Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

JOHN DIES AT THE END by Jason Pargin

40 reviews

emilyrainsford's review against another edition

I enjoy this author's Tiktok videos and thought the title was funny and clever. I genuinely thought I would like this book. By the end of the prologue, I knew I was wrong. It was one of the stupidest things I've ever read. And I have a very immature sense of humour, but this just felt off in a way that's hard to put my finger on. The moment when the basement door handle turned into a penis which caused them to be locked in a dangerous situation because the protagonist was too much of a damn child to touch a peen was where it started to go downhill. Moments later, the basement was filling with literal shit for apparently no other reason than "hehe poopoo funny". Then a pile of frozen meat turned into an ambulatory creature and I knew this was all just way too stupid for me. And as I say, it's not that I have a high brow sense of humour. I thought Percy Jackson was hilarious and it's literally written for 12 year old boys. This just all felt like it was trying too hard. 

I decided to give it a chance and started on chapter one and was absolutely shocked by a casual and joking use of the N word with hard "r" for no good reason at all?? Then repeated paragraphs about the protagonist obsessing over the "Asian waitress"'s boobs.

I looked up reviews to see if it was going to get better, and learnt that apparently the R word is used later in the book, in reference to a girl the protagonist thought was autistic, and when it turns out she's actually "just" depressed, he decides he's attracted to her.

I am honestly shocked, I thought the author's Tiktoks were intelligent and insightful, and now I can't even watch them anymore, knowing the creator of them wrote this steaming pile of edgelord garbage.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Ableism, Body horror, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Gore, Car accident, and Homophobia

gawdz0rz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

3.5

the book was pretty funny. the story was weird but interesting. will probably read the next book. 

very obviously written in 2007, especially with its usage of ableist and homophobic slurs and how edgy the characters were. also feels like the author just really wanted to use the n-slur and found excuses to do so??

does dude have a thing for farting? he talks about it so much. like, way too much. 

the columbine comparison was off because the columbine kids were not bullied, they were the bullies. 

not great to have the alien language compared to hebrew!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Animal death, Ableism, Excrement, and Racism

Minor: Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Child abuse, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Vomit, and Suicide

tons of bugs. roaches and spiders.

monsterelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Animal death, Bullying, Excrement, Gore, Medical trauma, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Drug use and Violence

unit25's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Exactly my kind of book. I really enjoyed this. The whole time I was reading it I thought, "this would be good to make into a movie"... Then when I finished it, I looked it up, and found out that it has been made into a movie! Then I watched the trailer, and realized that I've already seen the movie! I never put the two together in my head, so I'm going to have to go and rewatch the movie again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death of parent, Vomit, Excrement, Confinement, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Murder, Kidnapping, Cursing, Violence, Torture, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Car accident, Bullying, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Blood, Alcohol, Ableism, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Body horror

mnemosyne139's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

1.75

The rating I gave this book is purely due to my enjoyment of the plot. And I actually wish o could bring myself to continue the series. But I CANNOT get behind the author's repeated use of the R and N (with a hard r) words (and to a lesser extent, but still very noticeable and not addressed, homophobic slurs). They didn't add anything to the story, and they could have been edited out. There's even an addendum in the special edition where he states the language is the most common piece of negative feedback he has received, but for some reason only addresses traditional cursing and not the actually offensive words. And even then he just says it's a product of the time and he's not going to change it. In no time were these terms NOT offensive, so I honestly see that response as total BS. I'm really sad that I won't be able to continue the series because I actually enjoy the story, but the author definitely "gives me the ick" and I will not be reading anything else from him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, and Homophobia

deltaupright's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I enjoyed this book, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone. Listing all of the content warnings this book needs would be nearly as long as the book itself, so the broad strokes are:

The main character is not a good person. He isn't meant to be, but it can be kind of tough hearing it in the first person. Imagine an early 20s white dude with working a dead end job in a middle of nowhere town in the early 2000s, and you've probably got a good idea. At one point early in the story he's complaining about his town and saying that they've got "too many jokes containing the n-word" except, you know. He just says the n-word, and that feels like a good way to sum up what kind of person the main character is.

In a weird twist of fate, if you're not sure this book is for you, I'd recommend watching the movie first. A lot of the bigotry has been toned down, but the absurdity, gore, and body horror remain for the most part the same, and it's honestly a very faithful adaptation. If you like the movie, the book is that, dialed up to 11. If you hate the movie, the book will probably make you want to scream.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Ableism, Racism, Violence, Body horror, and Gore

misterkel's review against another edition

Author avatar uses racial slurs in his thoughts to himself, and multiple characters using "ret**d" in incredibly juvenile, unnecessary, unrealistic ways. Very much feels like "old man writing youths" and missing the mark.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism

beltari's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Animal death, Drug use, Mental illness, Cursing, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Torture, and Ableism

Minor: Abandonment, Colonisation, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Medical trauma, Misogyny, War, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

the word "retarded" and conjugations of the same are used 16 times throughout the book as a synonym of "dumb"

jkpiowa's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Ableism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

turtleofhades's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I'd forgotten how early 00s this book was. Some of the language punted me back to a time of low rise flared jeans and layered polos; this is not a good thing.

It's still a good story with not quite unlikable main characters. I'm ready to continue on this series again as I just found out there's a fourth book (super excited since the author's writing has gotten so dang good with the Zoey Ashe series).

Definitely a must read for any time of year, but especially October. Who doesn't need a little existential dead and body horror every now and then? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Excrement, Murder, Violence, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal death, and Cursing

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts