Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda

51 reviews

walrus420's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death and Alcohol

entre_fanon_y_weil's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

paperknotbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Cerebral and jarring. I believe to be the best cult themed book I’ve consumed.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Eating disorder, and Excrement

rook13's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.25

Without a doubt the WEIRDEST book I've ever read. Jawbone is disgusting, creepy, enticing, unique, horrifying, and thought-provoking. It made my stomach clench up in fear and disgust at different points but Ojedas unique style made me keep reading even when I wanted to stop. This book explores motherhood and daughterhood, religious trauma, and the intimacy and violence of female friendships.

Rated it 4 only bc the sexual aspect of the horror was sometimes a bit much (and with that in mind--tw for anyone for whom that may be an issue, including tw for sexual assault described rather graphically if not explicitly).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, and Murder

Minor: Rape, Excrement, and Vomit

americattt's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective tense medium-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

4.75

“Her being a daughter, she understood with time, had led to the death of her mother—everyone engenders their murderer, she thought, but only women give birth to them.”

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death

caitlynes91's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

WHEW. wickedly good prose (shoutout to the translator omg?). also wickedly f-ed up. will be thinking about this one for a while.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Homophobia, Self harm, Excrement, and Cannibalism

matigiuro's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Toxic friendship

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

"...the nature of daughters, says the creed, is to jump on the mother, tongue gripped tight in their hands; to survive the jaw to become the jaw; to take the place of the monster - that is, the place of the mother - God who initiated them into the world of desire."

This unsettling novel is about motherhood, daughterhood, girlhood, and feminine power. Ojeda crafts beautifully eerie sentences that are evocative to the point of being cinematic. The coven-like group of girls at the story's center is so deliciously unhinged in a way that only teenage girls can be. Their desire for agency and power is the driving factor in the disturbing choices that they make under Annelise's leadership.

All in all, Jawbone is quite the fever dream. I loved Ojeda's evocative style and discussions of female power & relationships. Ultimately, though, the inconsistent timeline interrupted the flow of this story for me. I don't always feel that books need linear timelines but, in this case, I think that Jawbone would have benefited greatly from that feature.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

storyonlystory's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Classism

aliss_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The author has a twisted mind and i love.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Incest, Mental illness, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail