Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Temporada de huracanes

The most grim and dark book I’ve read in a long time. Just when you thought things couldn’t get more depraved, they do! A graphic and unflinching look at the darkest corners of humanity. What made me not just DNF it was the writing and the structure of it. Short but packs the biggest punch.

Fernanda Melchor, tiene mis respetos. Nunca voy a olvidar las emociones que senti cuando estaba leyendo esto.

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nookatdusk's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad

3.75

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oversherin's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

Not rating this book because it is not my taste - but I respect the hell out of it.

This book is incredibly violent and dark. You get right into the mind of the characters who are deeply troubled and hateful people who are wrecked by their environment. Chapters are long dark spirals into the depths of these characters and their darkest thoughts imaginable. Despite this, Melchor is very skilled in giving them just enough humanity that I empathized with them and wanted to stick it out to the end. As other reviewers have said, this book is deeply, disturbingly, honest in a way I have never read before. To me, the hardest part of this book is that most of the characters are children who are wrapped up in the worst of the world. The run-on prose took adjustment, but I found it very natural by middle.

Overall, I thought the story was compelling and timeless. I gritted my teeth through the whole book and had to scan some chapters because I just couldn't stomach it. However, I respect this book and the stories it's telling. There is more truth to this book than I'd like to face. It definitely affected me in an artful way.

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lowercase_a's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

O Verdadeiro Horror de Ser Latino-Americano

O brilhantismo de Fernanda Melchor floresce em meio aos canaviais e o sol impiedoso de La Matosa, pedaço de terra e de gente esquecida pelo resto do mundo, pelos oito capítulos mais atordoantes que já li, um testemunho da desgraça alheia que é nossa, e o que torna esse romace assombração não é a perpétua condenação das mulheres entre si ou as cenas gráficas do fatídico assassinato ou sentir o desfazer dos personagens na palma de nossas mãos pela falta de dinheiro, pela vergonha, pelo ódio, pelas drogas, pela faca, pelo abandono, pelos punhos, pela culpa, pela ostrisização, pelo abuso, pela ignorância mas, o que torna o horror latente, é a compreensão visceral de que por traz (senão pela frente) de toda cidade latino-americana existe La Matosa e que essa desgraça nunca foi alheia, essa desgraça toda é nossa e por traz de toda garganta colonizada guarda um grito igual a voz deste livro: atroz e sanguinária.

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ghast's review against another edition

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challenging 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

4.0

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ecandrews0's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-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

3.75

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meghansolo's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I hated every second of this book. Well written, but incredibly, incredibly dark.

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elchivovivo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A tour de fucking force.

Each chapter is a single paragraph with little or no room for breathing.

Melchor changes narrative voices like a boxer delivers his punches. And yet, the story flows like water.

The language is pure, and i am curious to see how anyone could translate this dense, boiling, gulf- Mexican dialect into another language. Or even to see how a non-mexican spanish speaker would absorb all the local slang.

What wrenches the heart is that the story, the darkness, the characters, are all realistic (if not based on true people). It reflects the hopeless trajectory of our country, which in spite of its beauty and depth seems to be cosmically, cosmogonically thirsting for blood drawn with violence.

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