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Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Incest, Miscarriage, Torture, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting
I like the writing and the story is interesting, but the constant SA happening in the second half of the book was just way too uncomfortable for me to read.
Like I get it, the guy is creepy, but does he really need to assault her or threaten to assault her every couple pages?
It just made me way to uncomfortable, I couldn't enjoy the story anymore.
I will try other books by this author, because the writing itself was good, but yeah this just wasn't for me.
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Stalking, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Classism
And DAMN - I don’t even have overly well-articulated thoughts about this book yet.
Firstly I will say Garcia has 100% earned her acclaim, the writing was EXCELLENT - great story flow, character development, and suspense.
Silvia Moreno Garcia writing carries a sense of refined purpose - I enjoyed how it didn’t feel like anything was superfluous or wasted. There was a solid chunk in the book before the twist is revealed where I was like ‘what the actual fuck is going on?!’, but even the confusion was well executed and left me turning pages quickly to see what happened next.
Our heroine, Noemí, was enchanting, delightful, extremely smart, and also deeply human. I enjoyed seeing her determination, grit, and courage come to fruition - she truly handled it all so incredibly well, I…would’ve been doomed. 😅😅
Catalina was so sweet, and Francis was such a tragic figure who I became grudgingly fond of. The rest of the Doyle’s, with the exception of Ruth, were horrific people - the women were truly victims but even then so many went along with it - it was just such an intense story.
The only thing I think I would change about this book is to give a bit more closure with the ending.
This was some dark dark shit - the sexism, the incest, the eugenics - jfc - it was A LOT. Truly so fucking horrific. Death by fire was too good for those mf’s
For my fellow sensitive readers definitely check the trigger warnings - I was in a headspace to be able to handle this book but there are several quite upsetting and disturbing scenes and themes.
The eugenics aspect of this book was extremely disturbing - it wasn’t overly belabored but it was eerie and disgusting how normal the Doyle’s seemed to feel it was. I’m a biracial kid, so I’m familiar with the idea of eugenics and shit, but I had, I admit, avoided reading about it beyond the cursory history of it because it is so terrible.
As an aside, I don’t think I’ll be able to look at mushrooms the same way ever again. Iykyk. 🫣
If you’re looking for a banger of a well-written 1950’s gothic style thriller/horror novel, 10/10 would recommend!
As a P.S. I see some people complaining about how slow and boring the first half is - but I think that made the horror really grab you in the second half because the first part *almost* feels like a normal story and you can totally see why Catalina and Noemí were lulled into a false sense of security and self-gaslighting until they learned the truth. To me it seems genius tbh. 😅 Like an episode of The Twilight Zone but more complex and filled out.
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Blood, Medical content
Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship
Minor: Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Excrement, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Kidnapping
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Pedophilia, Rape
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Incest, Classism
Moderate: Infertility, Sexual assault, Cannibalism