Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

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

75 reviews

kate_303's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, War, Self harm, and Death of parent

Moderate: Car accident, Classism, Abandonment, and Chronic illness

Minor: Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, and Rape

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

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Not really sure what hoopla was about this book. I get how it’s actually a political allegory, but it was way too long, had too many unnecessary digressions, and not enough resolution for my satisfaction. Enjoyed the overall story, but there were far too much that I didn’t care for in between.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Addiction, Confinement, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

meowkira's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Sexual assault, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Torture

relly621's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Grief, Gore, Suicide attempt, and Emotional abuse

henpower's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Violence, Gore, Abandonment, Death, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Medical trauma, and Emotional abuse

marianne_clh's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Dementia, Self harm, Body horror, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Gore, Grief, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Child abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, War, Addiction, Drug abuse, Rape, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, and Suicide attempt

codysmovingcastle's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

This one was slow-paced, unsatisfying by design, with hard-to-love characters. Still, this is easily a 5-star read. 

It's a tough novel to read; physically, with dense paragraphs and odd formatting with unclear quotations, and emotionally, with graphic depictions of abuse, violence, and body horror. I can see how this wouldn't appeal to a lot of people, and the payoff isn't like your typical book climax, but I don't think any characters have quite hit me like Juan and Gaspar have.

The novel is broken up into several (long) chapters that almost act as several novellas, each with a distinct tone, narrator, and writing style. Together, they tell a multi-generational story that meaningfully engages with more themes than I could count: Argentina's political landscape vs. the social elite, generational trauma, cult mentality, grief, polyamory, familial bonds, queer culture/queerness, colonialism, chronic illness and disability, slavery, and so on. 

The characters are where the story really hits though. Juan is horrible and I love him. Rosario is quite unlikeable, imperfect, and one of the best female characters I have ever read. And I've literally never had an ounce of maternal instinct until this book, but I would burn down the world for Gaspar.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Body horror, Death of parent, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, and Terminal illness

amariel's review against another edition

Un libro torpe, donde todo es secundario.
Las comparaciones son extensas cuando innecesarias, escuetas cuando esenciales.
Las escenas que deberían dar horror dan como mucho repugnancia.
Todos los personajes (y algunos nombres) son estereotípicos, y apenas se esuchan entre sí; muchos parecen incluidos tan sólo para incrementar la sensación de confusión y carecen de importancia.

El cambio de narrativa de a cuarta parte fue demasiado incongruente y dejé de leer.

El uso de la dictadura como justificación de los cuerpos es una elección casi de mal gusto. 
La homo y bisexualidad se tratan con un misticismo caduco.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Self harm, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, and Emotional abuse

La mejor escena: cuando dan las cenizas de la madre al río.

muertango's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Violence, Self harm, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Car accident