Reviews with content warning for Suicide - This Thing Between Us

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

78 reviews

wynplus1's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.5

I'm really sad to rate this book so low because I genuinely enjoyed the first 75% of it! It was going to be a very solid 4, but the last 25% just... really ruined it for me.
I love the novel's tone, i love the style in which it's written. Thiago is a really sympathetic character and I found myself rooting for him early on. I like the novel's exploration of grief and the "weird" horror vibes. It felt like watching a really tense horror movie, something artsy and "elevated".
It really started to lose me

after Diane's death

and it never won me back. It feels like the novel should've ended a lot sooner, and the ending was just... disappointing. Bleak, but not even in a way that feels deserving. It just feels like it ends with no real resolution, and it really soured the overall enjoyment I was feeling previously.

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upshawsg's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

2.5

I was excited about this book when I picked it up from the shelves and read the synopsis. It sounded like it would be a gripping, haunting tale of technology gone astray. I wasn’t expected a possession story, one that wasn’t obvious until half way through the novel.

It was like dragging myself through mud to finish this book. I wasn’t sure where Gus was aiming to go with the plot, why I should feel anything for our main character, and the ending was unclear and confusing. Not an enjoyable journey and the destination was subpar.

I will give Gus, the author, some credit for his unique writing style and gory depictions of some scenes (which I love).

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yccmqb's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

This is a strange story focused on grief. Thiago loses his wife and in his mourning re-counts and experiences strange things that are happening. Funny at times, some really strong quotes. Feels like one I need to sit with and maybe revisit? Definitely some fever dreamy vibes as well.

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caroisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

More than a horror story, this is a love story laced with tragedy and grief. There are supernatural elements that make this a creepy, wild read, and an unreliable narrator who makes us second-guess what is actually happening.

This book is written from the perspective of Thiago writing to his wife, the love of his life who lost her life to a random accident, only a few months prior. He is still processing his grief and anger, and we sort through his memories together. Then the creepy elements start to appear, like the Alexa-inspired speaker that seems to be haunted. Only Thiago, his wife, and his mother-in-law seem to witness these strange events. As he makes the move away from Chicago and this mysterious darkness, he realizes he's being followed. Layered within this is his in-between identity, being Mexican and American, feeling like he carries the ancestral curse of any family wrongdoings -- racism and the polarizing discourse on immigrants as background themes.

For me, this story was bleak (rightfully so?) and unraveled in a messy way, continuously confirming there's only darkness in the end, "life is life." I think any comedic undertone got lost on me.

I was so excited to read a Chicagoan author's work, and really appreciated Gus Moreno's writing style -- sparse enough to read with ease, but decorative and meandering where it needed to be.

You'll like this if you're into horror and supernatural concepts, bicultural perspectives, stories that reflect grief and loss of loved ones.

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buttercat42's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

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hannaheinhorn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.75

this book was a fun read, but i almost felt like it should’ve been longer in order to resolve itself properly. if that were the case, the book would definitely be like 4 stars for me. ambiguous endings are great when they’re not cop-outs, and i felt like this one left enough to the imagination to make the message of the book so unclear. based on how the story ended, it kind of seems like thiago was just suffering to suffer, which is a conclusion that i don’t think the author meant for the audience to come to.

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