Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

NOS4A2, by Joe Hill

22 reviews

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

savanapavlak's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal death, Body shaming, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Body horror

bruinrocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

This novel felt like a mix between The Shining and Doctor Sleep, it follows Vic McQueen as she struggles with the trauma of being attacked by Charlie Manx when she was a kid. I found this novel to be much more enjoyable after I read the prequel comic book Wraith. There is a near constant dread throughout the whole novel, never knowing when Manx will appear to wreck havoc on Vic and her families lives. There is some really strong character development and world building. Christmasland, a place that sounds like it should be magical and wonderful, is actually a horrifying location that keeps the fear at a maximum. With a middle section that drags a little the ending definitely amps it up to a 10 for the last stretch becoming very action packed, and explosive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Child death, and Child abuse

Minor: Drug use and Sexual violence

selenareads's review against another edition

3.75

Rating horror is really hard Bc it’s not my usual genre

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Kidnapping

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Attempted Rape -- graphic

shepherd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

This was my Halloween read after reading reviews stating it was the scariest book people had ever read. Maybe I'm immune to being scared, because this did nothing for me in that aspect. I found the mentions/description of rape, child abuse, and pedophila disgusting. Did that scare me? No. 

I think I was expecting some horrifying blood sucking adventure of chaos and murder. Instead it was an energy vampire or some shit. 

The characters are fleshed out and Vic is ballsy and incredibly damaged, I dug that. Lou is amazing, enough said.

I did feel the entire novel was paced medium to slow. I should have expected that, given the family ties. The end was incredibly rushed after 650 pages. The finally chapter left me wondering how it even made sense. Lou was so absolutely in love with Vic, bit a couple months after she dies he's basically shaking up with the FBI agent? Excuse me, but no, that made absolutely no sense after spending 700 pages explaining how tied to each other these two characters are emotionally.

I likely will skip all other Hill books as they're too much like King, which is slow and superfluous.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

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.

Spoiler

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

alohiel's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Drug use

mattotheratto'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Fatphobia

Minor: Infidelity

sarahasyouwish's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

2.75

 I’ve been anticipating reading this book in the hopes that I would love it. Turning the nostalgia and whimsy of Christmas on its head and making it the center of a horror story sounded like a creative way to make my spine tingle. NOS4A2 starts off with a bang and really drew me in. Even after a quick jump in the perspective to 20 years earlier when we are following our protagonist Vic as a child, I found the story gripping. I ran into trouble after the first third or so when things started to feel unnecessary drawn out, and I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. If I have a strong connection with a character, I will happily hang out with them for a few hundred pages without need for much plot. When I don’t care about them, I find myself getting bored and wishing an editor had trimmed things down considerably. These characters just didn’t feel fully developed to me. Even the villain felt more like a caricature of a villain instead of someone who elicited fear or horror in me. The only scene that elicited any shivers was a description of someone post-autopsy. When I finally arrived at the climax and the dramatic events that take place in the last 50-100 pages, they had no effect on me and felt a bit predictable in terms of setting this book up for a sequel. I also could have done without the body-shaming and fat-phobia sprinkled throughout, though the character most of it is directed at ended up being the one character I found I cared at least something for. While this book was a miss for me, I’m definitely up for trying another Hill novel. The concept for this one is brilliant. I just need a bit more depth and believability from the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Animal death, Sexual violence, and Murder

tieflingkisser's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Animal death, Violence, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Car accident, and Confinement

Moderate: Pedophilia, Gore, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Addiction