Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

127 reviews

gracecrandall's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

haley_mil_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

janetpants's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

petr1chor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

ex_hardesty's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Incest, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

smokeyphynix's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

mulletapologist's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

genevakelly's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Murder

taliesinrex's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A really fun and tense breakdown of the slasher formula through the eyes of a highschooler obsessed with the classic horror subgenre. I greatly enjoyed this one, and found the structure really fun with its interspersion of protagonist Jade's "Slasher 101" essays addressed to her history teacher. My Heart Is A Chainsaw embraces many of the tropes familiar to the slasher genre while still keeping things fresh and interesting, creating a meta-narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat especially when you start picking up on elements that Jade, for all her love and knowledge of the genre, elects not to recognize (whether on purpose or subconsciously). 

Jade herself is a wonderful character to see this world through. She is pessimistic and troubled, though not fully without hope somewhere in her mind - though it's not always hope for her OWN survival which I think adds a great depth and adds to the ingrained tragedy of her character. Her intense love for slasher films, finding them a source of comfort in the face of all the awful things that have happened to her, is at its core a very relatable story and one that I think contributes to her being such a fantastic POV character that you really want to see succeed even though the world around her is uncaring and downright hostile to her at times. I also really enjoyed the supporting characters, and her dynamics with characters who are sympathetic to her but unsure of how to truly help like Letha, Sheriff Hardy, and her teacher Mr. Holmes.

I will say this was my first time reading Stephen Graham Jones's work so I wasn't sure what to expect from his writing style. He definitely throws a lot at you, and his syntax is quite unlike a lot of other books I have read which took some getting used to. Once I started getting into the flow of his prose, though, it became really immersive and served as a great vehicle for the violence, tragedy, and humor throughout the book. Take heed that there's some heavy stuff revealed later on, and a whole lot of gore, but I'd definitely recommend this, especially to any horror movie fan.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

A traumatic childhood sexual assault is discussed, but not described in graphic detail. General mentions of racism/racist violence against Native Americans.

thevampirecharlotte's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse and Rape