Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

6 reviews

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

steveatwaywords's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I like Joe Hill's horror for its earnestness and earthy modern headspace. His protagonists are largely losers who have no guarantees to emerge from injustice or horror successfully. Hill has few qualms about making anyone suffer quickly, horribly, often without warning. At his best, the supernatural horrors they encounter merge in challenging parallels to the cultural politics we inhabit. Other times his stories are settled plots probable and tense. 

Strange weather is strong for its four tightly-plotted works, weaker for its thoughtful ties between the natural and supernatural. His characters sometimes emerge with needful growth, but sometimes they just emerge. This is realistic, but--as too often with his works--not as satisfying to a reader. It forces readers to find the joy of the tale elsewhere, and here--because the stories are so brief--there is too little time to allow the terror to fully develop. 

Most unsettling for me was the work "Loaded," which is better described as political horror than supernatural. "Aloft" and "Rain" do better in character development, though the conceit of the horror premise is too obscure or too neat. Short fiction is hard, and maybe Hill requires more space to flesh out his stories suitably (i.e. Horns or Heart-Shaped Box or The Fireman). So while this read was satisfying, each story left me wanting more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, 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

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