Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

9 reviews

judassilver's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.25

This book would have greatly benefited from condensing and trimming of the length. It drags, and the parts I feel are unnecessary really drag down the parts I do like in this book. It's somehow both too edgy and too cheesy? Overly long but also somehow underdeveloped/explored

(they don't even get to Christmasland until 90% in and then Vic dies off page!)

? I liked our cast of heros, but there is so much build up that the ending feels underwhelming and the part

about the ornaments felt especially cheap.

Overall the book came off as very crude-- certain metaphors and instances describing child and female characters were especially off-putting to me. And that's not even to mention the gratuitous fat phobia and off-hand racist remarks by various characters (and the narrator) that I don't really feel benefited the narrative. I would recommend the audio book if for nothing else than the benefit of being able to 2.5x speed listen to it, but I would caution to definitely check trigger warnings. Also note that this book is not about vampires. This book came highly recommended, so I'm sad this one just wasn't for me. 
Specific spoilers for those curious:

Random n-slur and k-slur drop in one line, the dog does die--brutally. There are also a lot of descriptions of penises (and synonyms, in varying levels of ridiculous!) and their various actions. The MC gets back into good terms with her abusive father at the end, and one character is excessively, I mean everytime he's in a scene, described as fat until he gets weight loss surgery at the end of the book. Also a few unfortunate Harry Potter refs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Self harm, Sexism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Vomit, Cancer, Car accident, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Homophobia, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia

boats's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book really hit for me. It was a bit long but there's nothing I'd cut easily. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Death, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Car accident

sxndaze's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

It was early October, but in the strong, direct light of the morning sun, it was still warm. Fall was here, winter coming right behind it, but for now there was still a little good riding weather left.

a festive horror read! it dragged for me at parts tbh. i liked reading about vic discovering her abilities with the shorter way and those affects. 

hill writes complex relationships well when he has the time and space to flesh them out. i didn’t like her interactions with lou very much because there wasn’t much to like, but after wayne gets taken, their relationship feels so much more solid.

some hits and quite a few misses in here for me, but overall a good time (especially the last third)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexism

pclairx's review against another edition

Racism, unnecessary descriptions of rape,  fatphobia, weird ableism, sexism, gory animal death, and Joe Hill just can not write women and refuses to stop trying. I love myself so I decided to stop before I got to far into the absolute tome of a book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Fatphobia

ptoridactyl30's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Blood, Sexism, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Blood, and Drug abuse

Minor: Abandonment

hayleys_comment's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

On a technical level, NOS4A2 is an imaginative, well-written horror novel. It takes familiar concepts, (magic, murder, and Christmas) and twists them into strange, blood-soaked treats. The protagonists are ragged and complicated. The villains are creepy and weird. The plot is interesting. The pacing is good (especially in action sequences—Hill’s got some crazy rhythm). It’s gritty, off-the-wall, and freaky to the max.

Technical-goodness aside, I have a some mixed feelings about Hill’s work. The book’s a bit like Dracula, in that every once and a while, there will be a scene that really grabs you, or a line that makes your pulse pound. Everything in-between is just background noise. Of the (roughly) 700 pages, only a handful are memorable.

If you’re not sure whether this book is for you, here are a few things to consider:

1. The novel relies heavily on themes of sexism, sexual assault, and child abuse. There are a few scenes that feature existential/body horror, but they’re less prevalent.

2. Hill is fantastic at scene descriptions. When he’s describing something cool, it’s awesome. Really, really awesome. When he’s describing something gross, it’s visceral. And this novel gets gross. Really, really gross. Nothing too crazy for a horror novel, but it’s definitely worth mentioning, especially with point #1.

3. Ask yourself this: could you ever think of Christmas as something strange, or scary? If the answer is no, you’ll have a hard time suspending your disbelief. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth a try, but it may have an effect on how you engage with Hill’s story. Christmasland is a big deal.

4. If you’re hesitant, check the content warnings. Seriously. There’s no shame in saying, “this isn’t for me,” or, “not right now.” You can always come back later.

Bonus: 
The audio book, narrated by Kate Mulgrew, is absolutely bonkers. 10/10. If you’re an audio person, you’re in for a treat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Fatphobia, Body horror, Death of parent, and Gun violence

carliethompsonwriting's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape

emilyspex's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

There were things about this book I loved and things that I hated. I loved the characters and the story, but the way the author writes really got to me. Why would a child hold another child "like a lover"? Why did he have Lou and Vic fall in love when he was 20 and she was 16? Why did the author include a racial slur in the middle of his book? Also, if I heard one more description of sweet, kind-hearted Lou as a fatty fat fat landwhale manatee fatso, I might have had a stroke. Honestly, I'm fine with having a character's fatness be an issue or struggle, but the author described this wonderful character as if he hated his guts.

There were long stretches where I enjoyed this book, but I would really struggle to recommend it to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Self harm, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Rape, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Murder, Racism, and Sexism

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.75

Caution: There are animal deaths that get way more detail and time than the final deaths in the book.

You don't even see Vic die on page you just know she's gravely injured and then her son recollects that she died. Manx simply gets an engine to his chest. Hooper the dog gets hammered to near death and then ran over.

This book isn't so much horror as gore porn. It was a drag to push through from about 61% of the book on. One of the only fat characters gets a "happy ending" only once he becomes thin and goes to finish something saying he was told to when this wasn't ever shown to the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Body shaming

Minor: Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Self harm