Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Off Season by Jack Ketchum

28 reviews

emelli05's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

wyabook234's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

With Ketchum, he makes a great offering from the woods with his book titled Off Season. How as an author, Ketchum doesn't hold back on showing the brutality of these cannibals as they target a gathering of friends as their latest meals. With how these characters are struggling to eat and survive; it means that no one can be safe from the savagery of nature or civilization. Almost all of their ends are met in a descriptively graphic, disturbing manner with how these characters are burned, bitten, and chewed up. However, Off Season's not having reliance on plot armour doesn't make up for how the story is conveyed in writing prose that sometimes veers off into being clunky or needlessly focused on the sexualization of the female vacationers. Furthermore, the characters can also be seen as pretty flat, which can hurt the need for the audience to connect with these characters as they struggle to stay alive in Maine's wilderness.

With that being said of Off Season, it seems that Ketchum knows how to build up the suspense and when to escalate the tension to be more effective as opposed to having the gore instantly explode on his pages. These dreadful scenes of tension can be either the scene of the cannibals watching Carla and Jim having sex or one of the cannibals playing with Marije like she is a piece of meat before she gets the upper hand by biting into his privates. Scenes like these can be most effective as they are being used to build up for a quick getaway into another shocking situation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Vomit

ohyayitsapril's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

catiecoop's review

dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

Kept losing me starting at the halfway mark. Felt like it was rambling. 2 stars because it was very detailed and descriptive.

So. Much. Gore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Murder

rikathestrange's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, and Pregnancy

roman_castavet's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

I don't even know how I want to rate this - three stars feels high but safe for something that grossed me out but which still had me committed enough to read within 24 hours. Jack Ketchum is a real name in horror literature and I knew his reputation going in but Off Season felt more approachable and less obviously a turn off than trying to read Girl Next Door. The rape, genital mutilation, child death, and graphic gore in general weren't anything I needed a trigger warning for, I knew what I was getting into and didn't leave this book feeling upset, just grossed out. Do I need multiple scenes of chopped off penises? No. Does it ruin my day? Also no. But like, knowing this kind of graphic and sexual violence is a Ketchum standard, while it doesn't trigger me in any way, it also isn't something I really desire. There are people doing shock value in way more amateur ways which I would never touch in the first place, so I can respect that Ketchum is not a bad writer and really appreciate his Afterword about the censorship he faced in this book's initial publication (and why he deserves to be able to publish the original book he wrote!) - he is not a bad author, this type of horror just simply isn't for me. But this doesn't keep me up at night, and in many ways was a fun start to my summer reading challenge.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Incest

issymaae's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, and Fatphobia

vruben62's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

This book is extremely brutal, violent and not for the faint of heart. I live dark stories and twisted stories but often times I was reading and found myself having to take a break from the brutality.  

It’s also EXTREMELY slow to start. For the first 100 pages not much happens and it’s a lot of set up. But keep with it because it ramps up after that. 

I’m not sure if I liked Ketchum’s style of writing. Sometimes he writes very eloquently and beautiful and then he talks about cocks and breasts. It was a little jarring but this is novel with very mature and violent themes. It also seemed very slow because there was little dialogue throughout the book.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and horror would also like it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, and Cannibalism

gatsbyonabudget's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

ericabailey004's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail