Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

John Dies @ the End by David Wong

19 reviews

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

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

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

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

entityj's review against another edition

dark funny fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Excrement

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Islamophobia, and Alcohol

laserdiscreader'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

An enjoyable read that was maybe made less enjoyable by some of the dated language. This was written in the '00s and it shows in the relatively frequent use of various slurs. The writing itself is very fast-paced; I found myself often rereading sections because I lost how things progressed so quickly. I'm not surprised this became a movie (haven't seen it yet) because of the pacing as well as the graphic descriptions of all the demonic happenings that, well, happen. One very bright part of the book is how well the author writes in the tone of the narrator. Probably one of the best examples I've seen for embodying a first person narrative with a certifiably wild story to tell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

yikesofikeso's review against another edition

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

2.0

While under the guise of comedy, Wong loves using slurs and racist/sexist/ableist language to make a generally uncomfortable story. I was especially uncomfortable when he assumed a girl was mentally retarded and hated her and mocked her relentlessly for years, only to realize she was perfectly neurotypical and immediately be in love with her and have her love him back. Now that’s good writing. Yikes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, and Lesbophobia

kell's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Vomit

Moderate: Ableism and Sexism

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts