Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda

28 reviews

kriskrisboom's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was deeply horrifying in that opaque. Just around the corner  in part because of the rich and textured beautiful language. The translator's note says that translating this book was an unsettling experience. It's a well crafted cosmic/white horror novel. The tension builds masterfully and the conclusion is nebulous and terrifying. The resolution isnt in a plot point but rather the reader's own engagement with the scope of fear inherent in burgeoning womanhood.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Stalking

moss_martii's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, and Rape

verbamatic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I have never read anything quite like this novel by the Ecuadorean writer Mónica Ojeda (Coffeehouse Press, tr. Sarah Booker). Reading the intricate yet mounting passages was like slowly ascending tall volcanoes and then gushing down from them like lava.

I really enjoyed the impeccable switches between the overlapping character arcs. The deaf, blinding madness; the adolescent extremes, the repressed and terrifying sexuality, the brutal violence, the poetry of it all. I loved the aesthetic of the psychoanalysis scenes: how the therapist’s dialogue was omitted, it made them so disturbing. It is a great weird horror read, though very challenging at times.

It is one of those novels that feel like reading an entire life, or a stream-of-conscience of a collective psyche, and in this case it caught me suffocating, yet thrilled, in the everyday human horrors brought to the extreme.

I enjoyed Sarah Booker’s translator note, and even though I don’t speak Spanish, judging from the final text in English, it must have been a formidable challenge to translate, and in my opinion it is a great success.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

clarebear2218's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

cloroxcrew's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Jawbone is an outrageously innovative novel of literary horror which weaves together classic literature, pop culture, and creepypastas with a running stitch of hyphens and a sprinkle of Ferrante.  This is a book about fear and horror—this is a book about mothers and daughters.  We follow panic-ridden Clara, a young teacher obsessed with becoming her dead mother, as she encounters Annelise and Fernanda, the sapphic leaders of a pack of teen girls who take over an abandoned building to make a game of worshiping a horrifying White God of their own invention.  Mónica Ojeda traps readers between her teeth with never-before-dared depictions of ugliness and taboo, and Sarah Booker’s translator’s note is incredibly insightful—don’t skip it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Suicide, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

caropi's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Kidnapping