Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Candelaria by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

5 reviews

amarchetta's review

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

I loved this book. It is so complicated and intricate that I'm sure it could take years of study to analyze this work. But it was so interesting and funny and crazy that I didn't want to slow down. It moved between being clearly satirical and being so sincere that I cried a bit at the end :'( Just fantastic.

(Plus, I love to find a surprise abortion storyline in fiction!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Death, Gore, Pregnancy, Abortion, Violence, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual content, Racism, Addiction, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug use

dhritigupta's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

“And how actually, that was the hardest thing, to be soft enough to cut into”

a very crazy book that i don’t know how to describe, but i liked how it made me feel! i  just keep being like how did she come up with all of that!! i love melissa lozada-oliva’s voice in this, it felt truly unique and was so funny. not sure if i picked up on all the symbolism, especially near the end, but i think that’s ok

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Cannibalism

Moderate: Death of parent, Addiction, Violence, Grief, Body shaming, and Pregnancy

caro1121's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Violence, Grief, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Abortion, Death, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Drug use, Murder, and Blood

I had such high hopes for this book! I’m glad I did not buy it physically. This story took a turn and the way that it was written was confusing. It was jumping back and forth. The magical realism element threw me off too, I wasn’t sure what to believe while reading it. The characters/daughters were such terrible people that they made it unbearable to get through. I did however like the plot twist. I don’t know if they explained why everything was happening, tuned out a bit towards the end, but I would’ve liked to understand what was going on.

megansoetaert's review against another edition

dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.75

i love melissa lozada-oliva y'all!!! i wish i could just PEEK inside her brain... and then run away quickly because idk how she thinks of this shit (but i'm not sure i really want to know). this was so weird, and i loved it. it's about family and sisterhood and relationships and understanding yourself!!! but it's also about zombies and cults and cannibalism. who could want more?

also the girlies who love mona awad need to get on their MLO shit becauseeee it's so good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cannibalism, Violence, and Sexual content

alliereadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Cannibalism