Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Piñata

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Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Piñata by Leopoldo Gout

9 reviews

pompberry's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The cover art was better than the book. I liked having listened to the audiobook because I got to hear how all the Nahua words are pronounced, but honestly this one was a bit of a drag. It started out strong and engaging, then shifted to a very slow buildup. It took a while to get going and the main character’s choices most times aren’t logical or smart, so it’s hard to cheer for her. The narrator also was pretty annoying with her tone at times, using a very condescending tone when talking about the children.

Story wise, I feel like it wasn’t super fleshed out and the ending was pretty predictable.

Content Warnings

asolis's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Carmen brings her daughters with her to Mexico while she works on renovating an abbey - built on and from an Aztec temple - into a swanky new hotel. A local woman warns Carmen that her daughter is in danger of spiritual possession, strange things start happening, and when a hidden chamber in the abbey is exposed during construction, the supernatural activity escalates.
A jobsite accident causes the family to go home, but the weirdness doesn't get left behind in the motherland. Back in New York, Carmen must figure out what is happening, and how to save her family.

I wanted to like this book, but it's ended up a solid medium for me. It started rather slowly, but I was engaged. It's just that the writing itself was often disappointing. A lot of sudden visions of darkness and the underworld that felt like they were mimicking cinematic convention but that didn't quite land in writing. Sometimes clunky, a fair amount of "tell" rather than "show," and several things slipped past the copyeditors.

It also felt like the author was trying to raise awareness about a lot. Femicide, colonization, discrimination, immigration, police brutality. Some of it felt forced.

In some ways I liked the ending.

I liked that it came down to the women and Yoltzi. I liked that the family ultimately turned inward, with love. But casting the spirits as being too bent on revenge didn't fully work for me. Did the old woman's closure make it better, or did we just get a dismissal of the very real harms of colonialism and ancestral trauma, a la "get over it"? And Yoltzi's seeming total sacrifice had a touch of a Native equivalent of "magical negro" plot devices.

Content Warnings

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Content Warnings

seagullsaga's review against another edition

3.5

dark sad tense fast-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: No

Content Warnings

arirose's review against another edition

4.5

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Wow, this was hard to put down! I was on the edge of my seat right from the beginning. Which, by the way, was such a strong and captivating first chapter! There were a few scenes, including the end of that first chapter, that were just soooooo creepy and jaw dropping! I had to look away for a moment for a couple of them, especially that scene with Ron (if you know, you know).

Of them all, Quauhtli was definitely my favorite, he was just so cozy. Yoltzi was just plain loveable, in my opinion. And Izel was relatable and she really grew up by the end. I was surprised she became so involved given how uninvolved she was at first.

Content Warnings