Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

72 reviews

leahrosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

The Devil Takes You Home was gritty, heart wrenching, disturbing, and so fucking interesting.  It's going to sound weird, but I savored this story, sat with it for days longer than it normally takes me, and still, even as it ended, I wanted more.

Not because this story wasn't told to fruition, because it was, and spectacularly so, but because I'm absolutely unhingedly intrigued by the bits of supernatural we saw.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Racism, Grief, Drug use, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Body horror, Racial slurs, Child abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Transphobia

nashaytreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

A beautifully written, tragic quest for a new start and escape. Mario’s journey just progressively escalated, and just like the characters, there were moments when I wanted to stop reading because I could see things getting worse, but was compelled to keep going anyway. 

Even though I saw the “twist” pretty far in advance, it was still heart wrenching all the same. I don’t think it was necessarily supposed to be a surprise, just…impactful.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Child death, Drug use, and Body horror

Minor: Death of parent

englethebert's review against another edition

dark tense

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

3.5

Plods along in the middle but starts and ends strong. Characters are despicable interesting in their actions and interactions with one another, but struggle with internal growth

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Child death, Medical trauma, Violence, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Racism, Cursing, and Body horror

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Deportation, Classism, and Drug abuse

Minor: Infidelity and Addiction

its_kievan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Well written in parts, but tonally incoherent. Iglesias clearly had something to say, either about race in America or about the cycle of violence, but any move towards capital-T Themes would be abruptly ruined by the awkward horror/crime plot. The narration was weirdly disaffected, including such highlights as a man musing about God’s existence for a hundred pages and then utterly failing to react to unambiguous proof of the supernatural. The plot just existed to shuffle the characters from one location to the next, which I would be totally fine with if the locations didn’t feel like they were also there to move the characters along. There were some genuinely disturbing moments and thought-provoking insights in the mix, and it was a pretty quick read overall, but for such an intense concept and title I was hoping for more.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Gore, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Gun violence, and Racism

Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse

Minor: Transphobia

amandadelbrocco's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

 Maybe not my genre but I really did not enjoy this. 

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Gore, Torture, Racial slurs, Murder, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

sofiacis_7's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Drug use, Gun violence, Murder, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child death, Racial slurs, and Racism

kdwhite's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death, Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Suicide attempt

cassiecollins's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This had a really interesting rhythm to it, where we'd go from scenes of relative mundanity to hyper-stylized violence and back again. It worked to lull you into some sense of security, humanizing the deep sorrow so many of the characters face, before striking you with the depths of cruelty even the most good-intentioned people can fall to. I will say, Mario's grief over Anita and Melisa, while completely understandable, became far too repetitious for my tastes. It blocked out other opportunities for other character-building, such as strengthening my belief in his and Brian's friendship leading to the ending. Just as well, I found Juanca a much more engaging character. It almost felt like the book was way more about him than Mario, who was just along for the ride, and I think that's what made the ending feel so abrupt to me. Overall, though, the writing was solid and the characterizations were on point.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Racism, Child death, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs and Murder

cberbette's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Drug use, Death, Body horror, Blood, Torture, Drug abuse, Racism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Suicide attempt and Transphobia

ldpaige's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

this book was such a rollercoaster. there were the best of times, there were the worst of times. one thing you cannot say is that iglesias cannot write simple and poetic prose. there were several moments of beauty where i could relish in the abilities of iglesias. but mario

as a character was simply unbearable. i felt like iglesias could have done a better job at making him LIKABLE, which would have easily made this book a 4 star or higher. 

other than that, i enjoyed the ride even if it was a bit bumpy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Gun violence, Transphobia, Vomit, Racial slurs, Racism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, and Child death