Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

John Dies @ the End by David Wong

44 reviews

misterkel's review against another edition

Author avatar uses racial slurs in his thoughts to himself, and multiple characters using "ret**d" in incredibly juvenile, unnecessary, unrealistic ways. Very much feels like "old man writing youths" and missing the mark.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism

beltari's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, and Car accident

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Dementia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

the word "retarded" and conjugations of the same are used 16 times throughout the book as a synonym of "dumb"

jkpiowa's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Racial slurs

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

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

coyotes_tiptoe's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Racial slurs

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

juledebaum2's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, and Antisemitism

em_chen's review against another edition

2.5

read this bc i was a cracked girl back in the day but forgot that my tolerance for bullshit used to be way higher. teen incel shock value vibes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Car accident, and Alcohol

r-slur used frequently, n word and other slurs

seagullsaga's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

The only reason I finished this book is because I have a complex about DNFing books. 

It’s needlessly vulgar, racist, sexist, and full of slurs that serve no purpose. The occasionally actually funny joke does nothing to counter these or make the book anywhere near worth it. 

If you like this book you probably also think that Tyler Durden is a good role model. 

Every time I looked to see how much I had left of this book I was disappointed. It drags. There’s always more nonsensical toilet humor and psychedelic crap, and none of it does anything to tell a coherent story. I was wishing EVERY character died by the end. 

I don’t normally leave reviews, and especially not with text, but this book was so unpleasant that I had to get my feelings out somehow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Excrement, Antisemitism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Car accident, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Death of parent

fuglaepir's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

JDATE is outdated 00s internet humour (quite literally, given its original publishing was online) but I love this book to pieces. Pargin's prose here is immature but visceral. I read this book for the first time in two sittings. John, Dave and Amy are fantastic characters and their debut is worth reading... If you can stand some questionable language in places. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism and Racial slurs