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apollo0325's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
First, I'd like to say the length of this novel saved this from being a DNF for me. I almost DNF'd midway through part one, but I said fuck it, it's only a 6 hour audiobook and I decided to keep going. I'm glad I did. This book encompasses such a specific angle of grief that isn't explored enough in literature especially under the lens of psychological horror/body horror/cosmic horror (of sorts).
I won't lie, the beginning is VERY slow because it's setting up Thiago's relationship with Vera, his mental state at her loss, and what life was like with her. However, after part one, we really get a grasp of what this novel is going to be in a way. I kept seeing people online pitch this book as one about grief and a "haunted Alexa" but babes, the haunted Alexa part is maybe 10% of the novel within part one and mentioned later on. I'd pitch this book as a psychological horror examining grief and how one deals with loss as someone basically loses their grip on reality (psychosis). Thiago is someone who is absolutely stricken with bad luck 100% of the time, and you learn this very quickly in part one. It makes this book all the more tragic.
If you're sensitive to animal death/violence especially with dogs, please cautiously read this book. It doesn't occur until part two, but everything snowballs very quickly after that point.
The ending was simultaneously confusing and tragic. I knew Thiago was succumbing to his grief, but it was really unclear as to what was actually happening to him. That's more of a me problem + listening through the audiobook. NGL, I also kind of hate the idea that people's tragedies/fates are inescapable, especially when it is based on generational trauma. It makes it feel like there is no hope at all and instead you should just die to save the people around you. It's a very hopeless ending, but that's also my interpretation. Others may feel differently! I think the open ending allows the reader to draw their own conclusions on what was going on with Thiago.
This book was brutal, unsettling, and tragic. The audiobook narrator was also FANTASTIC. I loved his narration. I'd read another book with him narrating it for sure.
I won't lie, the beginning is VERY slow because it's setting up Thiago's relationship with Vera, his mental state at her loss, and what life was like with her. However, after part one, we really get a grasp of what this novel is going to be in a way. I kept seeing people online pitch this book as one about grief and a "haunted Alexa" but babes, the haunted Alexa part is maybe 10% of the novel within part one and mentioned later on. I'd pitch this book as a psychological horror examining grief and how one deals with loss as someone basically loses their grip on reality (psychosis). Thiago is someone who is absolutely stricken with bad luck 100% of the time, and you learn this very quickly in part one. It makes this book all the more tragic.
If you're sensitive to animal death/violence especially with dogs, please cautiously read this book. It doesn't occur until part two, but everything snowballs very quickly after that point.
This book was brutal, unsettling, and tragic. The audiobook narrator was also FANTASTIC. I loved his narration. I'd read another book with him narrating it for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Abandonment and Classism
If you are sensitive to animal death / viscera, I would not recommend this book unless you feel okay going in knowing it WILL be descriptive and detailed. The body horror in this one is also very well described.mlewis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Terminal illness
Minor: Miscarriage
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
5.0
I liked this! The ending was predictably unsatisfying but I think that’s what makes it good horror!
Thiago was in turns pathetic and frightening and saddening and my god does that cook give me the willies.
In the best of ways, this reminded me of SGJ, and Neil Gaiman specifically in OATEOTL and American Gods
Thiago was in turns pathetic and frightening and saddening and my god does that cook give me the willies.
In the best of ways, this reminded me of SGJ, and Neil Gaiman specifically in OATEOTL and American Gods
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Alcohol, Murder, Violence, Medical content, Death, Car accident, Racism, Xenophobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, and Deportation
catapocalypse's review against another edition
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
4.25
It's a hard decision for rating; I'd say 4 stars for execution, but 4.5 is closer for my own personal enjoyment of the book, so I've landed on 4.25 stars.
This is an intense exploration of grief about a man dealing both with the death of his wife as well as with a malevolent force hounding him. It weaves in a variety of other timely anxieties, like always-listening electronic assistants, the many angles of the relentless media cycle, and being a bit disconnected from one's own heritage.
Main thing I want to note is that the first 25-30 pages are slower than one might expect, but then the speculative bits start seeping in, and things really pick up speed as it goes. So I recommend sticking with it, even if the beginning doesn't quite grab you!
Other than that, the ending felt a little weak compared to how hard things go in the middle. It feels as if there are a number of compelling ways things could have gone, but things unravel without pursuing any of them in a satisfying way.
This is a great debut, and I'm eager to read more from this author!
This is an intense exploration of grief about a man dealing both with the death of his wife as well as with a malevolent force hounding him. It weaves in a variety of other timely anxieties, like always-listening electronic assistants, the many angles of the relentless media cycle, and being a bit disconnected from one's own heritage.
Main thing I want to note is that the first 25-30 pages are slower than one might expect, but then the speculative bits start seeping in, and things really pick up speed as it goes. So I recommend sticking with it, even if the beginning doesn't quite grab you!
