Hi! Something I noticed about myself is that I tend to enjoy books that go very hard on the violence. The kind of books where the first goodread reviews are going to complain about it being too violent, too graphic, it being trauma porn, trying to intellectually capitalise on suffering, and so on. I have thoughts on which books or memoirs get targeted with that critique more than others, and I believe that part of what makes them a target is part of what makes them appealing to my experience.
I generally prefer reading WOC authors, but also noticed that the charge “trauma porn” or “inappropriately violent” seems to be more quickly levied against WOC authors than I ever seen complaints about, say, *All Quiet On The Western Front* or *Slaugtherhouse Five* (both of which I also loved btw), so I’m asking for WOC authors, it’s not a hard must, though.
Some examples of books I enjoyed: *The Bluest Eye* by Toni Morrison, *An Untamed State* by Roxanne Gay, *Earthlings* by Sayaka Murata, *The Sympathize*r Series by Viet Than Nguyen, *S.* by Slavenka Draculic, *Woman At A Point Zero* by Nawal El Saadawi, *Under The Lion’s Gaze* by Maaza Mengiste, *The God Of Small Things* by Arundhati Roy.
I like historical fiction and contemporary that ends up slotted into literary fiction for lack of being anything else. I don’t mind thrillers and horror, though I’m not looking for gore/slasher horror novels. I’m also not looking for “look how fucked up that is!” type novels, but novels where can feel seen and respected as someone very traumatised, even if it doesn’t end well, though I suppose that’s a subjective category.
PS Guys, even if you don’t personally like these books, don’t downvote this so much, please. I have used the search before asking and couldn’t find another ask like this. It could really give interesting results if it’s not instantly buried by very low upvote rates.
by goatlimbics