Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Jedyni dobrzy Indianie by Stephen Graham Jones

56 reviews

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Gore, Murder, Racism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Grief, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Addiction, Colonisation, Animal death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Drug abuse, Child death, and Bullying

Minor: Pedophilia and Police brutality

attackrat's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

4.25

The writing in this book is beautiful, SGJ is very talented with words and setting an atmospheric scene. There’s a lot that I liked about this book, and some that I didn’t. The pacing was kind of odd, there was a surprising dominance of basketball in the story, and I don’t love how the author treated the female characters. But it was also a very rich and disturbing cautionary tale supported by Indian mythos. Mixed thoughts, honestly. But the stars say all they need to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Pregnancy

catghost's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Violence

shy_greenhair's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Murder, and Pregnancy

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The Only Good Indians is such a compelling and gripping horror story once you get into it. The beginning is a little slow, and the author makes you work to decipher his writing style - but it pays off to figure out the rhythm of it. I especially liked the various POV shifts and the importance of even the most miniscule details. Will definitely be reading more by Stephen Graham Jones.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Racism, Stalking, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Hate crime, Body horror, Grief, Gun violence, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

Minor: Vomit and Infertility

elkboy23's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Death of parent, Suicide, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Alcohol, and Gore

Moderate: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Racism, Stalking, Police brutality, Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Hate crime

Minor: Classism, Grief, Racial slurs, and Fire/Fire injury

blacksphinx's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is not normally my speed. If you love slasher movies and have a high tolerance for gore and violence towards humans and pets alike, pick this book up. 

I somehow managed to hold on through things that normally would have made me put the book down forever and it was so good. One of the most PERFECT uses of second-person I've encountered in a novel; a genius way to incorporate the slasher movie PoV-of-the-killer shots directly into the narrative. I knew it was going to be 5 stars at the ~70% mark when

the goddamn slasher challenges the basketball-loving final girl to a game of basketball because she wants to wreak her in a game of her favorite sport before killing her OMG.

If you can get through the things that start occurring around the 1/3rd point and aren't squeamish about animals dying, you should finish the book - it's totally worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Suicide, Murder, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Vomit, Body horror, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Car accident

jaan's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

The first half was stellar. Absolutely horrifying to read Lewis’ descent into madness. It worked well to cast Ricky’s death in a new light, terrifying light. I started reading this book at night and maintain that it quickly became very fucked up. I do appreciate that the so-called ‘boring’ bits occurred once I was already invested in the story.

Some people didn’t like the shift into second-person perspective in the latter half of the book. I think it works very well as a narrative device because it jars the reader into becoming part of the story in ways that readers are typically removed from it. I think of readers as living behind a glass wall in relation to the book—we see everything in vivid detail, but are removed and protected from actually being part of it.

The second-person narrative introduces a presence into the story who shouldn’t be there; it’s wrong for us to be there; we should not be interjecting ourselves into this book. Interspersed with third-person omniscient, the second-person perspective makes us forget that the elk is in the story, all the time, breathing life into it, until we are suddenly and horrifically reminded that she is.

I love how SGJ plays with syntax and ‘the rules of prose’ in this way. 

The low rating is partly because the gore and violence of this genre is just not for me, and partly because I think this book did suffer from pacing issues, and that’s a BIG knock against a book for me. I kept reading past the halfway point not because I was gripped by the story but because I became invested in the characters’ fates.

I waited for the elk’s rage and grief to come into focus, spellbindingly and tragically written, and it didn’t. This isn’t to say I’m disappointed with the ending—I appreciate that it didn’t hinge on the murder of an Indigenous woman—but the readers are forced to fill in the gaps vis-à-vis the elk’s motives. Instead, SGJ spends more time detailing the men’s lives, and even then falls short.

Lewis’ desperation makes sense to me, as he’s haunted and wracked with guilt over what he’s done for years afterward, but Gabe and Cass are not. Gabe gives into his fate too quickly. It’s too easy.

I do recommend this book, though. Freaked me out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Murder, and Pregnancy

thetallestbird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

This is one of those books that takes a while to get going, but once it does, hold onto your butt. The beginning and the end lost me a little but the main middle chunk was incredible. There are images in there that are going to stick with me for a while. For example:

Lewis and the teeth, hello???

. The author also uses a really unique mechanic in the middle that I loved once I got used to.
I also really appreciate being able to read a story with such a heavy influence from the Blackfeet culture. Not just for an understanding of the scarcity and injustice, but for the richness of their traditions, legends, lore, etc.

In short, I'm very glad I read this book and will be thinking of it for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Racism, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Vomit

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Gore, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Vomit