Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

22 reviews

jamieleepilk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I adored this book 💚 Filled with grief, love & family. A surreal tale of belonging and monsters, bursty with blood and guts combined with some of the most beautiful writing I've read. Gotta love a horror story that makes you cry. 
Spent my day off with a big cup of tea and didn't move until I finished it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Grief, Chronic illness, and Death

onlyincursive's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

Somehow devastated me and gave me hope at the same time. An interesting look at the ways people handle grief and the challenges of living in a world where you’ll never fit in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death, Dysphoria, Grief, Medical content, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Violence, and Drug use

Minor: Toxic relationship, Excrement, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts

brinnavirginia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Gore, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Blood, Torture, Chronic illness, Animal death, Child death, Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, and Death

Minor: Drug use

abril_chavez's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This books was captivating from beginning to end. The author’s depiction of grief is nothing short of raw. I was right there with each of the characters going through the motions. The horror components to this book do not cheapen or lessen the message conveyed, instead, those moments force you to look at grief straight in the eyes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, and Medical content

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Grief, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol, Cannibalism, and Torture

behindherpages's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, and Grief

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Murder, Ableism, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexual content, Vomit, Drug use, Excrement, Physical abuse, and Chronic illness

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Monstrilio is a tale of grief, told in four parts. The story starts with the death of a little boy and follows the family as they grieve. The first part follows Magos, who cuts a piece of her dead son away and uses it to grow a new boy. The next part follows Len, the best friend of the couple, then Joseph, the father, and lastly Monstrilio himself. 

Each of these characters is so unique, all dealing with their own issues outside of grief. Magos has a strained relationship with her mother, Lena suffers from severe insomnia and was abused by her own mother, Joseph has some pretty bad depression and Monstrilio, well he's just hungry. Like really hungry. 

Honestly, everyone in this book needed therapy. 

Currently I'm listening to Pet Sematary and this is kind of like, if Lewis could have brought Gage back but it all worked out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Grief, Animal death, Cannibalism, Murder, Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexual content

pimaz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Blood, Cannibalism, Animal death, Child death, and Chronic illness

year23's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Going in, I knew this wasn't a horror book (it really isn't, I'm not sure why it's being marketed as such, this is not a scary book unless you have fears around grief). I think it falls into speculative fiction or even magical realism more than horror. There are horrific type things that happen, but that's the case in any book dealing with tragic events, particularly grief. 

An excellent queer novel exploring complicated grief. I kept thinking about how there isn't a word for a parent who loses a child - and I think this book explores why that is, the horror of that experience and trying to place yourself when a key relationship that defines you is no more. How that grief also reverberates throughout a family system, a community, and does become its own entity, and in this case, a new being. 

I loved the multiple perspectives/pov's - culminating in M's. So many metaphors at play in this story - would be cool to sit in on a class breaking it down.

While this may seem high-brow - far from it. Clear, evocative writing, no purple prose to be found.

Finally - I've been looking for a book that makes me genuinely laugh and there is a scene in here that I just think about and crack up. Personally, that's a feat in any novel - for a story with so many unreal things happening, moments like these, it still felt very human, grounded. This is such a good book - highly recommend to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Child death, Gore, and Grief