Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

311 reviews

carojust's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

sabrinalexis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

buttercat42's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

booksanddopamine'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was an emotional read. A large part of the book is written as if the protagonist is talking to his dead wife. The portrayal of grief and loss is raw and real. Unfortunately it seems many folks go into this book thinking it's about a haunted device similar to an Alexa, but it's not. There's also a large split between people who like the ending and people who think it fell flat. I don't mind an ambiguous ending and am still thinking on it. Beautiful book overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

racheltheripper's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I can't even wrap my head around why I loved every moment of this book. Even when I was sobbing. A beautiful exploration of grief and tragedy. Not quite scary but it did have the same effect as a well-timed build up to a cinematic jump scare. Just... Without the jump scare. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Animal death

slimygf'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

eramser's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

hannaheinhorn'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? 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Classism

shavanners's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

inkylabyrinth's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use