Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

136 reviews

kyarabereading's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.75

This is definitely one of the darkest & most haunting books I have read thus far, & I didn’t know how I’d handle that originally, but it was definitely worth the read. The writing style, the characters, the stories in general - they really stick with you even long after you’ve read them. And the endings - whether you could see them coming or not - hit you like a punch in the gut. Each one is really heartbreaking & horrifying in its own way.  

I will say I think some stories were better than others, but maybe if I gave it another read sometime in the future, I’ll change my mind about that lol I definitely had some immediate favorites & that made certain stories pale in comparison. But I feel like that’s usually the case with short story collections. Nonetheless, I thought it was a pretty good short story collection!

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katharina90's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

An interesting collection of creepy, unsettling short stories. Enjoyed some more than others.

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ellewhyoh's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

I sometimes have a problem giving short story collections a fair shake, because I feel like ambiguous endings and unanswered questions are an inherent component of the genre, and that kind of drives me crazy.

That being said, this collection was very intriguing, and the unanswered questions drove me less crazy than usual. This book delved into a lot of different types of horror and the supernatural, but a strong theme amongst most of them was memory and disappearance. When is something lost? Is loss best understood as an action, or as a noun? Is it wrong or right to let the shadows take their toll? 

Overall this collection was very intriguing, and it will leave me thinking.

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sara_n's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


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boquitap4sion's review against another edition

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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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meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5


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not_another_ana's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

Los dos sabíamos cuál podía ser el final, y no nos importaba.

Colección de cuentos cortos de horror que tocan varias temáticas como lo grotesco, lo sexual y la obsesión. Ya había leído Las Cosas Que Perdimos en el Fuego, de la misma escritora, y por ende esta antología no me parece tan bien trabajada. Se nota que esta colección es ya de hace muchos años y que estamos ante una Mariana Enríquez que todavía no tiene la peripecia de la actual. Tampoco me parecieron aterradores, creo que porque en general tratan de un terror relacionado más a lo sexual y el gore lo cual me aburre.

Son doce cuentos:
-El desentierro de la angelita: una joven es asediada por el espíritu de una niña, 3/5
-La Virgen de la tosquera: un grupo de amigos nadan en una tosquera con fatales consequencias, 3/5
-El carrito: el ataque a un mendigo por una comunidad desencadena una ola de sufrimiento en la vecindad, 4,5/5
-El aljibe: en búsqueda de una cura para su terrible ansiedad la protagonista descubre un secreto de su infancia, 3/5
-Rambla triste: una turista ve el lado oscuro de Barcelona, 2/5
-El mirador: un espíritu solitario fija su interés en una mujer que se encuentra sufriendo, 2,5/5
-Dónde estás corazón: la protagonista desarrolla un fetiche por los sonidos del corazón y lo lleva a límites extremos, 3/5
-Carne: la muerte de un famoso cantante causa estragos a sus fans y las lleva a cometer actos grotescos, 5/5
-Ni cumpleaños ni bautismos: un joven es contratado para grabar a una chica que afirma estar poseída, 2/5
-Chicos que faltan: de la nada todos los niños desaparecidos en la ciudad aparecen, incluso los que estaban muertos, 5/5
-Los peligros de fumar en la cama: una mujer muere en un incendio causado por un cigarrillo, el título del libro y el que menos me gustó, 1/5
-Cuando hablábamos con los muertos: un grupo de amigas usan la ouija para contactar espíritus y la situación se les va de las manos, 5/5

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blau_elmo's review against another edition

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

3.5

A collection of short stories touching on many different types of horror (psychological, bestial, zombification, body). Not particularly scary, but unnerving throughout. 

For a horror, I was looking to feel more uneasy and horrified, but I did not get as much of that emotion as I thought I would.

Still, the eerie premises are well built-up, and the short stories, in general, are well-written and paced, bringing the reader along for a dark and sinister journey.

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booktribe's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

📚 Angelita Unearthed: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 Our Lady of the Quarry: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
📚 The Cart: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 The Well:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 
📚 Rambla Triste: DNF
📚 The Lookout: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (TW: sexual assault, self harm, suicide attempt)
📚 Where Are You, Dear Heart?: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
📚 Meat: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
📚 No Birthdays or Baptisms: DNF (TW: pedophilia)
📚 Kids Who Come Back: DNF (TW: transphobic slurs)
📚 The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: ⭐️⭐️ (what is up with this book and its obsession with masturbation??😭😂)
📚 Back When We Talked to the Dead: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Average rating: 2.8 stars
Official rating: 3.5 stars 

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eli99's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book had some good stories and some they weren't worth it. It's the type of crazy horror that I love. Boardering on reality. I love reading books like this that have been translated to English because you can tell a bit of the cultural difference as well. Horror and ghost stories are so different between cultures. 

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