Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

JOHN DIES AT THE END by Jason Pargin

8 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.

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"

seagullsaga's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

The only reason I finished this book is because I have a complex about DNFing books. 

It’s needlessly vulgar, racist, sexist, and full of slurs that serve no purpose. The occasionally actually funny joke does nothing to counter these or make the book anywhere near worth it. 

If you like this book you probably also think that Tyler Durden is a good role model. 

Every time I looked to see how much I had left of this book I was disappointed. It drags. There’s always more nonsensical toilet humor and psychedelic crap, and none of it does anything to tell a coherent story. I was wishing EVERY character died by the end. 

I don’t normally leave reviews, and especially not with text, but this book was so unpleasant that I had to get my feelings out somehow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Racism, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Cursing, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death, Animal death, Drug use, Gore, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Sexism, Car accident, Misogyny, Vomit, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent

finbun's review against another edition

This book made me so upset because it would have been such a good read if the author didn't feel the need to fill every other page with either slurs or the weirdest things to say about women. "But its the main characters thoughts!! that's part of his characterization blah blah-" We literally understand the characters mindset pretty early on from the rest of the heavy-handed context clues offered. It just wasn't needed and made it pretty unenjoyable, and I was so ready to love this book :/ just disappointing

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Ableism, and Racism

kiotejayne's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

2.75

If HP Lovecraft, Hunter S Thompson, and the literal personification of internet culture circa 2009 had a child and that child was a mediocre author, they would write this book. It's fine. It's even funny at times. But it's cringey as all get out and it tries so damn hard. It's not a hard read and even moves along at a good pace. It's easy to read but the reading doesn't really get you anywhere. There's no point in reading this book. It brings nothing to the table. It's a lot like falling into an afternoon of reading cracked.com articles. You haven't improved your life any, you've been mildly entertained, and you probably ought to have been doing something else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Blood, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Suicide

remie's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective 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? It's complicated

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

yikesofikeso's review against another edition

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

2.0

While under the guise of comedy, Wong loves using slurs and racist/sexist/ableist language to make a generally uncomfortable story. I was especially uncomfortable when he assumed a girl was mentally retarded and hated her and mocked her relentlessly for years, only to realize she was perfectly neurotypical and immediately be in love with her and have her love him back. Now that’s good writing. Yikes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Cursing, Body horror, and Blood