Reviews with content warning for Vomit - This Thing Between Us

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.

Content Warnings

abyjo's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

insomniacsun's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thank you. I love you. I’m sorry. Thank you. I love you.
I’m sorry. For the things that still need to be written out.

Premetto che sono una mezza cartuccia quando si tratta di horror, ma se si parla di libri incentrati sul lutto, devo esserci.

Sono molto contenta nel vedere che l'autore ha sfoggiato il meglio della sua prosa nelle descrizioni del lutto che invade la vita di Thiago, e non mi sorprende il fatto che questo libro sia nato dall'elaborazione di una sua perdita.
I primi capitoli ambientati al funerale della moglie sono sicuramente la parte migliore del libro: per quanto l'elemento horror che ha seguito mi abbia raggelato il sangue nelle vene, quei passaggi mi hanno sviscerato come nessun demonio potrà mai fare. Kudos.

People cannot bear to think there are channels of human experience that are closed off to them, that they’ll never know. People want to believe their experience is universal, that nothing’s outside their scope.

Onestamente, dopo aver letto la trama, mi aspettavo un libro molto più incentrato sull'assistente Itza (stile AI che prende coscienza) invece è decisamente a tema sovrannaturale, che ho comunque apprezzato. L'autore ha gestito meravigliosamente la tensione e la confusione del protagonista di fronte a situazioni surreali, specialmente nel secondo arc.

Al momento sto ancora rimuginando sul finale, che mi ha lasciato un po' perplessa, e questo mi blocca dal dare 5 stelle al libro. Probabilmente rileggerò il libro per avere una visione più ampia fin dal principio. Alla fine, il fascino di un finale aperto come questo sta anche nel godersi una nuova esperienza con ogni rilettura. So che ci rifletterò su a lungo.

Penso che avrebbe funzionato meglio come finale aperto se ci fossero stati più riferimenti e approfondimenti su questo fatidico "banchetto". Sicuramente non è un lieto fine, e penso che decidendo di farla finita abbia preso posto alla tavolata, ma non capisco come questa maledizione sia partita. Però il passaggio alla terza persona, prima con la fotocamera nel sogno, e infine con il cambio di pronomi, è stato un colpo d'effetto. The Cook ha sicuramente avuto il sopravvento ben prima che Thiago si suicidasse e il colpo di grazia, a mio parere, l'ha dato la conversazione con Esteban.

Comunque sia, Moreno mi ha stregato con questo debutto, per cui il suo nome è uno che terrò sicuramente a mente, aspettando di leggere altri suoi libri.
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EDIT: portato su a 4.5 perchè non riesco a smettere di pensarci su. Tra svariate interpretazioni sulla natura di certi avvenimenti, e la validità di tutte loro, mi sento in obbligo di dover lodare un libro del genere. Riflettere sugli intrighi di questa storia ormai è parte della mia routine.

Content Warnings

icebearg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

I picked up this book because I was looking for a supernatural horror and even though it wasn't as terrifying as I hoped it would be, I liked the story more than I thought I would. What impressed me were the realistic thoughts and emotions the protagonist went through in his grief, like a real account of someone going through the pain of losing a loved one. The "ghost" acted as a symbol to further illustrate the image of grief.
I highly recommend This Thing Between Us to anyone who has or is currently navigating through their grief because its commentaries on death and the story's main allegory of grief are deeply validating and relatable.

Content Warnings

kirahaycock21's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book was actually super well written. I literally couldn’t put it down- I read it in one sitting. It was confusing though, but I think that was deliberate on the authors part. There was a lot of symbolism, and it could be interpreted a lot of different ways. But I loved the simple writing style and the way it addressed the feelings behind losing a loved one. Some parts of it were genuinely scary too.

Content Warnings

ghast's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

Content Warnings

killmoore_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense

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

4.5

I finished this, looked at my husband and said "I can't wait to read this again".

This Thing Between Us gutted me. It is a horrific and heartbreaking take on the process of grief, and the isolation and guilt that so often follows losing someone we love in a way that we have convinced ourselves was preventable.

I loved the small reveal regarding the format of our story, and honestly the jumbled, erratic time line did it for me here - it was written as a memory and clearly comes across as such. The body horror is graphic, the imagery is beautiful, and the portrayal of grief is so spot on that I reached out to hold my partners hand multiple times throughout.

I was slightly disappointed that we didn't delve deeper into the "haunted itza" story line, and the reason behind the haunting itself fell a bit flat for me, which is why this isn't a 5 star read for me. However, I'm not disappointed, and I look forward to picking this up for a second time.

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jkar7's review against another edition

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I got to 75% and it was decent. Then I started just skimming and quit at 81%. Some people may enjoy books like this, but don't.
What really grabbed my attention was how grief was described. I found it to be quite accurate and I connect that part. And then the book fell off a cliff and it was too ridiculous to continue.

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