Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

134 reviews

kyliebloch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

rhyanashah's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

1.25

I spent more time frustratedly talking to others about this book than I did reading it. I've never DNF'd a book but this is the closest I'd ever been 

From the absolutely infuriating main character, incredibly slow moving plot, messy finale, and a bordering obscene amount of referencial head-nodding that makes Ernest Cline's Oasis/Wade Watts series look timid. 

I struggled with every aspect of this book, and it's genuinely a shock considering how this book has almost everything i love.
Horror, non-white protagonists who must personally grow in spite of trauma, small town secrets, potential Queer storyline. 

Instead i have.... whatever thiw was. An insufferable lead, about 200 unnecessary pages and a lot of loose threads that were "Yada-Yada"'d through at the end. How can i be bored when there's MURDER happening? And yet. The "sisterly" relationship between our main and another character just came across like "historians will say they were friends" energy. 

Also TW/Spoiler warning

did not enjoy whole scenes of our protagonist being effectively deadnamed and outed as a child victim whilst 4 other characters try and force them to confront/confess allegations against their parent. 

I must also add that i never EVER feel comfortable about men writing from the perspective of young women/female children who have been S/A'd or R****d.

Whilst not all of the topics i've put in the content warning are Graphic, they are all frequent and i do emplore anyone considering reading this book to consider if they will be affected by these topics, and to avoid if that is the case.

In a summary, i think the book is about 50% too long and i was disappointed by about 150 pages in, but continued on. The ending was VERY disappointing. I only said "medium paced" because 300 pages are slow and 150 aren't but there is no "inconsistently paced" option.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Murder, Racism, Deadnaming, Blood, Colonisation, Self harm, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Child death, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abortion

As said in my full review: Whilst not all of the topics i've put in the content warning are Graphic, they are all frequent and i do emplore anyone considering reading this book to consider if they will be affected by these topics, and to avoid if that is the case.

janeanger's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Incest, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Vomit, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, and Fire/Fire injury

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Graphic: Alcohol, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Murder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Bullying, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, and Child abuse

dr_aimz's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

Minor: Child abuse and Incest

sleepysadpoet's review against another edition

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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Racism

Trigger warnings: mentions of rape (not graphic, just mentions), self-harm, death, blood, mental illness, ableism (specifically towards mental illness), suicide attempts. I've always been a big fan of slashers, my favorite being Scream (I even have a ghostface tattoo....). This book pays homage to slashers, and it does so in an amazing way. Jade is an indigenous high schooler who finds comfort in slasher films not long after something really traumatizing happens to her. She writes essays about slashers to her teacher, and the people around her are uncomfortable with her obsession. They don't know why exactly she loves them so much, and they worry it's because of trauma. She's often treated poorly because of her mental health issues, because god forbid the traumatized person find a coping mechanism that people don't approve of. She hopes to see a slasher happen in her own time and doesn't quite realize just how traumatic that is for those who survive. The opening starts with 2 people in a boat who, as we can all guess, don't survive. Jade happens upon a recording of it happening. The police in her town refuse to listen to her concerns despite bodies literally piling up like no tomorrow. I really enjoyed this book and the twists and turns at every corner. I'm super excited for the sequel coming out. The dedication in the acknowledgements to one of my favorite movie directors, Wes Craven, made me want to cry lol.

yaelaed's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Alcoholism, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Stalking, Sexual violence, Vomit, Animal death, and Rape

readundancies's review against another edition

dark funny 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? No

5.0

 Uhm, fuck me, cuz this was QUALITY. 

The slasher vibes were real, the trope subversion was immaculate and Jade was a fucking fantastic lead character with the Author Notes just validating that sentiment to me even more when I read them. 

I immediately went and purchased a copy for my own collection and will be waiting in avid anticipation for the sequel. 

This bloody delivered in every way I wanted it to and every way I didn’t know I needed it to. 

Go read this. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Stalking, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape, Incest, and Sexual assault

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Stephen Graham Jones, you've done it again.

In the beginning, I disliked Jade as a character but when the book ramps up at about the 70% mark, I'm rooting for her the whole way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Cultural appropriation

jayla_hh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Pacing seems horribly slow until 70% of the way in. Actual plot details with the narrators long winded imagining of events made it a creative unreliable narrator but not in a way I very much enjoyed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Incest