Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

40 reviews

serenityfound's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Jesus fucking Christ. I read a lot of horror and not even House of Leaves fucked me up, so believe me when I say this one is intense. Poetic and fascinating....and intense.

The audiobook is beautifully read. I would recommend either doing it in one go or only stopping at chapter breaks. There is almost a spoken word poetry quality to it that makes it tough to put down at random places & pick back up smoothly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death, and Excrement

kurumipanda's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Standard horror movie setup (5 twenty-somethings with interpersonal drama go to a haunted house), in a great atmospheric setting, with a focus on detailed imagery and character descriptions over action. Decent scene and character setup at the start, evocative imagery but far too much purple prose and arguing, a few excellent spooky moments, a fantastic genre savvy line, and action that stalled out as soon as it started. Audiobook has incorrect Japanese pronunciations, which may be mostly intentional. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, and Vomit

Minor: Infidelity

cursivewolf's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The visuals were so perfectly horror-esque. Elegant but dirty and got under your skin. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Self harm, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Vomit

petrichorandcoffee's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I felt it was overwritten, way too many similes. Some really beautiful language and wonderful word choice, but it was often excessive and distracting- especially since many of the similes were repetitive. Excellent imagery. Interesting repurposing of old myth/folklore. The characters' actions often had little to no motivations and the setup of the plot didn't really make sense (it was illogical that those invited on the trip would actually have been invited). The commentary on race and gender was accurate and reasonable but repetitive and shoehorned into dialogue in clunky ways. The dialogue was broken up too much and didn't have a natural flow. Overall, I think Khaw is probably a great writer in different mediums but I personally wasn't a huge fan of this book. I do appreciate that I learned some Japanese folklore from it, and there were some really great lines and great descriptions of grotesque imagery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Gore, Murder, Death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gore, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Infidelity, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia

nixieba25f's review

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Cultural appropriation, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Body horror, Infidelity, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

jjjreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Death, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

hauntedboi's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide attempt and Self harm

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Body horror, Death, and Cursing

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Self harm, Violence, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Vomit, Gaslighting, Excrement, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Drug use, and Bullying

katiereadsbooks23's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This kind of felt like a gossip girl ghost story, I may have based that statement off of the voice of the narrator of the audiobook but it’s a lot of personal drama with a little bit of spoopiness thrown in. If it was any longer of a book I probably would DNF it but I got through it and it was ok.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Murder, Death, Body horror, Self harm, and Suicide attempt