Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

6 reviews

nefarious_rat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

collection of short stories so character progression and such is difficult, but within each story the characters were distinct and never felt rushed, some of the stories were not to my taste but still very well written, favourites are, our lady of the quarry, the well, the lookout (particularly the characterisation of elina), where are you dear heart (grotesque and delicious my absolute favourite i keep re-reading it), and meat (a very close second favourite for the exact same reasons)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Addiction, Suicide, Child death, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Police brutality, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Abandonment, Cancer, Excrement, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Body horror, Cannibalism, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Vomit, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Outing, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Biphobia, Cancer, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Confinement

boquitap4sion's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Por alguna razón esperaba que me gustara más, pero aún así me pareció muy bueno y de un terror muy grotesco, inquietante y psicológico. Algunas historias eran realmente brillantes y quedé emocionada por leer el otro libro de Mariana Enríquez que tengo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Gore, Drug use, Sexual content, and Self harm

Moderate: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Cancer, and Drug use

Minor: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Rape

wenyd1's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

It's a disturbing book and some of them are really nasty in the wrong way. Abduction and childporn

wednesdaynn's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

genuinely so good, it completly wraps you in.

the book covers so many topics from a heartbeat fetish to rockstars... its so diverse and unique.

trigger warnings/spoilers next
<spoilers> this book does contain mentions of death, pedophilia, paranoia and other heavy subjects. if you easily get triggered by this dont read it. i personally can handle a lot of gore and usually enjoy it, but the way pedophile's are the opposite of demonized in this book, i'd watch out. <spoilers>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Trafficking, Sexual content, Child death, Self harm, Murder, and Mental illness

gcjay1994's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

biblizo's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

NB: I was gifted a copy of this book for review from the publisher, Random House Publishing, via NetGalley. All the thoughts below are my own. 

This collection called my name. I love horror writing, and I love short story collections. Enriquez delivered with a collection of dark and mysterious fiction. 

It's certainly possible that many North American readers might discount this collection as "not scary enough" due to the ways in which we are desensitized to overt gore and crashing scores in horror films. However, this collection is, in all the best ways, deeply scary. It isn't overt, but rather so subtle. There are stories that end so abruptly that one is left to question what really happened, and it is in that reflection that the stories haunt you. 

This was a quick read, and a beautiful piece of translated work. I can't imagine that any of the original artistry was lost in this translation to English, and if it was, what a gift to native speakers to be able to enjoy this book in its original form. 

CW for this book include sexual assault, drug addiction, suicide, cannibalism, and transphobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Incest, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia

Minor: Transphobia