Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Chaperos by Dennis Cooper

16 reviews

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

xwritingstoriesx's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Excrement

jemmers's review against another edition

Too many characters and a convoluted storyline. I thought it was cool at first trying to piece this, albeit fucked up, mystery together from escort reviews and discussion board posts. But there are WAY too many characters to keep track of. My brain felt like that Pepe Silvia meme. The mental work to figure out who snuffed who, if any snuffing actually occurred at all, is not worth it, imo. Like I just don’t care enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

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

chucksbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark 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

1.5

it was very intense. was not for me. it felt like there was an onslaught of information from the get go and i couldnt keep up with who was who within 10 pages of starting. it felt like it went to the extremes for the sake of it and didnt feel like there was any reason behind any of the novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

remghoul's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, and Pregnancy

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.

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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

bunbobabe's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness and Vomit

Minor: Cancer and Suicide attempt

alex17's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, and Drug use