Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

74 reviews

melm1216's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Racism, Drug use, Violence, Gun violence, Death, Cancer, Blood, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Drug abuse, and Child death

taratearex's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The desperation and bad decisions of Breaking Bad meets the creepy supernatural vibe of The X-Files meets the slow burn storytelling with political commentary of Silvia Moreno-Garcia... which is just to say this was right up my alley. This is definitely genre bending- some noir, horror, and thriller. Some of those scenes were so gruesome I would be covering my eyes for them if it was a movie, so now I am still waiting for them to leave my brain haha, so definitely not for those that don't like a bit of gore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gun violence, and Gore

Moderate: Racial slurs, Cancer, Child death, and Racism

Minor: Transphobia and Child abuse

tyler_j's review against another edition

This is a great book from what I read. DNF 108 pages.

This DNF has nothing against this book itself. The reason I can't finish it is highly personal.

I wish I could finish this book. It truly seems amazing and I believe if I could finish it i'd give it 5 stars. But I can't.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Torture, Drug abuse, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Death

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This story is not for the faint-hearted because there are some very brutal incidents involving injury, murder, death, abuse, drug use. Set primarily in Texas in a world of violent crime and desperation, the main character, Mario, is still reeling from the death of his young daughter and the breakdown of his marriage. The author nimbly weaves a number of serious social issues throughout his book, with one in particular being the way health care costs in the United States can bankrupt people and take them to a very low point in their life.

Looking for a way to recover financial stability and win back his estranged wife, Mario embarks on a life of crime he sees as short term. An opportunity becomes available for Mario to join two friends for a high-paying job that promises to be the payday they all need to start over and leave behind their criminal pasts. Unfortunately, this last job takes them into the underbelly of a world where the strong survive eliminating rivals and punishing traitors, and in this world, spirituality harnesses not just God, but the Devil too.

Really well-written story and a good translation. The assorted people and various landscapes of their environments felt visceral and real. In a lot of books and movies, criminals and the poor are portrayed in a one-dimensional way, but in this book, the characters possess great intelligence and depth, and the reader may likely be exposed to a harsh reality that many people experience but many more are insulated from by virtue of their skin color, neighborhood, lineage, and sometimes just luck.

I listened to the audiobook, and the narration by Jean-Marc Berne was excellent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Animal cruelty, Murder, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Grief, Racism, Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Child death, and Racial slurs

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Medical content

bando_bauldio's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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

4.0

Ok I thought this book was incredible. It was like no other horror book that I’ve read. My biggest problem with the book is actually that my mans Gabino Iglesias basically recycled the same friend Jake creature tale from his short story There’s Always Something in the Woods (I don’t know which came first tho). It would have been cool as a world expansion thing, but the stories are retold almost word for word. It felt lazy and made me lose some respect for the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Xenophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Child death, and Classism

vtleon715's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Gore, Child death, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

ate_nina_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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 is not for the faint of heart!! Graphic and gory and overall disturbing, this is not a light read. Nevertheless, it is beautifully written with both poetic prose and highly sympathetic insights into one grieving and deeply troubled man's psyche (a tall feat, considering the acts that this man commits throughout the book).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Hate crime, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and War

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed the style of the prose, how it feels Mario is talking directly to you. Otherwise the plot felt pretty basic, maybe a cooler version of Breaking Bad (I've never seen breaking bad though so I could be wrong) but there are a ton of banger lines and thoughts and ideas packed in. There were also parts where it dragged, lots of scenes of Mario reminiscing that felt like the same thing over and over. I would still say worth the read and I might check out more from the author

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cancer, Vomit, Child death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Addiction and Body horror

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, and Transphobia

szmay's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Body horror, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Trafficking, and Violence

rbz39's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Transphobia