Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

NOS4A2: Nosferatu by Joe Hill

24 reviews

spoookycat's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse and Forced institutionalization

ranocchietto's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed the novel, I particularly liked the well-rounded characters, how each had its distinctive "voice" and the descriptions matched their personalities.

The book deals with cycles of trauma, growing up and the loss of innocence, and how people close to us make a difference in our lives, it was quite moving at times.

I would say my main problem was with the pacing, it felt unfocused towards the last third, it would have benefited from fewer digressions. I also felt the tone towards the end didn't match the tension the author was probably going for, but it didn't really spoil the experience for me.

Do check the content warnings before reading, it can get a bit heavy. The fatphobic undertones made it quite uncomfortable for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

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

podanotherjessi's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Wow. I wish I had read this in December because walking into a store and hearing Christmas carols while I was in the middle of this would have been horrific. This definitely has some flaws; the story gets a little muddled at points. The choice to play with timelines was maybe a mistake. Definitely has the penchant of a lot of horror of leaning on sexual assault and child abuse for scaring the reader, but not too often. Vic is a great character, flaws and all. Wayne is good too. Lou left a little to be desired though. Manx, however, is a fantastic villain, all the more because he truly thinks that he's doing the right thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Rape