Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

7 reviews

pinkalpaca's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and War

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

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

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