Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Open Throat by Henry Hoke

18 reviews

twistykris's review

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

4.75

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

sad but sweet! this goes on the same mental shelf as walking practice, a shelf I call “I don’t think I’ve read something exactly like this before or will again”
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erebus53's review

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

I read this as part of a reading challenge with a prompt about a strange viewpoint. It's told in the first person from the viewpoint of a North American mountain lion / cougar, living in the Park under the foot of the Hollywood Sign. Stories like this always frustrate me because of the clumsy anthropomorphism. It's not emulating the mind or senses of an animal — it's just a story about people, and a fantasy about people watching and processing human life and culture as though from the outside.

This story doesn't have a lot of big-cat energy. It does have little slice-of life commentary about habitat destruction, poverty & homelessness, gay sex, loneliness and disconnection in the social media age, being connected to the living world.. and with some revenge fantasy mixed in, and a dream day-trip that I could NEVER see any cat of any sort enjoying ever.

It's fairly quiet and pretty short.. which is good because I would have become really grumpy about the choice of narrative style if I had to tolerate more of it. It's not as infuriating as A Cat's Tale.. but that would be a hard ask.
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hannahpings's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-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

haven't been able to stop thinking about open throat and its protagonist since finishing it a few days ago. i think it's irrevocably changed how i see los angeles and the land around us all. this is such a special book and i feel so lucky to have read it.
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sxndaze's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-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

4.25

if you feel alone in the world 

find someone to worship you

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iszys's review against another edition

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reflective fast-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

4.5

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cianishere's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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buud_w0rm's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Some parts of the mind of a wild cat felt too human I.e.
how did it have  a dream about Disney? Did it really learn all of those details from hikers? And how did it understand the inside of a car before ever seeing one?
Nitpicks aside, it felt like a deeply insightful poem with plot.The ending made me want to reach into the cover to find out what happened next. 
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geraldine's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.25

look, i only read this book because the summary made it sound insane but now that i've read it, every single summary seriously misrepresents both the story and the tone

things the summary accurately reflects:
a) the story is about a mountain lion
b) who lives in LA below the hollywood sign

some of the rest is partially accurate but some is not even close. truly baffling???? based on the summaries i thought i would hate it but also have fun reading it and i can honestly say i did neither.

compelling though. the writing style i think will be hit-and-miss for people but it worked for me
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chelseacrystal's review against another edition

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4.5

Wow. Unbelievably impactful for such a short book. Sometimes funny and sometimes heart wrenching. I really had no idea what to expect but man, I’m absolutely blown away. It’s such a brilliant critique of the world and capitalism and hatred. Very well executed. 

(Definitely not a book for everyone though) 
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