Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Nuestra parte de noche by Mariana Enríquez

29 reviews

eelizard's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, War, Torture, Child abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Medical content, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Slavery

kneecole's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, Child abuse, Violence, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Homophobia, Classism, Car accident, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Medical trauma, War, Mass/school shootings, Grief, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Car accident, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death

Death of a pet dog is “off screen”

ka_cam's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

A gripping horror read- fast because I didn’t want to put it down. Also, very dark. The setting and descriptions of time, place, energy and ethos of various setting was very well done, especially for translation. I appreciated how I really got a feel for how ‘normal’ the very traditionally abnormal (hyper-wealthy multigenerational death cult and spirits/spirit worlds) world was for various characters, and their distinct experiences of it as medium, clairvoyant child of medium, elder, child, follower, other etc added to the sense of reality. Went a bit on/could have been a bit shorter but a compelling read. Check the content warnings tho, not for the faint of heart!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

tree_star's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I enjoyed this audiobook so much. I was super invested in each protagonist and every story arc. At its core, this is a horror story.
It's also historical, political, and queer fiction, and that together is the triforce that did me in. 
The end was worth all the hours spent wondering what the evil was and that it is both part of this world and not gives me the chills... but maybe you'll see it differently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Death, Torture, Body horror, Colonisation, Slavery, Blood, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Classism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, War, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Rape, Cancer, Genocide, Police brutality, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

ember_is_gay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

i was obsessed with this book while i was reading it, i spoke to everyone about it and recommended it to them and was so excited to talk about it. this had me hooked in so quickly, i loved how book moved through timeframes non-chronologically and gave us such a rounded insight into juan and gasper.

even though this book is so so long, it didn't feel that way at all. i was so caught up in the story and honestly my one complaint is that the ending felt rushed and i would have loved it to have been more dragged out (although i am not sure how much of that is because i just didn't want the book to end). 

i honestly cannot wait to read this book again and to find someone who loves it as much as i do so we can spend hours talking about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Gore, Murder, Grief, Death, Gaslighting, Slavery, Torture, Child death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

danikajoan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

This blew me away. I didn’t want it to end, loved the writing/translation (was already a fan of Enriquez from Things We Lost in the Fire), felt fully invested in the lore and so compelled by the characters. Really intense, a little eerie, sad, romantic, and funny. 

and I am ALWAYS on board for a “house is bigger on the inside than the outside” House of Leaves vibe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Drug use, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Death, Medical content, Violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Colonisation, Chronic illness, Murder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Rape, Vomit, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Blood, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Racism, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Gore, Classism, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, and Genocide

Alllllll the trigger warnings for this one, very intense but not in a way that feels like it’s there just for shock value or is exploitative?

alicia_rausch's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

This was an extremely difficult book to rate for me - and felt akin to Donna Tartt's work in which I must shelve them as "masterpieces I kind of hated reading yet I can't stop thinking about them." 

The world, the characters, and the tone of the novel is masterfully done, though it remained much lighter on horror than I expected and the pacing was extremely slow. I found myself wanting to quit this beast multiple times and yet I’m glad I pushed through. I think, a bit like Vampires of El Norte, it was marketed as heavier on the horror than it was - and I was expecting a much larger % of the novel to be action, when in reality it was just a few sequences. 

What it is, is a generational drama with horror elements, which should have been how it was advertised. It’s a quiet book, with a creeping sense of dread, and dark elements as we follow the family and how the cult affects each member over time. Like a darker, more effed-up Pachinko. 

The rep for LGBTQ+ was well done, and like Pachinko, I greatly enjoyed the historical elements about a time period (and place) I am not overly familiar with. 

The actual writing/storytelling was excellent and the way the puzzle fit together at the end was satisfying. I love an ambigious ending so that was a plus for me. But I just could not get past the excruciatingly slow pacing. 

To the right reader, this will be an instant favorite - unfortunately, that reader is just not me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Gaslighting, Grief, Excrement, Mental illness, Medical content, Animal death, Torture, Kidnapping, and Suicidal thoughts

muse692's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Child death, Animal death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

ehmannky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

5.0

A sprawling and meandering horror book with a plot I feel like I cannot do justice to in a short summary. The general plot of the book follows Juan, a medium for a cult, and his son Gaspar over 30 years as Juan does everything in his power to keep Gaspar from being abused and used in the ways he was. But that feels so reductive because this book is so good and covers so much and it’s beautiful. It’s about the lingering effects that wealthy colonizers have had on people in the global south and rural poor (literally using up their bodies in the pursuit of riches), the damage of the greed of the already wealthy, the lingering psychological and physical effects from the trauma of a dictatorship and living with the ambiguous loss of the disappeared. This book forces you to read slowly, and you get to live out the pain and consuming fear and confusion of Gaspar. It’s so good, I cannot recommend this enough if you like horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Mental illness, Death of parent, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Blood

Moderate: Colonisation, Animal death, and Slavery

Minor: War, Gun violence, Cancer, and Rape

crispr_breadboard's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Death, Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts