Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - John Dies @ the End

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John Dies @ the End by David Wong

2 reviews

vulcandropout's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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

2.0

This series did a number on me. It is one of the only novels I have actually been able to read and I enjoyed it so much I overlooked so many things it did not prepare me for when I recently rented an audiobook of it. Jason Pargin uses slurs ALOT. For fun. Racist carcicatures also. This was my favorite book for so long I followed closely for less than a year. Coming across his article complaining about the lack of racial slurs in bioshock infinite ruining the expierence. His reasoning being that it was important for the time period. I dont see the excuse for what he did in this book. I also have only finished this one and the second book a long time ago in which every brown person dies or is dead already. What was the resson? WHt WAS THE REASON? BItch? I have been unphased about his alias choice forawhile but knowing that his alias is how he found out racism exists along with everything else. I have struggled to find any book that could have me react the way I did for so long and somehow my brain not even registering the bad things so I could let it make me happy for a brief period of time. Im just reallly sad and exhausted I was so excited to finally get a copy of this again just to now not have a favorite book.

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acwhite's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I first read this book around 2010 & had fond memories of the thrilling fever dream it is. So revisiting it in 2022 I was surprised to find my brain had edited out some choice language. I had no recollection of the excessive use of r*tard and occasional drops of the n word and f*g. Some of this language can be attributed to the book starting as a blog in the early 2000s but it still put a slight stain on the reread for me.

I’m rating it so middling for the aforementioned language but also because the pacing was rough. Again I think we can blame the blog origins, the whole business seems like three novellas in a trench coat masquerading as a full novel. But I still came out the end having enjoyed it.

The last third is the strongest part of the book in my opinion, Amy is a crucial character and “David” having a slightly different tone improved things.

I have the whole quartet and do intend to read them all.

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