Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Mandibula

The degree with which I loved this book has be wondering if I’m ok. Like emotionally.

If I had to quickly summarize this book I’d say it’s Heathers meets the Craft meets Psycho. It’s about mean girls and toxic friendships and obsession and madness.

This book places queer, female desire at its center as it explores the horrors of adolescence and aging, the thin line between pleasure and pain, and the many dualities of womanhood. It combines angst and madness in a way that cautions (strongly) against uncontrolled desire.

Jawbone is a truly disturbing book. Not just with its imagery (which can be downright gross) but also with the very composition of the prose. With each subordinate clause and parenthetical remark within parenthetical remark, the reader grows more and more uncomfortable and the foreboding and claustrophobic atmosphere intensifies.

This is Ojeda’s first book to be translated into English and all I can say is man, I can’t wait for more.

Content Warnings

sarahweyand's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.25

Sometimes the weird fiction just be too weird for me. I'd probably argue against this being marketed as a horror novel, I'm pretty liberal with what books I would deem to be a part of the genre but I don't think this is one of them. I will say, the prose is a treat. I would love to compare the original Spanish publication and the translator's work; I found the translator's note in the back to be very interesting and would implore you to read it before you read the book. It would have greatly added to my experience and I wish it had been placed before the text.

Overall I would say this book was interesting and I'm glad I read it. I don't think I would recommend it to most people, but the plot certainly was unique. I liked the alternating perspectives and timeline and I think it helped to humanize all our characters, even though I never particularly liked or cared about any of them. I also think there's a lot of symbolism that can be deeply dissected and discussed, if you're into that sort of thing. I definitely got the gist but I could feel so much of it going over my head.

Full half star off for the poor formatting. Long blocks of text with little dialogue or paragraph breaks is exhausting for the mind and it took me a long time to read a not-very-long book.

Content Warnings

biblioghoul's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Aside from the unnecessary fatphobic remarks, this book was well written. This author has a way of making a horror get progressively more horrific with each chapter. I was always left with more questions and wanting more. Highly recommend if you're into creepypastas!

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