Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

11 reviews

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

this was…. hm. 4.5 stars

it was incredibly well-written, if a bit dark for my tastes. the characters were so interesting and zoomed-in; it really felt like living in their heads. 

while i thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, my head hurts a little trying to keep up with all the threads. the author bit off a lot, chewed it pretty well, but i think the bolus was a bit too much for me to swallow in the end. i can tell a lot of work went into weaving all the threads together, but i think i need to write out a timeline to really feel like i finished this book. part of that is me wanting a neater ending for winnie, but the other part is just that this book throws a lot of competing desires and pains at you all at once 

enjoyed reading, and would definitely read more by this author! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Blood, Sexism, Vomit, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Incest, Excrement, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

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

sophia_zaytoun_habib's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Violence, Body shaming, Alcohol, Abandonment, Vomit, Gore, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Murder, Excrement, Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Classism, Body horror, and Blood

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

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Body horror

Moderate: Excrement, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse

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

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

djpizza's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, Gore, and Excrement

Moderate: Animal cruelty

nialiversuch's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Excrement, Blood, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexism, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Classism, Body horror, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, and Incest

minkler's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Incest, Violence, War, Eating disorder, and Injury/Injury detail

maggies's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I am more glad that I finished this book than that I read it at all. It is grotesque and disturbing, and I was almost constantly nauseated reading it. It wasn’t a positive experience, but it was an amazingly woven tapestry, spanning decades and dimensions, impressively coming together bit by bit. Heed my warning though: gross.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Colonisation, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, and Excrement