Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Leech by Hiron Ennes

40 reviews

jully_bean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved this book! The strange post-apocalyptic world sucked me in and kept me wanting more information. The parts that confused me in the beginning ended up being explained beautifully later on. Now that I know and understand all the secrets in the story, I want to read it all over again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Medical content

charlatte_lee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Gore, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Infertility

samanthachen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.0

I wanted to love this book, but the perspective shifts through the main character were not for me. However, I can say that the book is beautifully written. While I gave it a 3, this has to be someone’s 5. It’s stunning. The plot is perfect in my opinion. I just had the hardest time keeping up with the hive mind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Blood, Gore, Medical content, Vomit, and Death

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

ablanket42's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicide

liltakeawaygirl's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Infertility, Violence, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Animal death, Infidelity, Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Misogyny

Minor: Colonisation, Grief, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Vomit

nadiajohnsonbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Child death, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Medical content, Pregnancy, Gore, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

One thing this book did really well was doing the gothic correctly, I've read too many contemporary gothic books (thinking of like 4) that either just recycled tropes with nothing interesting going for it outside of that, or completely missing the mark where gothic is simply the set dressing of a mansion with candelabras but the story itself didn't seem gothic. So this book understood the assignment. At the beginning I thought for sure this would be 5 stars for me, the ending missed the mark a little for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide and Infertility

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

 

Context:

I added Leech by Hiron Ennes to my TBR after hearing Kayla from BooksandLala recommend it. I borrowed it from my library through the Libby app.

 

Review:

I approached Leech with some trepidation based on the reviews I’ve encountered. However, I am immensely impressed by the book’s originality—in fact, Leech is one of the most unique books I’ve ever read. I mean that as a compliment. Ennes crafts a world completely unlike anything I’ve ever read before with the precision of a surgeon. Everything feels deliberate and focused, from the French-inspired dialect spoken by some of the characters to the peculiarities of the setting. They use this specific setting and cast of characters to explore parasitism in many different forms, from the supernatural to the everyday.  I am also impressed with the book’s writing style, which is powerful and effective without being flowery. 

 

Despite my fascination with the world and my appreciation for Ennes’s writing, I did find myself somewhat reluctant to pick up the book at times. The book does not provide a strong “hook” for the reader to latch onto, either narratively or through its characters. Even well into the book, it is unclear which characters, if any, deserve our sympathy. Additionally, the narrative style of the book is inherently confusing due to the protagonist’s situation (I’m being intentionally vague here to avoid spoilers), and the murky positions of the side characters. If you’re looking for a book that prioritizes clarity and accessibility, you might want to look elsewhere.

 

There are a couple of other minor aspects of this book that didn’t quite work for me. The first is that it uses two characters that are twins in a very stereotypical and dehumanizing manner common to horror books that, in my opinion, did not add much to the story. The second is that the ending appears to abandon the character journey of the protagonist for another character; I would have liked a little bit more closure for the protagonist.

 

Leech will not be for everyone, but I loved its thematic explorations, writing style, and unique premise and worldbuilding. These elements were strong enough to overcome some problems I had with the narrative. 

 

The Run-Down: 

You might like Leech if . . . 

·      You are looking for a book with a very unique premise and world

·      You prefer deliberately crafted settings and characters to sweeping, epic fantasy/sci-fi tales

·      You are interested in a thematic exploration of parasitism

·      You like eerie, gory horror stories that do not deign to explain everything to the reader

 

You might not like Leech if . . . 

·      You are sensitive to the book’s triggers (please look at them before reading; they won’t spoil anything!)

·      You dislike experimental narrative premises

·      You like a story with a strong narrative driving force

·      You dislike complex plotlines that leave many questions unanswered

 

 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Infertility, Animal death, and Vomit

Minor: Classism, Ableism, Racism, Suicide, and Sexism

mrkusabi's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Rape, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Classism, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

athenian_frog's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.25

The book can get very slow but when the horror kicks in it’s usually pretty engaging. My main issue is with the lulls in between, especially in the first half of the book.

BUT think there’s some really interesting reflection from the perspective of such a complex organism that Hiron Ennes includes! That and the character of Émile in general were highlights. The story went in a direction I was really not expecting—in a good way—and the ending was pretty rewarding.

Some of the ideas that strengthen the conclusion that I found in the book—like the value of one’s bodily autonomy—could have been better weaved throughout the book but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

PLEASE READ the content warnings below. Thanks! <3

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Violence, Vomit, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

-the baron’s family (whose mansion is where the majority of the book takes place) generally holds pretty misogynistic beliefs of a woman’s role in the family, specifically that they are “responsible” for having children/a son in particular -a female character has a history of miscarrying, makes one or two dark jokes about it -descriptions of medical procedures that might upset readers including: several instances of needle insertion in various places, sedated/paralyzed patients during a procedure, often without consent, the removal of a parasite fragment from the optic nerve post mortem, descriptions of childbirth - suicide is examined as a possible and very plausible reason that a character dies (via scalpel to the throat) -In the latter half of the book it is implied that a character ends up in an emotionally abusive relationship with a member of the barony. The sex they have (very vague) reads very much as coercive/non consensual because of the power the barony holds over the rest of the people living in the chateau. There are moments of physical abuse as well. - at least two characters vomit, and a couple more have something crawl out of their mouth