Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Chaperos by Dennis Cooper

26 reviews

aknaag's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Girl…. This was something… and this was a lot.

The setting and the pacing of this book and overall layout is different to conventional books, it’s fun, which I enjoyed! 

Idk if it’s because of the way I downloaded it but the authors name and the book title  weirdly appears in the middle of almost every page that caught me off guard sm times, idk if it’s downloaded error or something but I got used it midway so that’s fine.

The plot…. Ugh the plot.. deplorable. So tragic and just makes you question and shake your head at humanity honestly.

There’s this spectrum in which sex is written and viewed in books, it’s either realistically romantic and spicy or realistically degrading and abhorrent. And it was very much the latter. At least that’s how I felt. Just needed a shower and the strong feel to be celibate.

Tragic character/(s) but such an interesting rabbit hole of a mystery. The way it kept unfolding really had me gagged. Just overall, the plot ATE. 

If you’re a person with a ding dong, going to read this book? I highly suggest you mentally prepare for it because the detailed scenes of violence sometimes became too much for me and I can’t imagine how you’d feel having a wiener.

Honestly, this ATE. I finished it in a DAY. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, 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.

---

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

otherworlds's review against another edition

3.0

Engaging framing device and mystery. However, it fell flat for me in a lot of ways. It invoked a lot of horrific trauma without necessarily treating it with the weight and realism it deserved. There were also significant formatting problems that broke my immersion. It was interesting but ultimately didn't measure up to the hype. I personally wouldn't recommend it. Please heed the trigger warnings, especially for pedophilia, sex trafficking, torture, and rape.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

kibernick's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

3.5

A very interesting medium for storytelling - the story is told through reviews on a gay escort site in the early 2000s. It gets very dark, very quickly. The book is extremely transgressive, please check a long list of content warnings. 

Certain passages reminded me of stumbling across disturbing blogs and websites back in the day, that left me scarred for days. I had trouble remembering who was who or who was real, but I think that was what the author was going for (maybe profile photos would’ve helped :) ). 

Overall the book is an interesting read, if only to see how transgressive and innovative writers can be (which can be refreshing). Would be curious to check out the author's other works.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

shalalalala's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Impossible to rate

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

wormariwood's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

priceliketag's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

tbrnichols's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

A truly sick book, some of the most depraved things I've ever read. I think my main problem with it is that the violence depicted didn't seem like a caring and sexy sort of violence? Or even like a personal, domineering sort of violence, instead it felt impersonal and rote, meaningless and horrible. I think this book may have temporarily ruined violence in sex for me by inserting the doubt that those doing violence to me are doing it without the attachment and value it deserves. I think there actually is a way to write about this sort of thing in a hopeful way, and there are definitely glimpses of that here, but being surrounded by such depravity and hatred can make it hard to sift those out. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

chronicreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Haha what the fuck. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

fran_njoroge's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria