Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor

48 reviews

tay_b's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

No sé si realmente hay talento o si Melchor simplemente dio en el clavo con esta fórmula de violencia gráfica.

TW/CW: violencia sexual, violencia física, abuso psicológico, violencia contra infancias, violencia de género.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, and Abortion

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

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

ronpayne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Hypnotic prose telling a horrible story. Please heed the content warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit

minxtte's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Child death and Torture

kimiwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

I can see why this book has gained so much acclaim. It is well written, gripping, and intense. This is not a happy story but one that focuses on the bad in peoples' lives and how that affects them, usually for the worse. The mystery is solved rather quickly however we also get to see the aftermath of this and how it further destroys those involved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Death, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Police brutality

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

This book focuses on the destructive nature of poverty and trauma in a small community. There is no redeeming the characters and what they do.

Brandio is extremely homophobic and transphobic despite also being attracted to a young men in his friend group. He uses derogatory terms for both groups. He also explicitly describes sexual interactions, including bestialities. On another note, Norma describes a pedophiliac relationship with her stepfather and explicitly describes her miscarriage after an attempted abortion.

This book is good but it is rough.

corinnereads7's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

“They called her the Witch, the same as her mother; the Young Witch when she first started trading in curses and cures, and then, when she wound up alone, the year of the landslide, simply the Witch." 

Reading this book was like living through a violent, chaotic fever dream. HURRICANE SEASON is beyond fucked up. It is gory, graphic, and extremely disturbing. At times I found myself wanting to throw this book in the trash and set it on fire just so I wouldn’t have to continue reading the vile descriptions of horrendous acts of violence. That being said, I think the author intended to give us an unblinking look into the world of machismo culture, to make her readers see how destructive misogyny and homophobia truly are.

I wouldn’t say I “enjoyed” this book, but I did find myself glued to the pages while the mystery of the Witch was slowly unveiled. Sophie Hughes did a fantastic job of translating this odd novel from the original Spanish, with its long, twisty sentences that sometimes occupy two or three pages before returning to their initial intended point. I do wish she had found an alternative for the r-word though - or do translators not have the agency of choosing their words?

In a strange way, this book reminds me of ‘Sula’ by Toni Morrison. Like Sula, the Witch was ostracized from the community of La Matosa (unless of course, she was providing money or services) and cast as the source of all the town’s darkest indulgences. She was the scapegoat to be blamed for everyone else’s behavior, so that nobody would have to take responsibility for their own actions, least of all the men of the town.

If you can name a trigger warning, it’s probably in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Transphobia, and Violence

ananamauvais's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Medical content, and Toxic relationship