Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

7 reviews

archaicrobin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Stephen Graham Jones is one of those horror authors I always come back to because his stories are dark and heart wrenching.  His horror melds supernatural with real human evil in a way that’s truly terrifying. 

This novella is often described as a house of leaves situation, but it is not that at all! The house is not the focus here, it’s just where the events happen. Junior is 12 years old and begins seeing his dead father roaming the halls of his ramshackle home. With a disabled brother, a single mother, bullying at school, a deputy making night visits, and  an aggressive neighbor with vicious dogs, Junior first sees his dad’s apparition as a good thing. But soon he starts to see the apparitions true intentions. 

While this book is short I found myself needing to put it down at times just to have a break from the sheer bleakness. I highly recommend this or any other Stephen Graham Jones novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Animal death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death of parent, and Police brutality

vixenreader's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

An example of a great author’s early book, this book is a flawed, but vibe coming-of-age story about the cycle of intergenerational trauma and toxicity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, and Animal death

Moderate: Child death, Bullying, Blood, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Racism, Child abuse, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Cursing and Sexual content

Be aware of animal attacks, abuse towards children living with a disability, racism towards First Nations, and epilepsy/seizures.

random19379's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

sexualedward's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Bullying, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Sexual content, Colonisation, Addiction, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racism, War, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Stalking, and Xenophobia

sofipitch's review

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a good psychological horror, I couldn't tell if everything that was happening was real or just in the MC's head. The ending didn't seem to contradict that reading either. Honestly if this were a movie I might have to google "ending explained" lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Animal death, and Vomit

Moderate: Child death and Police brutality

bookishdov's review

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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Police brutality, Violence, and Murder

laurareads87's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

“I was twelve the first time I saw my dead father cross from the kitchen doorway to the hall that led back to the utility room.”  What an opening sentence.  I was completely hooked from beginning to end. 
This short novella is haunting (in the most literal sense), atmospheric, and pervasively creepy.  Junior is a highly unreliable narrator who is attempting to figure out the presence of his deceased father, in full fancydance regalia, in a home many miles from anywhere his father had lived, all while protecting his younger brother Dino from bullying.  The horror here is not (only) ghostly or supernatural, but rooted in very real societal and familial dynamics as experienced by a twelve year old.  Profoundly disturbing; I was not at all prepared for the ending which, as other reviewers have mentioned, felt like a punch in the gut.  On the basis of Mapping the Interior I will absolutely seek out and read more of Stephen Graham Jones' work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Police brutality, and Child abuse

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Alcoholism