Other than that, the ending felt a little weak compared to how hard things go in the middle. It feels as if there are a number of compelling ways things could have gone, but things unravel without pursuing any of them in a satisfying way.
This is a great debut, and I'm eager to read more from this author!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child abuse, Incest, Racism, and Rape
mossymossy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
Minor: Drug abuse and Alcohol
chilliam_mc's review against another edition
I expected it to be fast-paced since it’s so short but it still draggggged. Might just read the rest of the plot summary
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Animal death
destinybelcher's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail
ksuazo94's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Death, Vomit, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Cancer, Cursing, Alcohol, Medical content, Mental illness, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Racism
chloseencounter's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’m so glad to have ended my year with this book! I’m not sure what I expected going in but my expectations where more than met. This Thing Between Us filled me with grief and dread in a way very little media has been able to, though I fully understand why it is a divisive read, leaving more to the imagination than most books would. Personally, this gave the novel more staying power with me, I was left thinking about the end long after I finished.
This Thing Between Us is a sorrowful story, a snapshot of grief more honest than I’ve ever read. I know Pet Semetery is what people always point to as the book which captures pain and loss in the most sincere way but honestly, I think Gus Moreno portrayed this specific agony so clearly it was palpable. That was truly the draw for me.
Well written and upsetting, the reader is left feeling the frustration of losing something you can never get back. We’re left feeling the way in which people try and understand, to sympathize, but they can never grasp a human experience they haven’t had. Thiago is stuck with the overwhelming idea that this feeling might be something only he alone has felt, even though he knows that isn’t possible. This loneliness, this emotion that is almost exclusionary, the idea that you’re in a club no one else can join is a terribly difficult thing to grasp but This Thing Between Us allowed me to sit with all those feelings.
I know there’s a lot of back and fourth on what the end meant. I gathered two different things. First is that this book is about two true statements coexisting. That Thiago could be Mexican while simultaneously being not Mexican enough. That Esteban could be guilty while also being innocent. That the cook and Thiago could be one in the same person. That Thiago could be a starving fish in the well while standing outside of the well looking in.
In its simplest form though, I think this book is just about being devoured by grief. For Thiago this looked like becoming totally swallowed by fear and anger. Thiago talks about how perhaps the afterlife is just whatever you think it is, in the same sense I believe that he was convinced his family was cursed, that he was cursed and would pay for generations of sin. It clearly effected his life before Vera’s death, being antisocial and too afraid to follow his dreams and passions, so when the worst possible thing happened it was easy for Thiago to feel like he was the problem. In the end he allowed that guilt and grief to eat him alive.
This Thing Between Us is a sorrowful story, a snapshot of grief more honest than I’ve ever read. I know Pet Semetery is what people always point to as the book which captures pain and loss in the most sincere way but honestly, I think Gus Moreno portrayed this specific agony so clearly it was palpable. That was truly the draw for me.
Well written and upsetting, the reader is left feeling the frustration of losing something you can never get back. We’re left feeling the way in which people try and understand, to sympathize, but they can never grasp a human experience they haven’t had. Thiago is stuck with the overwhelming idea that this feeling might be something only he alone has felt, even though he knows that isn’t possible. This loneliness, this emotion that is almost exclusionary, the idea that you’re in a club no one else can join is a terribly difficult thing to grasp but This Thing Between Us allowed me to sit with all those feelings.
In its simplest form though, I think this book is just about being devoured by grief. For Thiago this looked like becoming totally swallowed by fear and anger. Thiago talks about how perhaps the afterlife is just whatever you think it is, in the same sense I believe that he was convinced his family was cursed, that he was cursed and would pay for generations of sin. It clearly effected his life before Vera’s death, being antisocial and too afraid to follow his dreams and passions, so when the worst possible thing happened it was easy for Thiago to feel like he was the problem. In the end he allowed that guilt and grief to eat him alive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Violence, and Vomit
ecn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
What a weird fever dream. I could not tell you what really happened in this but I loved every moment. The writing was captivating and the story kept me guessing the whole time and left me with so many questions.
The ending did seem to speed by a bit quicker than I could follow but I think it added to the fever dream quality of it.
If you like black mirror, A24, and (kind of) Get Out, you’re going to LOVE this
The only reason this wasn’t a 5 was because of how loose the horror elements are. The looming presence seems to jump around a lot and leaves us with more questions than (any?) answers. While this typically works, I wish I had one thread to grab onto just so I can understand what was going on. But maybe that’s the point…
The ending did seem to speed by a bit quicker than I could follow but I think it added to the fever dream quality of it.
If you like black mirror, A24, and (kind of) Get Out, you’re going to LOVE this
The only reason this wasn’t a 5 was because of how loose the horror elements are. The looming presence seems to jump around a lot and leaves us with more questions than (any?) answers. While this typically works, I wish I had one thread to grab onto just so I can understand what was going on. But maybe that’s the point…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cancer, Racism, and Stalking