Reviews tagging 'Death'

Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda

30 reviews


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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved the writing style, prose was beautiful, I enjoyed the various narrative voices, and the stories were gripping. This whole book encapsulates that saying that girlhood is a monster. The ending did leave me begging for more though, but I know that the ending goes along with the themes of the book. Need to buy this book to get more into the details of the prose. 

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dark mysterious tense slow-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

JAWBONE will not be a book for everybody, but that does not mean that it isn't an excellent showcase of craft and literary horror. 

The knee screamed in colors all its own.

Sometimes a lesson, once it's learned, is a punishment. 

You never know what type of girl a girl is. 

The language and diction of the novel is often described as "pretentious," but I think that's a bit reductive. Ojeda is masterful throughout JAWBONE, and the language alone kept me glued to the page. The characters and the persistent suspense made this a highlight read of 2025 for me.  

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark tense slow-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

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Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

yeah, fernanda and anne are the final boss of the weird toxic homoerotic  friendship queer girls teen experience.

i quite enjoyed my read, mostly the end since i was really looking for the psychological-horror theme and the tw made me curious LOL
perhaps the first time i come accrocs a book where any kind of bodily fluids are heavily described.
the writing, the way things escalate are fairly interesting to witness! i was really looking forward to the cult setting and the “game” around it and i’m not disappointed…👀

perhaps it should have been better to put footnotes to explain the intentions behind the translation instead of putting everything at the end of the book. the translator's words were very insightful, it's a shame to only find out about it at the end when we could have had more details at the time of the events.

nevertheless, i think i enjoy weird writings where [queer] characters are each other’s obsession to the point of— well… no. no points. i like it tough. bloody. gloomy. i like when they’d rather hurt/kill themselves rather than disappointing the one they adore. i like when they’re flawed, so pathetic that only the person they yearn for is capable to understand them.  
give me blood, bites, pain, scars in the name of adoration and i’ll be yours.



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dark tense medium-paced

Triggers are everywhere in this book. I'm still not sure what I just read. It was interesting and strange, weirdly written and disturbing. Good luck.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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