Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

169 reviews

creativeerosion's review

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Alcoholism, Animal death, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Racism, and Body shaming

jbcaddel's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Self harm

miratio's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Incest, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

kredefer's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Loved the main character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Incest

Minor: Pedophilia

Lots of TWs listed above, so not suited for every reader, but perfect for grittier horror fans who can stand lots of blood/gore and heavy themes

spaceodin's review

3.5

Oof. So sad I didn’t love this one. All the ingredients seemed catered to my interests - lonely Native teenager finds herself trying to train a final girl for the slasher she suddenly finds herself in - but there’s only so many times I can read the words slasher and final girl and horror movie recycled over before they lose their charm and I start rolling my eyes. Add to that that only a half dozen movie titles are really referenced for the first two-thirds of the book, and the unique narration quickly overstays its welcome. (Very happy to report, my favorite giallo alternate title Twitch of the Death Nerve makes a last-minute appearance.) I’m afraid to say that if the book was cut from 400 pages down to 200 it would’ve been much leaner and more effective, but as it was, if I weren’t stuck in a waiting room for three days with nothing else to read I may not have finished the book at all. Thankfully there’s a fun stinger at the end - true to Nightmare lore - that has me more optimistic to start the second book. Eventually.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, and Self harm

Minor: Incest and Sexual violence

reggiethebird's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I wasn't a fan of the main character when they were monologuing or thinking to themselves, and I wasn't a fan of the dialog between characters. Unfortunately, thats pretty much all of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Abandonment, Blood, Incest, Death, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

squrrlgrrl's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Self harm, Animal death, Body horror, Alcoholism, Blood, Gore, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, and Addiction

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

sarahmcg's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This one had been on my TBR for awhile and I’m glad I finally got to it! I think this maybe just isn’t my genre, so take my rating with a grain of salt because I think if you like horror, slashers, and don’t mind gore, you’d love it! I haven’t read books by Grady Hendrix but from what I hear in reviews of their books, maybe this is a similar genre!

I was highly entertained - the plot and the story were very interesting. Our FMC/narrator Jade was… so wild, an unreliable narrator for the books. I wasn’t sure if anything she was saying was real or a figment of her wild imagination/bloody daydreams.

I think finding out why Jade is the way she is gave me a lot of empathy for her and helped me to understand why she lives breathes and only talks about slashers. I also loved Hardy, Mr. Holmes, and Letha as side characters! What ever happened to Shooting Glasses though? I thought he might end up playing more of a role in the ending but he really didn’t.

Besides the gore (which was extensive and descriptive), I ended up feeling like the motives behind the violence got lost and there was just a lot of chaos going on so by the end I wasn’t even sure who killed who 🙈 also, the chapters were wayyyy too long for me!

Rep: FMC is Native American Indian, side FMC black. Most other characters are white besides the FMCs family’s.

⚠️ CW/TW: suicide attempt, violence, murder, blood/gore, injury detail, animal death, vomiting, alcoholism, misogyny, racism, reference to underage drinking, reference to pedophilia/rape/child abuse (in past), fire

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Gore, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Vomit, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Racism, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Colonisation

outerscout's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative sad tense slow-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

4.75

so good. one day i will formulate words 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Gore, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Grief, Pedophilia, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, and Vomit

warmerbones's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

An alternate ending for all the girls that were never heard, My Heart is A Chainsaw is more than just a horror novel. The lake is deep, and full of unexpected twists that will keep the pages turning. My heart was broken, given hope, broken, and then given more hope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Deadnaming, Child abuse, Addiction, Rape, Suicide attempt, Incest, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, and Vomit