Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego by Mariana Enríquez

48 reviews

megmermaid's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Every story in this book ended too soon. I wish every story was the first chapter of an entire novel. The atmosphere of the book is terrifying and alluring. The powerless gain power through becoming feared, through real or supernatural means, which encourages compassion towards the demented and depraved- a new, disorienting allegiance.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

georgiee_'s review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Transphobia, Vomit, and Homophobia

jenk2020's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Overall - 4.3/5
Story - 4.5/5
Writing - 4.5/5
Character - 4/5
Memorability - 4.5/5
Enjoyment - 4/5
Would I read again? Yes

Well. What a deeply disturbing, thought provoking, evocative collection that was. I'm glad I read this with my book club as it generated great conversation. This collection won't be for the faint hearted, but if you like your stories with a macabre, fantastical twist, this one's for you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Body horror, Animal death, Gore, Death, and Animal cruelty

recollections's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

es a última historia...sin palabras

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual violence, and Violence

internationalreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Abortion, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

carolinewithane's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Body horror, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

patricia_epub's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Confinement, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Police brutality

curiousreader's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Things we lost in the fire is described by its English translator, Megan McDowell, as part of a South American Gothic tradition. Horror is born within the context of the everyday, built upon a history of violent dictatorships, still echoing in people’s memories and lives years after its supposed conclusion. Poverty, drugs, crime, and violence against women create the background to which Enriquez imagines horrors of such sharpness as to hit you like a gutt-punch, over and over again. One thing McDowell describes in the translator’s note that I found particularly on-point is that while there is often an edge of the supernatural in these stories, Enriquez’s form of horror is always ultimately based in real fears. There is this realness that makes them so very uncomfortable to read, aside from the rawness of the content itself. Despite already being shocked by the first story in this collection — a young woman witnessing the awful living circumstances of a boy on the street, who she finally ends up ignoring despite his obvious signs of neglect - I kept somehow falling into the trap of the safety Enriquez initially lulls the reader into believing could be true. Each story creates a familiar setting with a sense of things, while not necessarily being great at least being liveable, only to turn the everyday into a nightmare with a sharp turn, a twist that hits you like a slap before you know it. Truly, there were moments when I felt mad at the author for managing to manipulate me into trusting myself in her hands - and to have it hit back at me with such force, I remember flinching at least once with every single story.

While the violence is often hard to stomach, on so many levels, I did think there was sharp commentary on among other things how groups act and feed of each other’s energy in violent acts, women’s vulnerability (in society, in relationships) and their attempts to regain power through potentially destructive means, the avoidance and/or blindness to poverty and despair around us and the normalisation of inhumane living circumstances over time. The balancing of a supernatural edge - the fantastical element to the stories always being used to add a nightmarish quality - also worked well to strengthen the exploration of fears - blurring the lines between the real and the imagined, the living and the dead.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Eating disorder, and Child abuse