Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

13 reviews

apthompson's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Trafficking, Violence, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Gore

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

olivia_martin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, Grief, Mental illness, Child death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug use, Confinement, Pedophilia, Violence, and War

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Violence, Grief, Sexual violence, Gore, Kidnapping, Death, Child death, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Addiction, Vomit, Rape, Trafficking, Medical content, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, and Excrement

Moderate: Police brutality, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Gun violence, Alcohol, Sexism, Misogyny, Confinement, Incest, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

krhe's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

El relato de los problemas de corazón... Esto no lo voy a olvidar en mi puta vida. 

ALSO LO DE LOS CRÍOS REAPARECIDOS WTF

Trigger warnings: todos 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Racial slurs, Self harm, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Cannibalism, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a quick read. The shorter stories felt like an RL Stine book, but vulgar. "Kids Who Come Back" had unnecessary use of transphobic slurs, but was the longest and most engaging story in the book.
Copious references to and depictions of bodily fluid didn't necessarily add to the horror, but made reading this a bit disgusting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Sexual content, Cursing, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Suicide, Transphobia, Blood, Child death, and Self harm

Moderate: Abandonment

starofash's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

okay so im not a horror lover or even enjoyer, but interestingly enough, i still really liked this book. 
i wasn't a big fan of the stories that were just violent and gore-y, but i loved the ones that had a more mentally disturbing vibe 
my absolute favorite story was "kids who come back"
other favorites were "the well", "the lookout", "no birthdays or baptisms" and strangely enough "meat"
i had to set the book down and think after "where are you, dear heart?". i couldn't continue reading

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Vomit, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Alcohol, Confinement, Mental illness, Self harm, and Trafficking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Abortion, and Blood

readundancies's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.5

Part of me thinks I may have made a mistake in reading this at the same time as I read another short story collection with Latinx roots.

Don’t get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed this and am planning on nabbing a physical copy for myself.

But I couldn’t help compare the two while reading, and due to the non-chronological way I chose to consume these collections, I started on a high note with Maria, Maria, and by chance, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, the titular story, was one of the weaker stories that I started with in this one. 

But the last ones I partook in were all winners in my book, so let’s discuss my thoughts on each of these individually: 

• Angelita Unearthed: 3.75/5 
  • Not the most conclusive ending, but I really enjoyed this premise.
  • I like how Angelita wasn’t portrayed as evil, but was more stuck in Limbo a la Dante’s Inferno through no fault of her own.
  • It’s interesting that sometimes Angelita was visible to others and at other times wasn’t. I was a little confused on the why of it all though.

• Our Lady of the Quarry: 3/5 
  • This was not my favourite of the collection.
  • There was obsession and envy and jealousy and infatuation, but the way it all played out was very Heathers but without any sort of payoff.
  • I can definitely see others enjoying this if their inclined to that movie’s premise.

• The Cart: 4.25/5 
  • I quite liked this one. It was very rooted in reality and how humans perceive fortune and throw blame on others.
  • The complete nosedive in the community’s luck was very abrupt and harsh, but it paired so well with how the man who left the cart was treated, and really hammered home how devastating the bystander effect can be.
  • It was quite short but I thought the twist at the end was great.

• The Well: 4.5/5 
  • This was deliciously dark, ominous and seeped in betrayal.
  • A tale where there is no loyalty amongst blood brethren. And sacrificial lambs cannot be saved when guilt settles into one’s soul.
  • The family threads in this one were wrecked by The Woman’s brutal truth of what happened in Corrientes and it was like a dark soap opera moment that I couldn’t get enough of.

• Rambla Triste: 4.25/5 
  • Just the neck is fucking morbid.
  • Why is there beginning to be a trend of paedophilia in this collection?
  • That ending though, the way it all rolled out? I wanted this to be longer and for Sofia to actually be trapped in Barcelona because the creepy kid spirit vibe was doing it for me.

