Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor

34 reviews

laura_crowther'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Vomit, Violence, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Incest, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction

odetojersey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

SOOO GOOD. So geniunely frightening and grotesque in the best way. Proceed with caution though and look into content warnings, as I had to take multiple breaks throughout my reading. I felt like I needed to wash out my brain with soap

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

alexiswiththefreckles's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book is not for everyone. Please check trigger warnings before reading.  It's brutal and harsh, written in a style I admittedly don't seek out (LONG sentences, no paragraph breaks). But it forces you through the darkness of a small town and the people in it at a rapid and relentless pace and left me squirming at the end.  If you like dark books in October, this would be one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Racism and Transphobia

anagabymtz08's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Murder, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gore, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

alexaisreading's review against another edition

dark emotional

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

3.0

Squalor. Destitution. Hatred. Lust. Greed. Corruption. Jealousy. Bitterness. Misery. Just a handful of words evoked by the setting and characters of Fernanda Melchor’s Hurricane Season. 

Beginning and ending in a distant third— at one point shifting seamlessly from close third, to first person, to the style of a police report, and back to close third— this novel is divided into chapters that center characters all connected by the common thread of Luismi, one of La Matosa’s young men known for taking too many pills and being the Witch’s lover: Yesenia, Luismi’s cousin; Munra, his stepfather; Norma, his girlfriend; and Brando, a friend in his circle. And oh— “the Witch,” the Mexican town’s ostracized, black-clad spellwoman, is dead, found floating face up in an irrigation canal with a slashed throat.

Really, this narrative is not about her at all, but about the innate vileness of humanity, about the gross biases that a machismo-centered culture creates for those who exist outside of it. Melchor presents the taboo in a particularly interesting way, as though La Matosa has determined certain correct and incorrect ways of engagement; Chabela, Luismi’s mother, takes pride in her profession but shames other sex workers who operate differently from her; sexual relationships between men are acceptable only if they meet certain social criteria.

Most of this novel is page-long sentences dripping with vitriol and malice, as the characters’ individual traumas, more than the circumstances of the witch’s murder, are laid bare. Hurricane Season is a difficult read, one I was reluctant to pick up for how emotionally taxing it is, but if you feel compelled to read it, as I did for many months, do so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Racism

jckmd's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.5

Even though back cover comparisons have a tendency to be less than apt, the mention of 2666 is completely warranted; Melchor's magnetic, ranting prose is somewhere between the bleak litany of "The Part About the Crimes," the fourth and longest book of Bolaño's opus, and Marquez's Autumn of the Patriarch (yes, I'm fully aware I need to read wayyy more Latinx women's lit). This is a filthy, stinking, sweaty, shit-stained putrescence of a book, an unrelentingly abrasive worming toward the repulsive rock bottom of humanity. I had to put it down more than a few times. Another literary kinship can be found in Hawkes' The Lime Twig in that a single simple crime permeates the reader's mind and body like a nightmare. Upsetting, disgusting, offensive... any and all adjectives fail. I'm still trying to scrub its residue from my skin.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Violence, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Hate crime

Moderate: Racial slurs

thiscrowdedshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Violence, Rape, and Sexual violence

valenblr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Violence

lauriereadslohf's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

This book was big pile of bleak 😳😩. Maddening, disturbing, disgusting and without hope. Read it if you’re feeling too happy. I will write an actual review when I gather myself which could be never!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Homophobia, Rape, and Racism

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Car accident, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Infidelity, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Infertility