Reviews tagging 'Death'

Dziwna pogoda by Marta Guzowska, Joe Hill

10 reviews

francosteen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Holy shit.

This might be the most intense and thrilling book (no matter that they’re four short novels) I have ever read.

I’m already a big fan of his, and I’ve been doing my creepy/spooky reading for October, but this was an unexpectedly insane way to end the month.

In his afterword, Hill writes “short novels are all killer, no filler,” and that could not be more true of this collection. And literally, killer. I couldn’t put this book down, even though all the stories were immensely sad and depressing in very different ways. HOWEVER, he writes the (good guy) characters with such detail and incredibly sweet, sincere relationships, that you immediately FEEL for these characters. I loved the kind relationships he wrote about, amid all the death and destruction.

“Loaded” was incredible, but the scariest and saddest because, unfortunately, it’s happened and is still happening. Prepare yourself.

Related note: I read this after reading his dad’s latest, You Like It Darker, and wheeeww two incredibly short story collections that I tore right through and am astounded by how fantastic they are.

Now I need a complete palate cleanser after my October reads. Something happy and charming 😁.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Murder

lancemama's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

biobeetle's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

delaneybull's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

With the hard exception of Aloft I found the worlds really engaging and the characters interesting and complex. Loaded was A LOT and definitely the one that lingers for me. Short story is a good format for Joe Hill.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kris_t97's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Interesting and scary set of short stories. Each stood out on their own, and most felt eerie real like the potential for it to happen wasn't impossible. This added to the horror factor.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mondovertigo's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Addiction and Car accident

socialpsysteph's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

This is a collection for four novellas. I have learned I'm usually not a fan of short stories, but novellas are a sweet spot for me. I love the fast-paced rush of a novella, especially with horror. Of these stories, Rain was probably my favorite - this was a climate sci-fi horror where it starts to rain crystal needles and chaos ensues. This novella was basically perfect, totally didn't see the twists and turns coming. Both Snapshot and Aloft were fun and very different. They were creepy, eerie, and so much fun. Then there was Loaded. To me, this was not the type of horror I like; this was too realistic (this could, and has, happened) and it made me sad and anxious. Now, it was fantastically written, just not what I was looking for right now. Plenty of content warnings on this one!

This book counts for Popsugar 2021 for a book seen on someone else's shelf.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and Murder

alyson's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

snapshot - 2.5/5
loaded - 5/5
aloft - 3.5/5
rain - didn’t finish 

loaded was so phenomenal it ruined the rest of the book for me 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Dementia, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Excrement, and Dementia

rosita's review against another edition

I read Snapshot and Aloft and was pretty neutral to them. They weren't either of them, particularly good or scary... until I got to Loaded. Loaded Is beyond horrifying, and after I finished it I was literally shivering and I had nightmares for days after. It is very realistic, unlike the others, loaded has no fantasy elements to it, and that is what makes it scary.
I like horror books, but this was too much. I could not finish it, I would have been torturing myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Islamophobia