Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Chaperos by Dennis Cooper

29 reviews

elsakern's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

I get the shock value, I get the examination of fanatic internet forums, but I simply am not the target audience for this. Thank fuck for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy

prettyboypercy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

this is one of those books i feel so horrific to love. it’s depraved and sadistic and addictive, which is what the book wanted to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

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

encyclopedia's review against another edition

3.0

Don't you realize what I'm giving you? Brad isn't just some cute, masochistic piece of ass who's here to help a bunch of stupid leather men get their sadistic rocks off. He's a fucking legend. I expect you to show some respect.

I wanted a heavy experience, not to have my life changed forever.

A fucked-up, graphically violent early-aughts Internet novel. I guess it's a mystery novel, but it has more in common with Borges in that the mystery is the nature of truth and identity itself. A genuinely interesting commentary on trust, the Internet, sex, power, fantasy. It's well written and even funny at times, it's just really fucking graphic (not that surprising if you know what you're getting into with ol' Dennis).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, and Murder

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

nuclear_droid's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

0.25

Thanks I hated it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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

paulus_on_the_rocks's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Voir les TW (j'insiste lourdement)

J'ai ouvert le bouquin en me disant joyeusement, enfin un auteur qui ne se fout pas de notre gueule quand il décide d'écrire du cul. Oh boy. Cooper ne se fout pas de notre gueule sur absolument aucun sujet.

C'est à la fois le roman le plus horrible et le plus intelligent que j'ai lu depuis très, très longtemps, si ce n'est toujours. J'ai vraiment hésité à lui mettre un full five stars car ce n'est absolument pas un livre que je conseillerais (cf le nombre ahurissant de TW) mais, en même temps, je l'ai trouvé extrêmement intéressant du point de vue narratif.

Si vous n'avez pas l'estomac fragile et que vous aimez le concept de unreliable narrator, foncez, mais j'insiste : ce n'est vraiment, vraiment pas du petit lait, le livre est extrêmement graphique.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, 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, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

paigie_pie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Excrement, and Pregnancy