Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

9 reviews

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

adragoninspace's review against another edition

dark sad tense

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Mental illness, Kidnapping, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Incest, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Grief, Gore, Excrement, Eating disorder, Drug use, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Rape, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

orlabutler's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book really was not for me. I'm sure there are some people out there that would love it but I honestly wanted to give up on it over and over again. I only powered through because it is a book of short stories and I thought I might find one I liked. Every story felt like it was dragging on and then the end felt like a page was missing. There are some serious and disturbing themes explored and not well, I feel like they are more being used for shock factor than anything else. I saw so many people recommend this book and I am very disappointed 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Classism, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Suicide, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Drug use, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child death, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Slavery, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Addiction, Terminal illness, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Trafficking, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, and Incest

introverted_reads'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Child death, Mental illness, Drug use, Body horror, Excrement, Sexual content, Suicide, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Medical content, Addiction, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Gun violence, Cursing, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Chronic illness, Alcohol, Transphobia, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Rape, Vomit, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Incest, Lesbophobia, Ableism, Car accident, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Police brutality

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I think this is a really interesting collection of short stories. They all have very common themes like female sexuality, witchcraft, smells (which I thought was particularly interesting), children/childhood, mass hysteria/fanaticism, and religion. 

While some stories are better than others, I think they’re all a good read! My top three are:
1. Where Are You, Dear Heart?
2. Meat
3. Kids Who Come Back
With a special mention to Angelita. 

I feel that perhaps a study guide of sorts would help understand the symbolism of the stories, but honestly they’re all really good and I enjoyed all of them to a degree. 

TRIGGER WARNING:
Be warned though: most stories contain some element of child abuse/pedophilia/forced incest/child prostitution/etc. 
“kids who come back” contains some transphobic and lesbophobic slurs/characteristics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Grief, Miscarriage, Vomit, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Blood, Incest, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Violence, Trafficking, Abortion, Alcohol, Body horror, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

saoirsebb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Incest, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence

lasafica_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, and Transphobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Lesbophobia

worldsworstmilf's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I had to keep taking breaks from reading this as everything about it was so miserable and homogenous. The characters and individual stories form one elongated, fucked up narrative - the book succeeds in showing that the real horror comes from the complicit and dismissive attitudes characters have towards lots of (really triggering) things, but half of that content seems more used as a shortcut for dark world building. The writing is skilled, sure, but when you can guess the outcome of every story it’s more a test of resilience to see if you can finish the collection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Body horror, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Incest, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Fatphobia, and Body shaming

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