Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

24 reviews

pages_with_panda's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad

• 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? Yes

4.0

Because this is a collection of short stories by the author, I'm going to split the reviews up by story. I've also included content warnings for each story as well and a single sentence summary. 

 Angelita Unearthed: 5/5
Woman is haunted by the dead baby corpse of her great-aunt.
Really liked the story! Very simple but super creepy and unsettling. I thought the relationship between the two characters was kinda funny - almost siblings. Lowkey the last scene made me chuckle.
• Moderate: Death of a child, Body horror, Gore,

Our Lady of the Quarry: 4/5
Teenage kids sneak into a quarry for the summer.
Good story, nice build up. Love any kind of revenge story and this was no exception. Good for Natalie.
•  Moderate: Sexual content,
• Minor: Death,

The Cart: 2/5
A mysterious stranger shows up the neighborhood before horrible things start happening.
I did like where this story was going for the most part,. Again, I like revenge stories...But the story fell apart at the end and I couldn't really make heads-or-tails of what happened.
• Moderate: Excrement, Violence, Classism,
• Minor: Racism, Suicide, Animal death, Cannibalism

The Well: 5/5
A young girl suffers from severe anxiety of death and monsters.
Another favorite. Very, very unsettling and dark. The mystery surrounding what happened to her during that first trip was so interesting. Very well done. Sad ending.
• Moderate: Suicide,
• Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts,

Rambla Triste: 2/5
A neighborhood is haunted by murdered children.
I couldn't really understand the premise for this one at all. Was a little interesting but didn't seem to have a point to the story.
• Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse,
• Minor: Excrement, Child death,

The Lookout: 3/5
A Lady in a tower overlooks the hotel where she lives and invites another women to visit.
Had a nice "The Shinning" vibe and also some mystery regarding the Lady Upstairs. An okay story.
• Graphic: Self-harm,
• Minor: Rape, Attempted suicide, Drug abuse

Where are you, Dear Heart? : 5/5
A girl becomes obsessed with irregular heartbeats and tries to find the most imperfectly perfect one.
Incredibly unsettling. Can't stop thinking about this premise and the absolute horror of it. "What the fuck did I just read!?" But in a good, horrific way.
• Graphic: Medical
• Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Ableism,

Meat: 5/5
Two super fanatical fans of a rock star exhume his body and eat his corpse.
Another very disturbing story. Very well laid out and I really liked it. Horrific.
• Graphic: Suicide, Cannibalism,
• Moderate: Self-harm, Vomit
• Minor: Blood

Neither Baptism or Birthday: 3/5
A man tries to record a girl's hallucinations.
Very creepy story. Interesting build up as well. Ending fell a little flat.
• Moderate: Sexual content, Pedophilias, Mental illness, Self-harm

The Kids That Came Back: 5/5
Hundreds of missing children rematerialize but are the same age as when they disappeared.
I really liked this one. Super unsettling and creepy. Had a nice buildup as well and an interesting POV from Machi. (Interesting enough, compared to the Spanish version, the English version of this story had added a few sections of backstory that I think were completely unnecessary, especially because they added some slurs. And really added nothing to the story.)
• Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide
• Minor: Kidnapping, Death, Transphobic slur, Drug abuse,

Dangers of Smoking in Bed: 1/5
Woman smokes in bed.
Uninteresting. Couldn't really get into it. Thought the title story would be great but it fell flat.
• Moderate: Fire,
• Minor: Death, Sexual content, Blood

Back When We Talked to the Dead: 3/4
A group of girls use an Ouiji board. 
A basic premise but interesting anyways! Unsettling but not too bad. 
• Minor: Ableism slur (Spanish version) 

Overall review for the book: 4/5. Solid stories! This is a horror book so check content warnings. Not suitable for young readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Sexual content, Self harm, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Ableism, Vomit, Gore, Excrement, Violence, Classism, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Child death, and Body horror

Minor: Racism, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Cannibalism, and Rape

Use of transphobic slurs and ableist slurs

cosyskog's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.5

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories, and it definitely needs to come with multiple content warnings. However, maybe the ugliness of some of the characters is the real horror, the unspoken realisation that they are just like people we already know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Child death, Child abuse, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, Body shaming, Drug use, Sexual assault, Suicide, Ableism, Classism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Police brutality

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

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Body horror, Body shaming, Excrement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

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

amyayeme's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Child death, Cannibalism, Bullying, and Body shaming

izzyknight's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

I have never read a book like this. Horrific, haunting and addictive. I usually don’t love short story collections but that did not put me off with this, I enjoyed the snapshots of disturbed worlds the structure allowed. I thought some stories were stronger than others but each had such a twisted core, I was relentlessly engaged. Some parts were so disgusting, so disturbing I had to put the book down but that was clearly the intention of the author. A very well writing collection and one that will haunt me for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Transphobia

nylah_danae's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Excrement, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Drug abuse

abigailc0x's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

Scary and graphic at times but scary in a good way - didn’t expect what was going to happen
also them describing children in that one bit made me extremely uncomfortable but like it was good to read and very interesting

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Vomit, Cannibalism, Child death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Drug use, Gore, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Trafficking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Fatphobia

erin2802's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Self harm, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Excrement, Sexual content, Cursing, Death, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abortion, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Addiction