Reviews tagging 'Incest'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

174 reviews

petr1chor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Incest, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts

studiouspencil's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

4.0

A love letter to monsters and the girls who love them. The girls who embody them. A confusing, Clue-like, high literary trash movie of a journey through a young woman’s trauma and the only way she can handle looking at it: through a generous soaking of blood. It’s the best of good-for-her horror mixed in with the worst of adolescence. Will definitely be picking up the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Incest and Sexual assault

ex_hardesty's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Murder, Vomit, Violence, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Blood, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment

smokeyphynix's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Drug use, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

livelaughlovejackie's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A

2.75

2.7☆

The main character was a bit annoying as she kind of fictionalises the world and assumes that movies are proportional to reality which is fine as a character flaw but it's not like her theories are ever really disproved

extra points for the queer coding i guess

Anyways, i wasn't really too scared ehile reading so whatever 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Rape, and Gore

maximauve's review against another edition

dark funny reflective slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide attempt, Gore, Self harm, Death, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness

Moderate: Pedophilia, Incest, and Rape

gstamps's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Incest, Sexual assault, and Rape

horror, indigenous, slasher, supernatural

sareebeth's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault, Incest, and Rape

taliesinrex's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A really fun and tense breakdown of the slasher formula through the eyes of a highschooler obsessed with the classic horror subgenre. I greatly enjoyed this one, and found the structure really fun with its interspersion of protagonist Jade's "Slasher 101" essays addressed to her history teacher. My Heart Is A Chainsaw embraces many of the tropes familiar to the slasher genre while still keeping things fresh and interesting, creating a meta-narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat especially when you start picking up on elements that Jade, for all her love and knowledge of the genre, elects not to recognize (whether on purpose or subconsciously). 

Jade herself is a wonderful character to see this world through. She is pessimistic and troubled, though not fully without hope somewhere in her mind - though it's not always hope for her OWN survival which I think adds a great depth and adds to the ingrained tragedy of her character. Her intense love for slasher films, finding them a source of comfort in the face of all the awful things that have happened to her, is at its core a very relatable story and one that I think contributes to her being such a fantastic POV character that you really want to see succeed even though the world around her is uncaring and downright hostile to her at times. I also really enjoyed the supporting characters, and her dynamics with characters who are sympathetic to her but unsure of how to truly help like Letha, Sheriff Hardy, and her teacher Mr. Holmes.

I will say this was my first time reading Stephen Graham Jones's work so I wasn't sure what to expect from his writing style. He definitely throws a lot at you, and his syntax is quite unlike a lot of other books I have read which took some getting used to. Once I started getting into the flow of his prose, though, it became really immersive and served as a great vehicle for the violence, tragedy, and humor throughout the book. Take heed that there's some heavy stuff revealed later on, and a whole lot of gore, but I'd definitely recommend this, especially to any horror movie fan.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Racism, Incest, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

A traumatic childhood sexual assault is discussed, but not described in graphic detail. General mentions of racism/racist violence against Native Americans.

thisbookisbananas's review against another edition

I understand why people love this book. The writing style is very compelling however, this is an absolute DNF for me. I went into this blind, but I’m 90% sure this is heading toward a plot line I can’t and won’t expose my eyeballs to. Rather than peeling the band-aid to see the scab underneath, I’m putting this book down. Trauma on trauma on trauma. My heart breaks for Jade Daniels. Her own personal story might be the real horror plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Incest, Sexual assault, and Self harm

Sexual assault of a minor