Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Houseguest: And Other Stories by Amparo Dávila

4 reviews

orlagal's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Grief, Body horror, Murder, Torture, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Infertility, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Violence, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage

samanthaleereads's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Medical content, Blood, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

Minor: Sexual content

syinhui's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

While I liked the ambiguity and bizarreness of these short stories - and I don’t mind them being open-ended - it’s just that overall, it’s lackluster and pretty much forgettable. 

“It’s not my imagination, it’s not a dream, it’s not my nerves as you call them, it’s a reality so terrifying that it’s driving me insane, it’s being so close to death that you start to feel its chill in your bones.” 

It’s not as chilling as I thought it would be though. Strange and nightmarish? Yes. Very. But somehow nothing quite managed to unnerve me in a visceral way. The tension and air of mysticism dissipate towards the end of each story (because it’s always cut short!) leaving little to no impression. However, I do think that it perfectly captured the anguish that comes from the feeling of prolonged dissatisfaction and painful monotony of life, implacable despair – the remote hopelessness and helplessness that so afflicts the characters and severe paranoia of the unknown, pushing them to the brink of madness. 

Giving this a bonus .50 stars for the cover which I find to be the most remarkable thing in this book. Also, I wasn't sorely disappointed. Actually, I quite liked a few of the stories: Musique Concrète and Oscar, mainly because their resolutions were a bit more satisfying than the others and Haute Cuisine was oddly funny (or is it just me?) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Infidelity, and Stalking

shelbae_smirth's review

adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I wish I could read the original version, however, from the translation, I thought all the stories were written really well and I would’ve loved to explore the characters in their own books. My rating of 3.75 is purely writing based - this is my first introduction to horror short stories so I’m having trouble giving it more than that based on my lack of understanding of the horror genre and  its themes - I do recommend reading it though!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment