Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda

49 reviews

aylaraysin's review

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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lisabourget's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"My therapist says when you talk out loud without stopping for a long time, and you really listen to yourself, the mysteries end up coming out of the tangle of your subconscious."

If Ojeda doesn’t become a big name in literary horror, alongside the likes of Jackson, Shelley and Poe, then no one should. 

Given how literary this book is, it took me a while to get through it, but that doesn’t mean this book isn’t horrifyingly beautiful and macabre.

Each character read so differently from one another, I loved diving into each character’s subconscious, seeing where their biases came in.

I’ve always found tales about cosmic horror and the occult fascinating, especially when consumed together; the aspect of putting an ethereal being into our reality in a way that doesn’t feel forced can be so difficult to do, but in my opinion Odeja handles this perfectly! 

Above all else, this tale is about friendship, puberty, motherhood, and the perception of an ideal self.

If you want a slower read that still leaves you a deep sense of horror, a feeling of seeing things in the light and hearing the fluttering of lashes in the dark, then you should put this to the top of your list!

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rmnedder's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is one of the most disturbing, beautifully written books I've ever read. The prose is profound and profane and evocative in all its weirdness, the characters are complex and deeply appalling (which makes them all the more likable), and the narrative mosaic of times and formats and styles creates a patchwork quilt that keeps the dread and tension simmering the whole way through. It's a brilliantly perverse meditation on change and adolescence and desire, and I Will be thinking about it for ages to come. Definitely read the content warnings on this one. 

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amessina3399's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

It took me a minute to get into this book, but once I did, I couldn’t get out of it. The language of this book is as much a part of it as the story. The way the characters are each narrated is incredibly unique to anything’s I’ve ever read, and one could argue the poetic nature of the narrative voice as well. A highly metaphorical book about adolescence and the relationship between mothers and daughters, this book is a very heady read and incredibly weird, but absolutely worth it. 

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lus's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

What if you were a teenage girl, raised catholic and in private schools? What if you loved your best friend very much but didn't have the words to say it? What if instead of 'love' you used words like 'twin'? What if your best friend fashioned herself a prophetess for a God she built out of creepypastas and Lovecraftian horror? What if your teacher hated you and your kind and what if your best friend betrays you, somehow? What if the worst thing in the world is to be a mother? What if it is to be a daughter? To be a teacher is to be a mother is to be a daughter and to be all of these is to have jaws strong enough to cannibalize homes and mothers and daughters.

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savshelfinger's review

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dark tense medium-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

3.25

This book is good for an in-depth character study on adolescence, but I felt like I just kept waiting for something to happen that never materialized. 

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juffnstuff's review

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challenging dark medium-paced

3.0


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marenstunes's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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rylee_the_captain_krane's review

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

4.0


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