Reviews - Heart-Shaped Box

2.99k reviews for:

Heart-Shaped Box

Joe Hill

3.68 AVERAGE

moonlit_shelves's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nerdynatreads's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 37%

The idea of this is good and it definitely is creepy and unsettling, but it’s so drawn out and filled with useless details that I think are trying to paint a broader picture, yet seem so pointless. Also, it’s really hard to root for the main character when you despise everything about him. I can handle unlikable, but Jude is just a complete and total fucking ass. Sure, there are illusions to some dark secret he hides, some traumatic past to explain why he is the way he is. That’s an explanation, not an excuse, so I don’t see myself ever liking him enough to root for his survival. Also— why the fuck is his fuck buddy, young enough to be his kid, sticking around? There’s clearly no love lost between the two of them, so I don’t understand why she’d feel some loyalty to help him survive the ghost?

jaymelou's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

adleekay's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious 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: Yes

ginny17's review against another edition

2.0

Definitely my least favorite of his books.

schmidtytwoshoes's review against another edition

3.5

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is hard to rate, I’d probably give it a 3.5 rounded up for it doing exactly what it was meant to. I hated the main character most of the book but he’s supposed to be pretty irredeemable. I will say, this was supposed to be a horror book in the rotation and the first two days of reading I couldn’t put it down at all. I’m still mad I was made to sympathize with the main character but I suppose that was the whole point. I really enjoyed how southern the book felt throughout, you could really tell the characters were from Florida/Louisiana region and it was all so tragic. Good but heavy read, I need some light nonsense after this one