Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Our Share of Night: A Novel by Mariana Enríquez, Megan McDowell

82 reviews

mstall_'s review

dark tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I have been left breathless. 

When I crack open a horror story, I expect the usual: a few heart racing scenes, chills, maybe a tough night of sleep. I expect the horror element to be front and center and any semblance of a plot to be left in it's shadow. I do not expect to be moved, yet Our Share of Night moved me. I will be thinking about this story for years. I want to immediately start the book over again.

Juan Peterson is fleeing Buenos Aires with his 6 year old son Gaspar on a road trip in 1981. At this time, Argentina is embroiled in a dictatorship and it is dangerous to be traveling, or really just looking a little out of place. The story starts off with understanding the brutality of Videla's dictatorship: hundreds of people have been killed or "disappeared" and the air is thick with despair and fear. Since the death of Gaspar's mother, he and his father are hoping to seek shelter with Gaspar's immensely rich and powerful grandparents up north.

However, Gaspar's mother and therefore his grandparents are all part of a secret, demonic cult called The Order. The Order worships an entity called The Darkness and the Darkness can only speak through a medium -- Juan. Being the medium takes a serious toll on the health of the person, and Juan already struggles with multiple heart issues. He is preparing to die any day.

As the story unfolds we see not only the scope of the Order's power but also the scope of it's brutality, even for it's own members. Juan is desperately tying to keep Gaspar from being the next medium and enduring the horrors of the Order and the Darkness. Juan will do anything to keep Gaspar safe, even if it means sacrificing himself.

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez is literary horror at it's very finest. At 600 pages, this is a powerhouse of a book that will ask you to wait patiently, stay dedicated, and obey, for the absolute payoff of being invited deeper and deeper into the world of Juan and Gaspar. The book is broken up into five parts, none of which have true chapters. Some parts are long and laborious and you feel like you just want to quit and yet something keeps you working for the next line, the next page, the next reveal. And what a pay off each reveal is -- every detail in this book is important and the further you go, the deeper you get the more you are able to make out the shape of what is forming. It is phenomenal writing and exquisite storytelling.

Be reminded that this is horror story about a cult, so expect cult horror. Body horror, child abuse and death, violence against women, just to name a few. There are also some depictions of gay men passing away from AIDs and while not related to the cult horror aspect itself, the AIDs crisis in the 80s and early 90s was very much a horror of it's own. 

Our Share of Night is a 5/5 star read for me. I will be re-reading this book as often as I can.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse and Violence

drivera55's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Sexual violence, Blood, Child death, Rape, Murder, Gore, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, Colonisation, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Classism, War, Police brutality, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Miscarriage, Infidelity, Infertility, and Mental illness

karmapen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual assault, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Emotional abuse

yrioona's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Una mezcla impresionante de ficción histórica, terror cósmico, y drama familiar multigeneracional. Me fascinaban los personajes y me encantaba como la autora usa la lenguaje, el imagen, y la metáfora. Es un libro hermoso y también horripilante, con personajes complejos (incluyendo versiones de David Bowie y Genesis P-Orridge!) y una trama que extende desde el siglo XVIII hasta los años noventa tras múltiples narradores, y que se entrelaza con la historia de Argentina y sus horrores reales e imaginados. Es increíblemente oscuro y a veces brutal, pero también tierno, y enraizado en una exploración franca de la trauma intergeneracional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Self harm, Chronic illness, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Genocide, Sexual violence, Suicide, Child death, Car accident, Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma

ka_cam's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

A gripping horror read- fast because I didn’t want to put it down. Also, very dark. The setting and descriptions of time, place, energy and ethos of various setting was very well done, especially for translation. I appreciated how I really got a feel for how ‘normal’ the very traditionally abnormal (hyper-wealthy multigenerational death cult and spirits/spirit worlds) world was for various characters, and their distinct experiences of it as medium, clairvoyant child of medium, elder, child, follower, other etc added to the sense of reality. Went a bit on/could have been a bit shorter but a compelling read. Check the content warnings tho, not for the faint of heart!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

knenigans's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Suicide

camscampbell's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This dark horror novel is set in Argentina and spans the period from 1960 to 1997. It follows the lives of Gaspar, the main character, and his family as Gaspar comes of age. His father, Juan, will stop at nothing to protect him from the evil clutches of his wife's family, who want to take advantage of Juan and Gaspar's talents of accessing the Darkness to become immortal. 

I read the English translation (by Megan McDowell) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The structure moves around, and I never found myself annoyed by the time shifts back and forth. 

It has some troubling scenes of violence, particularly of child abuse.

The scenes of the children in cages in the dark tunnel under Puerto Reyes were horrific.

.

If you enjoyed Stephen King's It, you'll probably enjoy this. The part set in Buenos Aires in 1985–1986, in particular, reminded me of the Losers Club from that novel. Fans of Clive Barker would probably enjoy it, too. I felt some vibes of The Great and Secret Show in this in how dark it was.

My YouTube review of this book is here: https://youtu.be/M2GgCPpWEpA

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Torture, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Confinement, Body horror, and Bullying

Moderate: Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abandonment, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, and Classism

arayo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Medical content, Child abuse, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Gaslighting, Blood, Chronic illness, Gore, Child death, Grief, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Biphobia, Alcohol, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Vomit, Cannibalism, Genocide, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Infidelity, Drug use, Rape, Infertility, Police brutality, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

amysworld's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I love a good character development driven book. This book was such a slow burn and I think thats why I enjoyed it so much. I love a book where you slowly get to know the characters and they grow as you read. It reminded me, in that sense, a lot of The Goldfinch. The characters are so rich and the world of the cult is so vivid. I love how it jumped back and forth from the past to present and you slowly learned how far this father was willing to go for his son.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gore, Murder, Suicide, Physical abuse, Death, Child death, Child abuse, and Violence

rileyk96's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

between the subtle political themes, various subplots, and emotionally flawed characters with questionable motive, i feel this book will be more powerful on a re-read. the author and translator did an amazing job maintaining tension and building unease which continued beyond the book’s end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide