Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

293 reviews

tesshersh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

I’m not sure if I extra enjoyed this book because I’ve read so many BAD books lately, or if it really IS that good, so take this with a grain of salt. But WOW. One of my only gripes is that it touches on some themes that I’m not 100% sure I love being talked abt from a teenage girl’s perspective written by a male author, but I think it was respectfully done. 
Spoiler for my other complaint:

I wish that the conclusion/reveal of the killer DIDN’T have a supernatural element. I think the author’s point of regarding real life not being like a horror/slasher movie, about things like gentrification & colonization being a type of horror and violence of their own, was backtracked a bit by letting jade’s theory of a supernatural element be true at the end.

Also: cannot recommend the audio book enough, cara gee was amazing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Abortion, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Death, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Suicide, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Child death, Incest, and Gore

HUGE trigger warnings - not just in the gore/violence you would associate with a thriller but for other content as well, please check content warnings before reading

melchncookies's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

If this hadn’t turned supernatural,

it would have been at least a 4 star book, if not higher. The setup for the killer was amazing and I didn’t guess who it was.

I didn’t love that the little girl ended up coming back.

I wish that could have just been Jade’s imagination. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Self harm

Minor: Child abuse and Fire/Fire injury

davidvd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Child abuse, Violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Colonisation and Death of parent

creativeerosion's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Alcoholism, Animal death, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Racism, and Body shaming

antimony's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

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

3.0

 starting 2024 with my resolution to rate books more accurately to my system as outlined in my profile and not sticking to 4 stars as a neutral just bc i feel bad abt rating 3 or lower. i thought this book was ok. i really liked stephen graham jones's story tiddlywinks in other terrors so even though i didnt care much for mongrels i checked this out from the library. and i didn't get along with the writing style and i kind of couldnt stand jade for half the book. like she did end up being right in the end but i don't blame everyone else for thinking she was delusional and convinced there was a slasher just bc the pattern fit. 
maybe this is a case of don't read a book that's a love letter to a genre you don't care for. because i'm not really a slasher guy. i prefer a quieter horror that leans more towards the unsettling than the gory. i do think this book is really good if you like slashers probably. but i kinda didn't care for a good most of it. the third-to-last and second-to-last chapters were really good though!! once i finally got ahold on the characters and story and also things started happening (because the beginning is SUCHHH a slow burn) i did enjoy myself ! but it took soo long for that payoff to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Animal death, Violence, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

julianfromme's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

lonerangerl30's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt

nicolh11's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is a decent slasher with a paranormal twist. Jade's mind is a pool of slasher information that hides her trauma and rough upbringing. The story is hard to follow at times but overall good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Violence, and Gore

miratio's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Incest, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

sllopiz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual assault