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illiteratewench's review against another edition
2.5
Trigger warning: The short story Kids Who Came Back contains two uses of the t-slur and three uses of the word "transvestites."
I think The Dangers of Smoking in Bed was overhyped to me from seeing it on BookTube. I find a lot of books that people say are "so fucked up" to ultimately let me down in that respect. I don't know if I just consumed way too much horror content as a child which desensitised me, but I was immediately disappointed after cracking this one open. I wish that this prior expectation didn't exist because this book's strengths are moreso in atmosphere and subtle horror, and mixing in the everyday urban and suburban. I enjoyed seeing the settings of the book, mostly Argentina and Spain. When I think of this book, I think of concrete streets filled with cigarette smoke.
I was glad to see that this book was older than I thought - it was first published in Spanish in 2009 and only translated to English in 2021. This actually makes me excited to read the other works by Mariana Enríquez, her other short story collection Things We Lost in the Fire (2019) and her novel Our Share of Night (2022) because I see a lot of potential in her writing and I'm hoping she's taken her strengths from Dangers and improved on them.
I think The Dangers of Smoking in Bed was overhyped to me from seeing it on BookTube. I find a lot of books that people say are "so fucked up" to ultimately let me down in that respect. I don't know if I just consumed way too much horror content as a child which desensitised me, but I was immediately disappointed after cracking this one open. I wish that this prior expectation didn't exist because this book's strengths are moreso in atmosphere and subtle horror, and mixing in the everyday urban and suburban. I enjoyed seeing the settings of the book, mostly Argentina and Spain. When I think of this book, I think of concrete streets filled with cigarette smoke.
I was glad to see that this book was older than I thought - it was first published in Spanish in 2009 and only translated to English in 2021. This actually makes me excited to read the other works by Mariana Enríquez, her other short story collection Things We Lost in the Fire (2019) and her novel Our Share of Night (2022) because I see a lot of potential in her writing and I'm hoping she's taken her strengths from Dangers and improved on them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, Trafficking, and Death
clara_mai's review
4.0
This is an extremely dark short story collection, mostly set in Buenos Aires. As in her novel Our Share of Night, which I read and loved earlier this year, Mariana Enriquez creates a unique kind of horror that is very rooted in its setting - Argentinian politics and history, Indigenous mythology and urban legends of Buenos Aires are the bones of this collection. At its heart lie the strange obsessions we humans harbour - with bodies for instance, with sex and death. Most of the stories really pack a punch in only a few pages. I was captivated by Mariana Enriquez' simple and sharp prose and the scenes she creates. The descriptions of gore and injuries evoke a visceral reaction, Enriquez really knows how to make the reader squirm with disgust. My favourite stories in here are The Well, Meat and Our Lady of the Quarry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Excrement
Moderate: Alcoholism and Transphobia
goatsrsexy's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
4.0
I really enjoyed this short story collection. The author is Argentine and always enjoy reading books from Argentine authors because my mom was born there. The stories were not all necessarily horror (most were) but they were all haunting and spooky.
Some were extremely disturbing, this book is definitely not for the faint of heart. The most disturbing was No Birthdays Or Baptisms. I still liked it but wouldn't read it again.
My favourite story was definitely the titular one, it was super short but sad and melancholy in such an ordinary way it's the type of thing l'd like to write myself. Other favourites were The Cart, The Well, Meat, and Where Are You Dear Heart.
Some were extremely disturbing, this book is definitely not for the faint of heart. The most disturbing was No Birthdays Or Baptisms. I still liked it but wouldn't read it again.
My favourite story was definitely the titular one, it was super short but sad and melancholy in such an ordinary way it's the type of thing l'd like to write myself. Other favourites were The Cart, The Well, Meat, and Where Are You Dear Heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, Racial slurs, and Body horror
lala_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
…not quite 5 because some of the stories were just a little too bizarre /made me feel a bit sick.
By far the stories that stick with me the most are:
- Where are you dear heart (that final line 😮)
- The Lookout
- No Birthdays or Baptisms
- Kids who come back
- Meat
Also, never did I think I’d read a book where someone pooping in the street would be one of the least weird things to happen! This happened in two of the stories!!!
I loved the spookiness and the pacing of these short stories. The imagery 10/10! I definitely need to venture into short story territory especially for horror because I’m amazed at by how much mystery and drama can be conjured up in a few pages!
I’d love to see these stories turned into a tv series! I’m definitely going to check out “Things we lost in the fire”
By far the stories that stick with me the most are:
- Where are you dear heart (that final line 😮)
- The Lookout
- No Birthdays or Baptisms
- Kids who come back
- Meat
Also, never did I think I’d read a book where someone pooping in the street would be one of the least weird things to happen! This happened in two of the stories!!!
I loved the spookiness and the pacing of these short stories. The imagery 10/10! I definitely need to venture into short story territory especially for horror because I’m amazed at by how much mystery and drama can be conjured up in a few pages!
I’d love to see these stories turned into a tv series! I’m definitely going to check out “Things we lost in the fire”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Cannibalism, Suicide, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Excrement, Blood, and Classism
cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Death, Drug abuse, Excrement, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
alreinwarth's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Body shaming, Child death, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, Excrement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Self harm, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pedophilia
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Violence
Minor: Lesbophobia and Transphobia
shadowspinner's review against another edition
dark
slow-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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Self harm, Pedophilia, and Transphobia
specificwonderland's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This book was recommended as some of the best horror of 2022. I requested it from Libby and there are a collection of about 10 short stories, pressed into roughly 100 pages. I echo the other reviews who remark on the author's tendency to abandon the story at the climax. Some of the stories were snoozefests, or it could be I read it at night when I had already been lulled to drowsiness by 5-htp.
The ones that were creepy, did a formidable job creating a feeling of unease, darkness, and mysterious energy that cannot be fully explained.
Angelita Unearthed: 3/5
Our Lady of the Quarry: 3/5
The Cart: 3.5/5
The Well: 5/5, I liked this one, it felt fully developed, fully rendered and concluded.
Rambla Triste: 4/5 Cinematic, fully rendered. I would love to see this at a short film fest.
The Lookout: I skipped this one
Where Are You, Dear Heart: 4/5 It felt a little thin, I would like to see this fleshed out into more of a story but I did enjoy the sketch.
Meat: 3.5/5 Is this Christianity? We look at this story as horror but how far off is it from 2000 years ago?
No Birthdays or Baptisms: 3.5/5 Snooze. A couple interesting lines but the whole story wasn't begging to be told. Or I missed something.
Kids Who Come Back: 0/5 I saw the reviews mentioning transphobic language and as I started the story, I thought maybe it was coming from an unenlightened character's voice, which would be an interesting question if an author can write about hate speech from the place of a character, not as a narrator, one might be able to argue that? But no, this was the narrator or the translator and I got turned off real quick as the word was repeated in succession. Skipped.
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: 1/5 Boring, pointless. Yawn.
Back When We Talked to the Dead: 3.5/5 This was one of the better stories, balancing storytelling with not over-explaining and spoon-feeding the plot to the reader.
The ones that were creepy, did a formidable job creating a feeling of unease, darkness, and mysterious energy that cannot be fully explained.
Angelita Unearthed: 3/5
Our Lady of the Quarry: 3/5
The Cart: 3.5/5
The Well: 5/5, I liked this one, it felt fully developed, fully rendered and concluded.
Rambla Triste: 4/5 Cinematic, fully rendered. I would love to see this at a short film fest.
The Lookout: I skipped this one
Where Are You, Dear Heart: 4/5 It felt a little thin, I would like to see this fleshed out into more of a story but I did enjoy the sketch.
Meat: 3.5/5 Is this Christianity? We look at this story as horror but how far off is it from 2000 years ago?
No Birthdays or Baptisms: 3.5/5 Snooze. A couple interesting lines but the whole story wasn't begging to be told. Or I missed something.
Kids Who Come Back: 0/5 I saw the reviews mentioning transphobic language and as I started the story, I thought maybe it was coming from an unenlightened character's voice, which would be an interesting question if an author can write about hate speech from the place of a character, not as a narrator, one might be able to argue that? But no, this was the narrator or the translator and I got turned off real quick as the word was repeated in succession. Skipped.
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: 1/5 Boring, pointless. Yawn.
Back When We Talked to the Dead: 3.5/5 This was one of the better stories, balancing storytelling with not over-explaining and spoon-feeding the plot to the reader.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia
nathalie_tl's review against another edition
2.5
really mixed for me? a lot of stories started off with a lot of potential and the creepy, morbid vibe i really love, but the endings were often rushed and didn't deliver on the tension the stories built up. i will say though that Where Are You, Dear Heart? and Meat were excellent, but other than that i felt mostly meh.
also had to bring rating down because the transphobic slurs were not it. and do check content warnings in general if you're interested in reading this book.
also had to bring rating down because the transphobic slurs were not it. and do check content warnings in general if you're interested in reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Death, Cannibalism, and Gore
Moderate: Trafficking, Transphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
lostcupofstars's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly this had the most promising start. I was sure this would be a 5⭐️ read 😭
That first story had me IN and I have no doubt I will remember it for a really really long time.
Top stories:
Angelita Unearthed
The Well
I then encountered a story (the only story to explicitly mention a person’s race, actually) with a black man introduced only to meet a (heavily insinuated) horrific end and that 5 ⭐️ started looking mighty 4⭐️
There were a few stories after this with some really good ideas and themes but none that really matched the energy this started with. And then I met a really long story with transphobic language and that 4⭐️ became a 3⭐️
This collection had so much potential. But ultimately it was far more tragic than it was horrific. I left a lot of those stories feeling sad just because so many horrible things were touched on but served no purpose. Barely even as plot devices, it felt like they were put in just to make the reader go ‘omg ew’ or ‘omg wth???’
It just wasn’t the ‘horror’ collection I was hoping for. But those two stand out stories will 100% stick with me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, and Child abuse
Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Transphobia