Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

8 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Alcohol, Death, Murder, Rape, Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

henrygravesprince's review

dark funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.75

This is a slasher that embodies just how effective the genre in horror literature can be. It’s exceptionally clever and easy to get sucked into. I’ve read a couple of Stephen Graham Jones’s books before, and I consistently rate his work highly. This one combines the things I enjoyed about the other two books of his I’ve read: the focus on cycles of trauma with underscores of political commentary in The Only Good Indians (5 stars), and the genre-savvy campy nature of The Last Final Girl (4 stars). While I think this is my favorite of Jones’s backlog so far, I think the execution on The Only Good Indians was just a bit more polished, and so I’m giving this a 4.75 and anticipating going higher with the next two installments.

I 100% recommend this to people who like slashers for both the gore/horrorfest and the sociological and psychological undertones and people who love horror media because it gives them control over the circumstances of their fear. The strongest aspect of this book is the perfect meeting of social commentary to a brutal slasher. The weakest is that I think the last chapter could be paced up quicker than it is to hold the momentum the last quarter picked up on a little more. I’m glad I finally gave this book a go after years of wanting to but not finding the time. If you can stomach gory writing and you’ve considered reading this book but haven’t yet, now is the perfect time to jump in before the final book in the trilogy comes out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Self harm

Discussion of child sexual abuse; Portrayal of gentrification

apestforwrens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.75

SGJ is an incredible writer and the way he presents Jade really lets the reader ride along with her. I literally stayed up all night to finish this book because I could NOT put it down. It is a horror book, so there is a lot of genre-typical heavy content, but it did not feel gratuitous to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Gore, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Grief, Animal death, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Medical content, Gaslighting, Racism, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Classism, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Stalking

Minor: Rape, Cultural appropriation, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

hotscarysummer's review

dark mysterious 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

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Incest, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual assault

alex_e_stone's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Vomit, Child death, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Forced institutionalization

slimepuppy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

meggs1005's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death, Animal death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Alcoholism, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Incest, and Pregnancy

dharma_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The plot is really cool. I liked the idea of it—outcasted horror fan is the only one who realizes her town is about to become a slasher movie. I expected that plot, peppered with a lot of slasher references (which is was, that exceeded expectations), mixed together with some character development and a heartfelt message, and tied together in a neat bow at the end. I didn’t need the book to be super complicated and deep, but I was expecting it to at least be understandable.

The authors writing is really confusing. It’s not something you can really identify, but I was left scrambling for the first 2/3s of the book. It felt like the characters and their lives were introduced in such a way that I was supposed to know them inside and out. The weren't developed well in the beginning and fell kind of flat. And it was just confusing—it felt like there were a lot of pieces of the story I was missing. Overall, the sentences were worded strangely too. I kept having to reread sentences to understand what they were saying. Also, Jade is convinced the town is  about to become a slasher movie and throughout the first 2/3s of the book, I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to believe it’s all in her head or whether it’s real. Now, I imagine this is intentional, but I found it disorienting. 

I did like the gore though. It was VERY gory. Do not read this book if you have a weak stomach. It’s a very descriptive book. Although I have to say, the main character felt so unaffected by it, it didn’t come off as horrifying as it should’ve. The slasher references are constant and very fun as well. It’s clear the author knows his stuff. And now I feel like I know slasher movies well too. 

The very ending was confusing. It felt unfinished. To be fair, there is a second book, so that makes sense. But it still felt like it ended it a weird spot. The last 100 pages as a whole though were cool! The final massacre was everything Jade hyped it up to be.

I was not a fan of the reveal though. I didn’t like that they made the killer the Lake Witch. It felt lazy. I was looking forward to a slasher with a score to settle and a complicated reveal and personal backstory to each of the kills. Instead, it’s revealed that it’s the Lake Witch and her whole history as the witch is explained in a page as if Jade suddenly had an epiphany about it. It was disappointing. I also liked the parallel it made between Jade and the final girl. How she kind of stood up to her dad at the end (by killing him) and burst out of her chrysalis, like a final girl. And the moment at the very end with the momma beat was touching. But those moments would’ve meant even more if the book had executed the complicated relationship between Jade and her parents well instead of kind of having there on the back burner. It wasn’t incorporated into the whole plot well. It was just kind of thrown in at random times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Violence, Child abuse, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Forced institutionalization