Reviews tagging 'Grief'

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

8 reviews

priscillarobock's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Dysphoria, Child death, Gore, Abandonment, Bullying, Grief, Kidnapping, Torture, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Death, and Death of parent

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

abbeyreads13's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

Check content warnings. Campy and goofy but very disturbing and depraved at times. Not for everyone !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Racism, Sexual assault, Murder, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Grief, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Gun violence

melchncookies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Torture, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Rape, Alcoholism, Violence, Sexual violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, Fatphobia, Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Police brutality, and Gun violence

Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Vomit

chemical_crash's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Addiction, Mental illness, Alcohol, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Murder, Stalking, Torture, Alcoholism, Cursing, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

livbarry's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

3.0

NOS4A2 wasn’t without its flaws; the blatant misogyny of the antagonists not having any direct connection to the story besides making the antagonists more dislikable REALLY bugged me, as did the blatant fatphobia.

I can’t say that I didn’t have a fun time reading this, though. The great thing about the book’s length is that it’s so dense that it’s easy to forget about the flaws until they pop up again. Its length intimidated me, but I whipped through it SO quickly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction and Animal death

ae_young's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Fatphobia, and Rape

Minor: Pedophilia