Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

110 reviews

tesshersh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

I’m not sure if I extra enjoyed this book because I’ve read so many BAD books lately, or if it really IS that good, so take this with a grain of salt. But WOW. One of my only gripes is that it touches on some themes that I’m not 100% sure I love being talked abt from a teenage girl’s perspective written by a male author, but I think it was respectfully done. 
Spoiler for my other complaint:

I wish that the conclusion/reveal of the killer DIDN’T have a supernatural element. I think the author’s point of regarding real life not being like a horror/slasher movie, about things like gentrification & colonization being a type of horror and violence of their own, was backtracked a bit by letting jade’s theory of a supernatural element be true at the end.

Also: cannot recommend the audio book enough, cara gee was amazing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Abortion, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Death, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Suicide, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Child death, Incest, and Gore

HUGE trigger warnings - not just in the gore/violence you would associate with a thriller but for other content as well, please check content warnings before reading

heckyeaheather's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a great listen if you're someone who enjoys the horror genre and that your MC also is an expert in the slasher/horror genre. 
It can be a bit slow going sometimes, spending some time in our main characters thoughts and getting a bit wordy. Great first book of 2024!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

Minor: Rape

lancemama's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Bullying, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Rape, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death

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

elizabethstone's review

I did not like the main character, the plot was too slow, and the narrative kept getting interrupted by chapters that were high school homework essays written by the main character, which added nothing to the story. Also did not care for the suicide scene at the very beginning of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

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

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

judassilver's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual harassment, Violence, Self harm, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Classism, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Colonisation, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and Racism

catriona176's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Pedophilia, Murder, Gore, Sexual assault, Addiction, Classism, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Rape