A review by woodslesbian
Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

I say this as a compliment: this book made me feel ill! It made me feel really bad, and I think that means it's an incredibly effective work of horror, especially one that handles such dark themes as this. If you're interested in reading this book, I recommend not only checking trigger warnings but knowing that the subjects listed will be VERY present and visceral and unpleasant to read. This is not a book for everybody, and there were many parts of it that made me deeply uncomfortable, but I believe this was a very intentional choice on Rumfitt's part, and one that really works for both the horror and the social commentary. The main characters are deeply human and VERY flawed, and I think the text did a good job of examining how those flaws happened (and how people in general are drawn in to reactionary ideology) without excusing them. I think the horror elements didn't always land for me--overall this book was less overtly scary and, again, mostly just unpleasant and sickening. This was still effective horror in my view, but also it definitely could've had more tense moments. It's not especially subtle in its themes and messaging by any means, which wasn't a problem for me, but both the themes and the horror were not the most subtle. I'll probably read some of Alison Rumfitt's other works eventually, but I know I'll need to be very braced emotionally for them.