Reviews tagging 'Death'

John Dies @ the End by David Wong

27 reviews

laurathehobbit's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, and Blood

Moderate: Racial slurs

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

It’s like if Thomas Pynch wrote a crass version of “Supernatural” set in the same universe as “Welcome to Night Vale,” with the occasional visits from Rick and Morty. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Cannibalism, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Medical content, and Death of parent

There is a variety of explicit subjects in this book, but be aware of exploding dogs, siblings dying, an obscene amount of flatulence, racial stereotypes, death having no consequence, reality being malleable, and frat boys using multiple slurs and politically incorrect phrases.

gawdz0rz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

3.5

the book was pretty funny. the story was weird but interesting. will probably read the next book. 

very obviously written in 2007, especially with its usage of ableist and homophobic slurs and how edgy the characters were. also feels like the author just really wanted to use the n-slur and found excuses to do so??

does dude have a thing for farting? he talks about it so much. like, way too much. 

the columbine comparison was off because the columbine kids were not bullied, they were the bullies. 

not great to have the alien language compared to hebrew!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Excrement

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Suicide, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia

tons of bugs. roaches and spiders.

unit25's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Exactly my kind of book. I really enjoyed this. The whole time I was reading it I thought, "this would be good to make into a movie"... Then when I finished it, I looked it up, and found out that it has been made into a movie! Then I watched the trailer, and realized that I've already seen the movie! I never put the two together in my head, so I'm going to have to go and rewatch the movie again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

arig's review against another edition

Weird quirky white dude shit for weird quirky white dude’s sake. Barely any plot or characterization. Racism and slurs for no reason. R and F words do not add to characterization or plot. Couldn’t get through it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, and Violence

aidualc_clau's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

espea's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

turtleofhades's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I'd forgotten how early 00s this book was. Some of the language punted me back to a time of low rise flared jeans and layered polos; this is not a good thing.

It's still a good story with not quite unlikable main characters. I'm ready to continue on this series again as I just found out there's a fourth book (super excited since the author's writing has gotten so dang good with the Zoey Ashe series).

Definitely a must read for any time of year, but especially October. Who doesn't need a little existential dead and body horror every now and then? 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Excrement, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I felt through most of my the book that it just wasn't for me.  It wasn't bad, or badly written, I just didn't click with it.  I eventually warmed up to it, enough that I may seek out the next book in the series (though given my lengthy TBR pile, maybe not).  

It's very surreal and frantic.   Parts of it definitely remind me of a video game. 

A word of warning, there are a a couple slurs thrown around pretty regularly that were more socially acceptable (at least among boys of a certain age) back when the book was written but that are jarring to read now.

There's also some animal death.

I think part of what turned me around was realizing that while John may have spoken and sometimes acted more immaturely than David, he was perhaps kinder and definitely understood people better.   I think he was smarter, too.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, and Car accident

cheetah26's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness and Excrement

Minor: Homophobia and Suicidal thoughts