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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Joe Hill takes something you think sounds a little absurd and ridiculous-- the idea of an aging rock star purchasing a haunted suit-- and crafts it into one of the scariest stories I've read in a long time. I couldn't put this book down. Things happen so fast and they're so scary that I had myself jumping at each reflection I caught anywhere. Loved this book. I plan on reading each and every Joe Hill book that I can get my hands on!
I didn't much care for this story. I didn't find it to be scary at all. I think the premise was too supernatural and far fetched for my taste. I also found it difficult to believe how open to believing and accepting the main characters were to all the "scary" stuff. I just didn't buy that they would simply accept this situation to be real and dangerous. This was despite the attempt by the author to portray them as people who wouldn't doubt the occult. I just didn't get into it as much as I had hoped.
dark
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Ugh, gross. This literally felt like a self insert fanfic written by Joe Hill for Joe Hill. Like, he is literally wearing an AC/DC shirt in his author’s portrait. A VERY classic example of women written by a man. The objectification of women in this book was not written to showcase the main character’s creepiness & flaws, but rather seemed a direct reflection of the author’s objectification of these made up, perfect, supple, young women in their twenties. Puke! Also, specifically the line where he’s like “seeing this young stripper know the lyrics to an AC/DC song was the sexiest thing i’ve ever seen…” Omg??? Sexy woman knows rock song from decades before her?!?!? I didn’t know silly women could do that!!!!! I hate men! I hate men die!!!
While I had a hard time getting past my disgust for those aspects, & it most definitely made the story worse, even WITHOUT all of that, it was a weak story anyway. It never fully captivated me. Certain plot lines were brought up too quickly, others were cut too short, some didn’t even make sense. It seems like Joe had many ideas & once he got those ideas out, he just threw them away & moved onto the next one, instead of drawing out & building onto them. That constant cycle made the book drag on. While it was semi-interesting, I found myself reading faster & faster, not out of any anticipation, but rather to finally be done with the book. I’m glad it’s over lol.
dark
mysterious
tense
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Suicide
Minor: Self harm
Incredibily boring and sexist. The characters are quite unpleasant and I found myself hoping the ghost would win. Meh
SPOILER
apparently the ghost was evil and did abuse the victim (later in the book, in the part I did not read). Now I hate it even more, wow.
SPOILER
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexism
The premise didn't stand up to scrutiny and the book wasn't scary
I couldn’t even tell you how this got on my shelf. I’ve been carting it through my moves for awhile, but cannot for the life of me remember where it came from. So when I went looking for something to read to fill some time, I decided to give it a shot.
I was not disappointed.
Heart Shaped Box is a horror novel with a kind of heavy-metal theme. It follows Jude Coyne, who is a rock star akin to Steven Tyler, trying to quietly live out his life in the New York countryside. He’s a man of dark tastes, and buys a dead man’s suit, supposedly with a ghost attached to it. Little does he know, this ghost has quite the malicious intent.
I’m usually not a horror fan, but I was engrossed and fascinated by this story. It creeped me out but it never felt cheap or over-dramatic. It left me guessing, kept me interested, kept me from sleeping, to be quite honest. The characters felt deep and fresh, the story dynamic and unique. It was worth a read.
Warnings:
Drugs: Yes. The man is a rock star. While he doesn’t use in the present tense of the novel, there is certainly plenty of history that is mentioned.
Sex: Yes. Some of it somewhat perverse. Also, a main character is his significantly-younger goth girlfriend.
Violence: Yes, including graphic death, infection, broken bones, a crowbar and some guns. One of the more violent novels I have read. There is also sexual violence.
Language: Yes. Surprisingly, I didn’t find it really overdone, I thought it fit with the tone of the book nicely. But it’s definitely there.
Trigger warning: Molestation, hints of incest.
I was not disappointed.
