Reviews tagging 'Racism'

John Dies at the End by David Wong

22 reviews

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: Gore, Death, Body horror, and Blood

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

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

tons of bugs. roaches and spiders.

mnemosyne139's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

1.75

The rating I gave this book is purely due to my enjoyment of the plot. And I actually wish o could bring myself to continue the series. But I CANNOT get behind the author's repeated use of the R and N (with a hard r) words (and to a lesser extent, but still very noticeable and not addressed, homophobic slurs). They didn't add anything to the story, and they could have been edited out. There's even an addendum in the special edition where he states the language is the most common piece of negative feedback he has received, but for some reason only addresses traditional cursing and not the actually offensive words. And even then he just says it's a product of the time and he's not going to change it. In no time were these terms NOT offensive, so I honestly see that response as total BS. I'm really sad that I won't be able to continue the series because I actually enjoy the story, but the author definitely "gives me the ick" and I will not be reading anything else from him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, and Homophobia

deltaupright's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I enjoyed this book, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone. Listing all of the content warnings this book needs would be nearly as long as the book itself, so the broad strokes are:

The main character is not a good person. He isn't meant to be, but it can be kind of tough hearing it in the first person. Imagine an early 20s white dude with working a dead end job in a middle of nowhere town in the early 2000s, and you've probably got a good idea. At one point early in the story he's complaining about his town and saying that they've got "too many jokes containing the n-word" except, you know. He just says the n-word, and that feels like a good way to sum up what kind of person the main character is.

In a weird twist of fate, if you're not sure this book is for you, I'd recommend watching the movie first. A lot of the bigotry has been toned down, but the absurdity, gore, and body horror remain for the most part the same, and it's honestly a very faithful adaptation. If you like the movie, the book is that, dialed up to 11. If you hate the movie, the book will probably make you want to scream.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Ableism, Racism, Violence, Body horror, and Gore

ok_now_what's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

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

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

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

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, 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: Excrement, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Racism, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Cursing, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death, Animal death, Drug use, Gore, and Antisemitism

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

Minor: Death of parent

elatedbooks's review

This is very Shawn of the dead humour & whilst I did find a lot of it funny it’s also unnecessarily racist & anti-semitic & just generally a bit outdated. 

Plus the plot’s not super compelling it more feels like a series of mini stories than a whole novel (although maybe it all comes together at the end or something) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Moderate: Racism and Antisemitism

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Racism, Racial slurs, and Drug abuse

Minor: Ableism

bubblescotch's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

3.75

Fascinating in theory, frustrating in execution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Body horror, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Ableism, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Racism