Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

32 reviews

deleore's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Humans.

I want to buy the physical copy so I can read it again when I've had time to let it simmer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Body horror

jazhandz's review against another edition

DNF at 35%. This is one part personal (I thought I was ready to read a pandemic book, turns out I’m not even when that pandemic is wildly far-fetched) and two parts about the book (I read the first four chapters/interconnected stories and it felt like reading the same thing four times).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Death

Minor: Animal death

ineedmorecoffee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

I loved this book. I really, really loved it. Somehow it manages to magnify individual lives and span across multiple universes, tied together by spider webs. It’s left me feeling reflective about life, death and family…it’ll hang around in my consciousness for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Body horror, Child death, and Death of parent

capella's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, and Body horror

kirchnerkd's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Body horror

Moderate: Child death and Death

Minor: Suicide and Pregnancy

emmonsannae's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

Not sure whether to give this book a 2 or a 5—it’s brilliant and I largely did not enjoy it. The main theme (and the one from which the novel gets its name) is the lengths to which humans are able to stretch to form community and help each other, and the ways all living things are interrelated over time and space. The main subject matter is inherently distressing, though, resulting in a beautiful book that is phenomenally executed and which I hope I never have to read again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Abandonment, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Mental illness, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

puckeverlasting's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

An excellent read, this thought provoking book will remind you to hold your loved ones just a little bit closer tonight. While the vignettes themselves are incredibly dark in premise, the underlying themes regarding hope and the inherent beauty in humanity serve as a powerful juxtaposition. The tie-ins between stories were satisfying, and

the hints to the end twist were easy to follow while still allowing for an interesting conclusion

.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Chronic illness, Death, Body horror, Suicide, Child death, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

Graphic illness-related death, including frequent child death. The "dystopian" aspects of the boon hit a little close to home after COVID, so if any of this is a potential trigger, I would pass on this one. This is a gorgeous book and worth the read for many, but doesn't shy away from it's dark themes

cms204's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This melancholic but at times hopeful set of vignettes explores the ways humans persevere through extraordinary hardship. Reading it now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, is an interesting experience. It made me wonder at how little we as a society have changed due to this pandemic, when clearly there is so much possibility to reshape our society - for better or worse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

meagm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

The audio version of this is the way to go, multiple voice actors really take it up a notch!! I loved this despite it making me cry like a baby for a bio-engineered pig of all things. Great character/plot about a post-pandemic world with a sci fi twist. Every chapter is a new person’s experience at different points in time spanning hundreds of years & they’re all so unique/straight weird sometimes. Dark and often difficult to read but very worth it if you like the more horror side of post-apocalyptic, but want to try something new. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death, Grief, Terminal illness, Body horror, and Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty

kellysbookverse's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, War, Death, Child death, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Grief, Body horror, Medical content, and Abandonment