points and views and endless characters in what is a genuinely complex story should have made me want to stop, but the writing itself was just to lyrical to give up. And then in the last third of the book you can’t help but being swept away. Trust the process w this one. Def not a quick read and I feel like I need a book club to unpack everything but I loved it. 
Deserves a revisit. I LOVE REVENGE STORIES❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual violence, Rape, War, Slavery, Colonisation, Death, Confinement, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pregnancy, Incest, and Drug use

Minor: Eating disorder, Vomit, and Animal cruelty

colubridae's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Body horror

Moderate: Excrement, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Incest, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

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

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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

ka_cam's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.5

A ghosty revenge tale with history, local spirits, and the rage and ennui of young women and girls? Yes please. I enjoyed piecing together what was going on and felt the characters, times, and supernatural elements were deftly woven together. I found it well written and emotionally engaging. Only drawback was due to the number of characters I felt the character development could have been stronger. All in all a great read (do mind the content warnings though).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Incest, and War

lotus440's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexism

ynotlime's review

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Incest, and Body horror

ericageorge91's review against another edition

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

4.25

This book was a slow burn love. I was invested from the beginning because I needed to know what happened to the missing girls/women but it also felt like a puzzle?? There are multiple POV and time jumps but each character’s perspective would reference previous characters provide further insight to their  background. I found myself looking forward to discovering these little nuggets and callbacks. 

The horror in this story would slowly creep in the best way possible. Several scenes had me shivering. Please read this book!! 🤗

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexism, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, War, Incest, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Vomit

emudds's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

such a good tense adventure you get taken on in this book, and with plenty of genuinely scary moments to satisfy the spook craving. i love winnie's journey, starting from a poorly defined sense of being lost upon arrival in saigon to contextualizing out of body experiences to feel in her body again, and i love how you feel her sadness and binh's anger release by the end of the novel. by far my favorite read of the year so far.

quotes i loved:
-"she assumed that one day she would fill all of this space. that her life here would provide things worth keeping. that she herself would become someone worthy of being kept."
-"she had brought with her a passport, two sets of clean clothes, and her own flesh. all the rest she would acquire."
-"winnie told herself that the uneasy fluttering she still felt in her stomach was just the sensation of her old roots finally starting to come loose."
"'the wrongness in me, i'm not sure whether it's all from that night at the club, or if it started when i first came here, or if it started before then. did i break, or was i broken from the beginning?' 'listen to me, winnie, no part of you is wrong.'"
-"my love, you know so many ghosts, but you cannot know mine"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Eating disorder

Moderate: Sexual violence and Animal death

rluo2294's review

challenging sad medium-paced

5.0

I truly feel haunted by this novel. As much as I enjoy the intricate network of characters and interconnected stories and supernatural/mystery elements, I realllly appreciate the understated emotional themes; Kupersmith conveys a lot below the surface of her words--history (esp colonialism), trauma, rage, violence, culture, grief.
Also Winnie's relationship with her body... oof

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Content Warnings

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Body horror