Heart Shaped Box is a horror novel with a kind of heavy-metal theme. It follows Jude Coyne, who is a rock star akin to Steven Tyler, trying to quietly live out his life in the New York countryside. He’s a man of dark tastes, and buys a dead man’s suit, supposedly with a ghost attached to it. Little does he know, this ghost has quite the malicious intent.
I’m usually not a horror fan, but I was engrossed and fascinated by this story. It creeped me out but it never felt cheap or over-dramatic. It left me guessing, kept me interested, kept me from sleeping, to be quite honest. The characters felt deep and fresh, the story dynamic and unique. It was worth a read.
Warnings:
Drugs: Yes. The man is a rock star. While he doesn’t use in the present tense of the novel, there is certainly plenty of history that is mentioned.
Sex: Yes. Some of it somewhat perverse.
Spoiler
There was one scene involving a gun and a blowjob, hypnotism and suicide that left my skin crawling. I’m not certain it was necessary.Violence: Yes, including graphic death, infection, broken bones, a crowbar and some guns. One of the more violent novels I have read. There is also sexual violence.
Language: Yes. Surprisingly, I didn’t find it really overdone, I thought it fit with the tone of the book nicely. But it’s definitely there.
Trigger warning: Molestation, hints of incest.
I love Stephen King and I've had Joe Hill on my radar for quite some time, never quite knowing where to start. Well the beginning is as good as place as any, and I may regret this choice.
I feel so bad for saying this as I hate to disparage anyone working towards their writing dreams, especially in my favourite genre, but this mirror Stephen King in so many ways that it became hard to ignore. I've heard many reviews call this novel original, quirky, haunting etc but I really don't see that here.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad novel. In fact this is one of those books I finish and go "I didn't love this, but I'm very excited to read them again" (See: Paul Tremblay, Jon Padgett, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Grady Hendrix). The bones are here. The technical ability, the well written characters, the twists and turns. But in this book, it's not quite there for me. Throw in gratuitous use of self harm (you'd think the only way to hurt yourself in this book was from the elbow down), the surprising lack of empathy from the protag for some of the books best characters (you'll know them when you see them) and an ending that just sort of...happens; I don't think this would be the first book I'd pick up if I was trying to get a beat on Joe Hill. I think he sits in his fathers shadow here, peaking out now and then. I know however that in the future he makes his strides and makes his own unique mark on the horror genre so I'm not going to hold against him. However I won't budge over 3 stars for the experience.
I think the comparisons between Stephen King and Joe Hill can be summed up with the ever omniscient wisdom of William S Preston Esq.:
“How’s that stealing if we’re stealing it from ourselves, dude?”
I feel so bad for saying this as I hate to disparage anyone working towards their writing dreams, especially in my favourite genre, but this mirror Stephen King in so many ways that it became hard to ignore. I've heard many reviews call this novel original, quirky, haunting etc but I really don't see that here.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad novel. In fact this is one of those books I finish and go "I didn't love this, but I'm very excited to read them again" (See: Paul Tremblay, Jon Padgett, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Grady Hendrix). The bones are here. The technical ability, the well written characters, the twists and turns. But in this book, it's not quite there for me. Throw in gratuitous use of self harm (you'd think the only way to hurt yourself in this book was from the elbow down), the surprising lack of empathy from the protag for some of the books best characters (you'll know them when you see them) and an ending that just sort of...happens; I don't think this would be the first book I'd pick up if I was trying to get a beat on Joe Hill. I think he sits in his fathers shadow here, peaking out now and then. I know however that in the future he makes his strides and makes his own unique mark on the horror genre so I'm not going to hold against him. However I won't budge over 3 stars for the experience.
I think the comparisons between Stephen King and Joe Hill can be summed up with the ever omniscient wisdom of William S Preston Esq.:
“How’s that stealing if we’re stealing it from ourselves, dude?”
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fantastic horror novel that had my gripped from beginning to end. I am really starting to enjoy Joe Hills writing. This story takes a turn I wasn't expecting and made me want to read more from this man.