• The Lookout: 5/5 
  • Hands down one of my favourites of the lot. This is my kind of haunted hotel.
  • The dual perspective worked really well, and I really liked how The Lady Upstairs was more of a moniker because the hotel’s lookout is a prison.
  • It’s not about the ghost, it’s about how one could take the ghost’s place and she preyed on the living, and that’s my favourite kind of ghost story. It’s very tit for tat and I love the simplicity of it and how it was executed here.

• Where Are You, Dear Heart?: 5/5 
  • The way the lead character describes her infatuation of disease in conjunction with anatomy, ugh, I was sold so hard with this one.
  • Truly, this was probably one of the more disturbing tales of the collection, and I was hooked.
  • And the ending? The last sentence just hits so good. This was also one of my favourites.

• Meat: 4.75/5 
  • I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when it comes to horror, you can’t go wrong with cannibalism.
  • And cannibalism paired with obsession and fanaticism? Even better.
  • This was morbidly believable in the best possible way and I wanted to know what the ending was building towards so badly, but I also kind of love how compact of a tale this is because I think it packs more of a punch this way, with that feeling of terror on the horizon of the imminent future.

• No Birthdays or Baptisms: 4.5/5 
  • This was creepy and strange and invasive and gross and I couldn’t look away.
  • Like this was enrapturing despite containing some horrid content, and it was so fitting that there was no real resolution to the tale, no proper sense of conclusion or explanation.
  • And it leaves the reader with such an acrid taste in the mouth, but it’s also so compelling. I’m disgusted but impressed at the same time.

• Kids Who Come Back: 4/5 
  • I wanted a little bit more from the ending, especially since this was one of the longer tales in this collection.
  • The premise was definitely intriguing. The story itself builds pretty slowly and doesn’t reveal anything right away, but when everything clicks into place and the bizarre twist occurs, it’s very satisfying.
  • I wanted answers though and I never really got them; not in terms of what was happening to the kids themselves, nor in how it all culminates with respect to what happens when summer rolls around.

• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: 3.25/5 
  • One my biggest issues with short stories is I find that a lot of them just don’t have enough content for me to sink my teeth into. This one, especially as a titular story, falls into that trend.
  • Does the suffocating feeling of loneliness permeate the pages? Sort of.
  • But there wasn’t enough here to make it memorable for me.

• Back When We Talked to the Dead: 3.25/5 
  • Not a very fulfilling ending.
  • Premise and worldbuilding were interesting though.
  • As the last story of the collection? Not what I would’ve picked.

This collection is a little more darker than I initially anticipated, but I was here for it all. The darker stories were actually the ones I enjoyed the most, which probably says something about me but we’re just gonna gloss over that entirely and focus on the eerie vibes and how such tragedy and trauma was paired with the macabre so effectively.
 
This is a translated collection, and I think the translator, Megan McDowell, did a fantastic job with word choice and diction while still capturing the horror elements set within urban sprawl and maintaining a sense of realism at the same time. Each story is set within Argentina and while I can’t really say the worldbuilding was intensive, it still had a very definite flair to it. And even when I didn’t completely jive with a story, I still always wanted to complete this in it’s entirety.
 
So if you’re looking for a short story collection that’s going to delve into the more nightmarish kind of daydreams where nothing ever truly makes sense and you can feel the hairs on the back of neck rise because something is off, something is out there and it’s full of all the bad juju and none of the sugar or spice, definitely pick this one up.
 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Drug abuse, Excrement, Child death, Violence, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Trafficking

piabo's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

Wanted to read books by Argentinian authors and found this. And the stories in the book are really well written! 

A good book for me to realize that I do not like horror/thriller/crime stories. Really not my thing. Why would anyone want to read something that is just scary and sick? People are interesting.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Pedophilia, Murder, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Abandonment, Rape, Suicide, Vomit, and Blood

booksarebrainfood's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Sexual content