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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Terminal illness, Child death, Death, Animal death, Cannibalism, Blood, Body horror, and Grief
Moderate: Medical content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, Confinement, and Drug use
coryyalva's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
While Monstrilio didn't take me on the journey I expected it to, it did fill me with endless emotions as it touched on love, loss, grief, and labels and expectations. This book spoke to me in a way I had not expected it to.
(Please look up the trigger warnings first, but....) go read Monstrilio!
Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Child death, Gore, Animal death, Violence, Death, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cannibalism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Medical content, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Sexual content
Minor: Drug use
nadstorro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Murder, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
tjmitrovic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Violence and Cannibalism
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Child death, Murder, Grief, and Animal death
thehomiemona's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
savvy999's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Death, Body horror, Animal death, Violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Child death
orizenda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Cannibalism, Grief, Physical abuse, Blood, and Child death
Moderate: Sexual content, Animal death, and Drug use
pagesandtales's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Cannibalism, Sexual content, and Animal death
Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Death of parent
mxunsmiley's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
It is uneven in its presentation besides; after Magos’s point of view, which begins the novel, we go into Lena, who, while compelling, is not nearly as striking as Magos, who oscillates between aloofness, cruelty, wrought passion… a real spectrum of what is deemed unsavory in a woman, and a grieving mother, at that. She makes bizarre and incomprehensible statements and decisions, unfortunately given attention less and less as the narrative moves to Joseph and Peter, and finally, M, who then takes after his mother in intrigue.
It wasn’t exactly clear what M was meant to be—a reincarnation of Santiago, a creature with memories imposed on him through the willing of his birth, who knows—but that lack of definition framed the novel’s exploration of parenthood and children’s autonomy. A struggle to be that which his parents, or his “creator”, so desperately wanted him to be, insisting they can “tame” him, “transform” him, even as it causes him despair, confusion, and shame. Parents have all kinds of expectations for their children before they are even born; in one of Joseph’s chapters, he speaks of how he fantasized a future in which Santiago was thirty, happy beyond belief, while fully admitting that he didn’t have any idea what could have made Santiago so happy. Magos even says, “I know what Monstrilio is. I made him,” imposing all of her desires onto him, her desire which gave him form in the first place; thus, does he have any right to his own personhood? The plea of the child then seems paradoxical, perhaps, though all they long for is love and acceptance for what they choose—or sometimes, are forced—to become.
While there is a clear differentiation in voices, and a wide cast of characters, there aren’t many moments when it feels as though they are truly present in the narrative. Funnily enough, it’s like performance art, and the characters are set pieces, maybe speaking to the fable-like nature of the novel. The author’s Mexican background is obvious here, with the astute symbolism of a deteriorating house, nevertheless patched up frantically to give a show of respectability and dignity, keeping up appearances… Magos rebelling against that image of the Good Mexican Mother/Woman, particularly during the mass, was especially appreciated.
There’s a lot of clumsiness, but overall, the narrative absorbed me and ultimately, I enjoyed how bizarre it all was, despite the ending feeling a bit too rushed;
Graphic: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Gore
spacebras's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I'm not rating it lower because of what I wished it was, but how to never really got to me in the end. Maybe it was the tone? I'm not sure. I can understand why people are into it. But I wouldn't call it "genuinely scary" like the blurbs tot. Outside of the first few scenes it's really not. And it doesn't have to be- it's just promoted as such
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Medical content
Moderate: Cannibalism and Animal death
In the first scene, a child's dead body is torn open by his mother and a piece of his lung is taken out. It is graphic, but is the most graphic the story will get. And not done with ill intention (it's complicated)