Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

4 reviews

childofmongreldogs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

An absolutely gorgeous book in every sense of the word.

The elements of horror and sadness are so strong. Gore heavy and a difficult read in some places despite it's length and the absolute readability of it. I have so many thoughts and how the lycanthropy relates to intergenerational trauma, the mysticism of families, poverty, etc. Just absolutely masterful.

Despite the feeling of sadness I got reading the ending, it was surprising how hopeful the ending truly was. In a book that was frequently so bleak and painful, the idea that there's a possibility for a happy ending was euphoric. I don't know what to say except that this is probably my top read this year and possibly this decade.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Infertility, and Injury/Injury detail

bookwormbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I didn't get this book for most of the time I was reading it. If you're not here for a literary take on werewolves, this book isn't for you. That said, the ending absolutely made the book for me. the last two chapters finally let me know where the book was going and what it was meant to be about, and I'm going to be thinking about it for a while to come. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Vomit, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Rape, Domestic abuse, Torture, Grief, Cannibalism, and Sexual violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

There's mentions of bestiality.

sofipitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I adored this book. I'm a slut for monsters as a metaphor for being an outsider, and this book delivered! I really hope this author does a vampire book, I just know it would be great.

I put complicated for diversity bc the character's race is never mentioned (there's an explanation for that at the end and well as why the main character character doesn't share his name) but I pictured the characters as Native American, since I knew that's the author's identity. There's also a part in the book where a child asks the MC if he's Mexican, which is common for Native Americans. But it's not 100% the characters are BIPOC 🤷‍♀️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Excrement, Cannibalism, Animal death, and Kidnapping

pogue's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Terminal illness