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wintermoon's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
An entertaining read. The author captures the eeriness and creepiness is done nicely, the kind that suddenly catches up to you. The stories were not unexpected in their plots, but the atmosphere of the collection is praise worthy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Vomit, Death, Rape, and Murder
Minor: Cannibalism
beanpod's review against another edition
4.0
I think about these stories more and more. What initially feels disturbing becomes more and more haunting. And fascinating.
connie_joy's review against another edition
5.0
This book. It's taken me a while to process, and a little while to read considering it's such a short book. On a few occasions I felt physically sick it was so horrific. This book was gruesome, and grotesque, strangely beautiful, and unlike anything I have ever read.
It was also incredibly interesting, the events that occured in this macabre reality often reflected our own fractured world in very unsettling ways.
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed surpassed all my expectations in the best (and worst ways) possible. So, what else can I do but give it five stars?
It was also incredibly interesting, the events that occured in this macabre reality often reflected our own fractured world in very unsettling ways.
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed surpassed all my expectations in the best (and worst ways) possible. So, what else can I do but give it five stars?
spillo's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
mariomelancolico's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
kdahlo's review against another edition
5.0
Extremely creepy, cool, intense stories. In contrast to something like Tananarive Due's books or Mexican Gothic, which include some hope, heroism and fairness in with the horror, these stories include a lot of body horror, themes around disgust, sexual violation, apocalypse, madness. Overall though I really liked this collection. I found it genuinely disturbing but also thought provoking and rich. I feel like some horror themes (especially body horror and sexual violation) can be really difficult to navigate as a reader, especially when our culture considers almost anything involving young women to be titillating and sexual. This collection finds many opportunities to upend expectations about who is vulnerable or powerful, and many of the stories are told from unusual viewpoints. It is also packed with imagination, the majority of these stories took me somewhere unexpected and left me with images or ideas that I imagine will stay with me for a long time (for better and for worse). All that said, this book is absolutely not for everyone, I was reading it nightly before bed and it definitely gave me several disturbing anxiety dreams.
xtie's review against another edition
5.0
So scawy it kept me up at night. Gruesome and beautiful. My stomach dropped multiple times - often right on the last page of each story.