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soffafa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Trafficking, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Rape
Moderate: Drug abuse
writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
🌟🌟🌟🌟✨
❤️🔥 The plot: When Marina Salles is murdered by a serial killer, she transforms into an aswang: a vengeful spirit from her grandmother's Filipino folk tales. In the spirit's quest to avenge Marina's death, she flits through the minds and memories of the people in her life, including her killer, developing a deeper understanding of the forces that propelled her to this tragic end.
I found this book in @anovelideaphilly back in May and the blurb instantly drew me in. I love a ghost story, and I'm really interested in reading more Filipino storytelling (America Is Not The Heart by Elaine Castillo was a highlight of my 2022 reading!) The writing here didn't disappoint: it was lively and vivid and totally compulsive.
It was also brutal. The novel starts with a visceral description of a murder and runs the gamut from childhood sexual assault and abuse to institutionalisation and addiction.
I never know where I land on the idea of "gratuitous" suffering in novels. There is no shortage of suffering in the world, where and why do we draw the line in fiction, especially when it draws from real stories and injustices? What does it mean for us to say there is "too much" pain in a novel?
This book made me even less sure. The reader has no out, no happy ending to look forward to. Some of the scenes here are among the most distressing I've ever read. I wondered what I was supposed to do with all of it, what the purpose was.
Reflecting now, I think maybe that sense of being at a loss was the point, stretching your heart to hold the beauty and the horror together. The moments of tenderness in this book were as keen as the moments of pain, and neither cancelled out the other. It showed that a life is never one thing - not a waste, not ever purely tragic. There was hope here, but it did not allow you to cast off the pain, and I'll be thinking about it for a long time.
❤️🔥 Read it if you're not deterred by what I've said above, and liked 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak.
🚫 Pleeeease check trigger warnings before reading and avoid if you can't take heavy reading right now.
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Physical abuse
juniperbranches's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Racism
frogggirl2's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Child abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Addiction, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence
katieb1034's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Rape
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Car accident
ka_cam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Child abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Body horror, Blood, Abandonment, and Addiction
Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Medical content, and Colonisation
Minor: Animal cruelty, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Dysphoria
Additional content warnings: child welfare systems, group homes, explicit descriptions of rape of a child and other child sexual and physical abuse, explicit descriptions of sex in the context of sex worklaurarevelesg's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Why? I miss my dad too.
Yes, but there's just too many ways to miss your mother. There's like a hundred thousand ways"
Me tomó 4 meses leer esta novela porque cada cierto tiempo tenía que dejarla debido a la dureza de sus temas. Ahora que la terminé, solo puedo decir que tengo sentimientos encontrados.
La protagonista, Marina, sufre de todo tipo de violencia. Leer sobre esto, tragedia tras tragedia, fue exhaustivo. Sin embargo, esto no quiere decir que la historia de Marina, así como la de otras mujeres (ficticias y reales) no sea importante o no deba ser contada.
Las notas de autor finales dan nuevos ojos para apreciar la novela, por eso, a pesar de que el "trayecto" fue duro, y pocas veces disfrutable, regresar a la novela da una sensación agridulce, pues es tan cruel como bella.
Algo que no disfruté fue la intercalación entre los capítulos y la narración del aswang. Me ppareció que me distraía más de lo que verdaderamente guiaba la historia. Además, como había capítulos muy largos, al llegar a la parte del aswang ya no recordaba muy bien todo lo que había sucedido anteriormente.
Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Abandonment, Blood, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
aubrey's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Trafficking, Animal death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Animal cruelty
tyunka's review
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Rape and Pedophilia
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and Abandonment
mattbenard's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Murder, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault