Scan barcode
libraryoflanelle's review against another edition
DNF'd at around 40%
Mariana Enriquez has been on my TBR list for a hot minute. In anticipation of the release of ‘A Sunny Place for Shady People’, I finally got around to reading ‘The Dangers of Smoking in Bed’ last month. I found a number of issues with it, including the use of the T slur, an inappropriate reference to enslavement, and a whole lot of fatphobia. Since I hadn’t seen many other mentions of this, I put it down to a one-off or a potential translation issue and continued to eagerly anticipate ‘A Sunny Place…’.
I was so hyped to receive an e-ARC of ‘A Sunny Place…’ through NetGalley because I’d already heard such great things. My reading experience started off well – I enjoyed the first story, found the next few okay but forgettable, and then BAM – the fourth story, ‘Julie’, was absolutely rife with fatphobia, not to mention sanism and ableism. I was fortunate to be buddy reading with a very insightful and value-aligned friend, so I had the chance to discuss this with a like-minded reader before ultimately making the decision to DNF.
I’ve also seen other reviewers mention how exploitative the use of Elisa Lam’s case was in the titular story. In hindsight, although I wasn’t very familiar with the case when reading, I have to agree.
I cannot recommend this one and would much rather spend my time reading and recommending short story collections that align with my values.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Rape
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent
readingwithgoose's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
vickyoyarzun's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, and Dementia
Moderate: Cancer and Sexism
Minor: Abortion and Pandemic/Epidemic
More...