Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

34 reviews

bookwormbi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Stephen Graham Jones always gives you a thousand and one things to chew on in his books. I’m still reeling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Body horror

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Minor: Racism and Cultural appropriation

caitlyn_rehs's review

challenging dark funny slow-paced

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

3.0

The writing was awful. The storyline wasn't too bad but I didn't care for the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Blood, Murder, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Child abuse, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicidal thoughts

swamp_rat's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cursing, Vomit, Rape, Pedophilia, Animal death, and Gore

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Abortion

chersonese's review

dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.25

Loved the characters, especially Jade, they're all so well-written and impact the story and Jade herself throughout.

The ending though not really a twist did feel like it fell a bit flat, and although I loved the end chapter and the imagery it invoked, it felt tacked on. The book already had a solid end before the forest fire, so it seemed strange to add this in last minute. Felt like SGJ either had to trim this to fit or added it on late when he realised it was a trope he hadn't touched on yet.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gun violence and Animal death

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

aimeebowen's review

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Domestic abuse, Deadnaming, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

apestforwrens's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

SGJ is an incredible writer and the way he presents Jade really lets the reader ride along with her. I literally stayed up all night to finish this book because I could NOT put it down. It is a horror book, so there is a lot of genre-typical heavy content, but it did not feel gratuitous to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Gore, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Grief, Animal death, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Medical content, Gaslighting, Racism, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Classism, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Stalking

Minor: Rape, Cultural appropriation, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

chloseencounter's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An ode to the slasher, this novel really stole my heart pretty quickly. I enjoyed the MC (and maybe related to her a little too much…) The reason this isn’t a 4⭐️ for me is that the first 100 pages and last 100 pages where so fun but in between it was rather dense. As someone who has loved the slasher genre ever since Scream graced my eyeholes for the first time, I really enjoyed exploring the mind of the MC and all the slasher input she had on the genre, but I think this could be a harder read for most general audiences. The second book in the trilogy comes out this month and I’ll be excited to see how the story continues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Confinement, Abortion, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Misogyny

theoldestbennetsister's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Child death, Classism, and Rape

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Racism, Colonisation, and Vomit

blacksphinx's review

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Suicide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Racism

janeanger's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Incest, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Vomit, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, and Fire/Fire injury