Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

24 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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

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

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

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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

punched_out_mirror's review

adventurous mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Racism, Death, and Body horror

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

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

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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

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

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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

sorcha's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Eating disorder, War, Addiction, Infidelity, Pedophilia, 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

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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

savvylit's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Build Your House Around My Body is a masterful blend of historical fiction and magical realism. Each paranormal element in the book is a visual representation of the ripple effects of the trauma of colonialism and violence. Kupersmith's use of magical realism is done to devastating effect and I certainly won't forget any of her monsters any time soon.

As a whole, this book is a fascinating glimpse into Vietnam, both past and present. Some of the most interesting portions of the book were Winnie's observations of modern ex-pat culture in Saigon. It was no surprise to learn that Kupersmith herself was also an ESL teacher like Winnie. Kupersmith's intimacy with specific stereotypical ex-pats shines through in her written caricatures of Winnie's coworkers.

Ultimately, my only criticisms of this novel would be its length (400 pages) and organization. The timeline jumps so often that it disrupts the flow of the greater story. There are also several characters that readers only briefly get to know. I think that their portions could have been cut back or woven into another character's perspective to keep the book at a more manageable length.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Murder, Classism, War, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Body horror, and Xenophobia

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.

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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