Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez

54 reviews

josefiina's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Mental illness

Moderate: Eating disorder

emimli's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

Scawy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death, Eating disorder, Rape, and Violence

jake_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

3.5

I like what Mariana Enríquez is doing in these stories. Like China Miéville, she recognises that traditional gothic tropes are tangled up in social and political issues - the monster which inspires disgust might be the symbolic marginalised or disenfranchised 'other'. That said, I never really found the plain and unadorned writing style effective, and this took away from the raw and shocking power the stories tried to have. Enríquez is nevertheless a writer worth reading if you like the contemporary political weird (Miéville, M. J. Harrison, Joel Lane, Camilla Grudova) or dark Latin American fiction (Roberto Bolaño, Silvina Ocampo).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

alexreads111's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Self harm, Child death, and Abandonment

abbeyhuffine94's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Self harm

Minor: Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Torture, Suicide, and Rape

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Vomit, Suicide, Self harm, Pregnancy, Drug use, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Racism, Gore, Alcohol, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic relationship

pasavedra's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Self harm

badmc's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

A collection of pretty disturbing short stories set in Argentina - now with magical realism! If asked to classify this, I would say it's social horror, because most of the horrific things are far from supernatural and stem from themes such as poverty, addiction, abuse, corruption, misogyny and political landscape(s). The stories are always from a female perspective, so also give the added layer to the uneasiness the characters experience. Magical realism aspect is not that important, because the stories themselves are quite realistic. They are also very vague and open to interpretation, more often than not petering out just before the readers can lay their eyes on the "real horror" of the story. They challenged me to learn more about Argentinian history, altough they don't inform, they just made me want to seek out sources on my own. 

Stories are also quite short, which is my main beef with most of the short stories I read, lacking the details that make me immersed and invested. Stories are also bleak, depressing, and mostly focus on the negative, ugly, and dirty corners of the human nature. I suggest spacing them out over time, because they sometimes feel repetitive because of the structure and themes. Also, all the trigger warnings apply here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Violence, and Torture

Minor: War and Xenophobia

poppymaud's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Animal death

thenonbinaryc's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Sexual violence, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Vomit, Violence, Transphobia, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and Fatphobia