Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

72 reviews

ekw0036's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Oh my actual god.

I need to stare at the ceiling a bit over this. I won’t pretend this book is without flaws but it’s def the first true horror novel I’ve read in a while. It’s a cerebral, dark, devastating book and I can’t wait to read more from him

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

squisheebee_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved the narration of this book. Jade stole my heart & maybe it biased my rating.🤷🏽‍♀️ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

cottagecorecabbage's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Bullying and Cultural appropriation

tesshersh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

I’m not sure if I extra enjoyed this book because I’ve read so many BAD books lately, or if it really IS that good, so take this with a grain of salt. But WOW. One of my only gripes is that it touches on some themes that I’m not 100% sure I love being talked abt from a teenage girl’s perspective written by a male author, but I think it was respectfully done. 
Spoiler for my other complaint:

I wish that the conclusion/reveal of the killer DIDN’T have a supernatural element. I think the author’s point of regarding real life not being like a horror/slasher movie, about things like gentrification & colonization being a type of horror and violence of their own, was backtracked a bit by letting jade’s theory of a supernatural element be true at the end.

Also: cannot recommend the audio book enough, cara gee was amazing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

HUGE trigger warnings - not just in the gore/violence you would associate with a thriller but for other content as well, please check content warnings before reading

melchncookies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

If this hadn’t turned supernatural,

it would have been at least a 4 star book, if not higher. The setup for the killer was amazing and I didn’t guess who it was.

I didn’t love that the little girl ended up coming back.

I wish that could have just been Jade’s imagination. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse and Fire/Fire injury

chelseahelton's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Incest

lancemama's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

spaceodin's review against another edition

3.5

Oof. So sad I didn’t love this one. All the ingredients seemed catered to my interests - lonely Native teenager finds herself trying to train a final girl for the slasher she suddenly finds herself in - but there’s only so many times I can read the words slasher and final girl and horror movie recycled over before they lose their charm and I start rolling my eyes. Add to that that only a half dozen movie titles are really referenced for the first two-thirds of the book, and the unique narration quickly overstays its welcome. (Very happy to report, my favorite giallo alternate title Twitch of the Death Nerve makes a last-minute appearance.) I’m afraid to say that if the book was cut from 400 pages down to 200 it would’ve been much leaner and more effective, but as it was, if I weren’t stuck in a waiting room for three days with nothing else to read I may not have finished the book at all. Thankfully there’s a fun stinger at the end - true to Nightmare lore - that has me more optimistic to start the second book. Eventually.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Incest and Sexual violence

elizabethstone's review against another edition

I did not like the main character, the plot was too slow, and the narrative kept getting interrupted by chapters that were high school homework essays written by the main character, which added nothing to the story. Also did not care for the suicide scene at the very beginning of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

reggiethebird's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I wasn't a fan of the main character when they were monologuing or thinking to themselves, and I wasn't a fan of the dialog between characters. Unfortunately, thats pretty much all of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment