Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Chaperos by Dennis Cooper

16 reviews

lunababybat's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-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

4.5

I loved mixed media, especially ones with unreliable narrators. Unlimately, it's up to the reader to decide what is true and what isn't. Who was Brad? Who really knows? Taking off half a star because there were way too many names to keep up with and I had to do a lot of doubling back to try to keep straight who was who. But all the kudos for how deliciously fucked up this story was and its unconventional formats. I think I need to find a community to talk about this one more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

delecterble's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

rjberwind's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Transgressive and a very hard read. To those with a morbid curiosity, maybe this is your book. To all others: beware.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

lagoonablu3's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I wanna give this book five starts because it's technically good and I couldn't put it down, but it's also the most violent pornographic thing I've ever read. I'm fine with gore in books or movies but the descriptions in this book of sexual violence and harm to other characters is just so gross. It's a really well written story and gripping to say the least. The ending is what I'd hoped for so I at least can rest easy with that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Cancer and Hate crime

ribbenkast's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart. People are quick to say that about a lot of horror, but this time please heed the warning. 

However, I do have to give this book 5 ⭐️. It just does everything right. First there is the mystery: the book mainly consists of forum posts on an gay escort rating website in the early 2000's. There is no way to verify which accounts are real and which accounts are fake (even though the poor webmaster does try). Dennis Cooper does not take the reader by the hand. You have to do some detective work and decide for yourself what is real and what is fake. 

Secondly, it uses gore and violence effectively within the story. (So many times in extreme horror, gore is just simply there for the shock value. I find that rather overdone and boring). Some of the described acts are so vile, I had to put the book down for a bit. Whether these things actually happened or whether these were just the perverted ramblings of someone getting their weird rocks off remains to be debated. (Although we get some answers in the end.) 

When does a fantasy cross the line? What is ethical even if someone supposedly concented? It is a cruel account of what happens when people egg each other on to live their most perverted fantasies. This book written in 2004 is an important early conversation about Internet safety and mass delerium when people can hide in anonymity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

danimacuk's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Excrement

Minor: Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, and Abortion

j_yarbrough's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

nooneshouldbereadingthis's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Horrifying. Like spending a month on the worst forum you've ever stumbled upon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime and Suicide

ekaramanov's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

angelicardale's review against another edition

this book is disgusting honestly lol .. exquisite corpse had more tact than a single page of this book did (and that was another one-star book for me). i hate that i had no idea what i was getting myself into. for all the graphic and horrific depictions of pedophilia and csa in this book (that read less like tragedy and more like torture p0rn, tbh), i really really wish it'd been explicitly stated in the blurb, or at the very least, in a content warnings list ANYWHERE in the book. there's not even an author's note. as a writer, i understand to a certain degree, but it's just plain negligent to not warn readers or categorize it in the right genre !!!! this was under general fiction at barnes & noble. it should be considered splatterpunk tbh. anyway screw tiktok for recommending me this book it was awful and not worth finishing imo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail