Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

29 reviews

stindex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical content, Rape, Violence, Self harm, and Sexual content

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

zayzay2's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

one of my fav books, one of the first weird, dark books I read 2023. It had multiple different stories I enjoyed the fact that it was short and got to the point. All very strange characters which was always fun to read, still think about the cannibalism chapter what a weird one but still fun to read. I love strange characters that are talked about, never read a short story collection before this was my first and I'll be reading more short story collection as they are easy to get through. I enjoyed the different setting the writer described, different age groups and that the whole book was In a POC country with different culture to mind which I loved to read about. The only reason it's not a 5/5 is due to me not falling in love with ALL the stories some weren't my favourite but still enjoyable, it took me to a dystopian like world which I enjoyed. A lot of immoral characters and fucked up thoughts they had. Can't really say more, recommend.    

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Blood, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Death, Suicide, Abandonment, Addiction, and Eating disorder

kyarabereading's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcoholism, Grief, Self harm, Alcohol, Abandonment, Child death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Excrement, Torture, Kidnapping, and Trafficking

sina321's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Vomit, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Self harm, Abandonment, and Addiction

dariarp's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Vomit, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Violence, Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Drug use, Medical content, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Death, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

hyunepaint's review against another edition

challenging 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? No

4.25

la verdad, me gustaron mucho solo 4 de los 12 cuentos pero todos son muy buenos y me gusta mucho como esta escrito así que recontra vale la pena leerlo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Suicide, Blood, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

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

lucinotlucy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Alcohol, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Violence