Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez

84 reviews

jenk2020's review

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.

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Content Warnings

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

moonlighthepburn's review against another edition

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Abortion

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Self harm, and Violence

kelsi_r's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, and Torture

recollections's review against another edition

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

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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, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

perditorian's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, and Police brutality

Minor: Suicide and Excrement

keepreadingbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.75

This one got me out of a tiny slump. Short stories are always a good choice for me if I want to get back into a good reading habit again, and short stories with a tense atmosphere are certainly a plus. I think I’d describe this one as dark magical realism, bordering on horror. Horror isn’t really my thing, but I can dig dark magical realism, so for the most part this one hit the right spot. 

 

You must be prepared to feel uneasy and a little uncomfortable at times, and that counts both for the supernatural/magical realism aspects and for the realistic ones, as Things We Lost in the Fire is also very much social criticism. Argentinian history and culture is for the most part unknown to me, and I love learning about a country through stories; in my opinion, you don’t at all need long explanations of traditions and customs – in fact, I often get a better feel of a country’s or area’s atmosphere if I’m plunged right into it. 

 

In many ways, this one actually reminded me of What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky (though Things We Lost is certainly a lot darker) – both collections have magical realism aspects, both introduced me to cultures I didn’t know much of beforehand, and the writing styles are slightly similar – very direct and matter-of-fact, which I *love* – though in my opinion Arimah, author of What It Means, is still in a league of her own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction and Police brutality

Minor: Mental illness

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

noel_b's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A creepy collection of stories that are unsettling, sometimes disgusting, and always, always vivid. Every story goes to a different part of Argentina and explores a different version of life at its margins.

Most of the stories have a gothic feel to them and the prose (at least in Spanish) managed to describe my home country in a way that felt both familiar and alien. Comforting and disturbing. The author knows exactly how to latch on to the shadows we tend to look over, and make them deeper, darker, impossible to ignore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Cannibalism

chiaralzr's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Murder