Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez

25 reviews

revafisheye's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Body horror and Addiction

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

li22ie's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Rape, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Violence, and Torture

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

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

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

danycatreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Una colección de cuentos muy difícil de leer en el mejor sentido posible. Muchos cuentos de terror clásico como casas abandonadas, o apariciones y desapariciones repentinas, pero lo que une a todo el libro son las voces de mujeres, creando personajes difíciles y complejos. No todos los cuentos me encantaron, pero comprendo a lo que la autora quería llegar, y para mí eso es suficiente. Están hechos con tanta delicadeza que no puedo darle otro rating que no sea casi cinco estrellas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic friendship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Medical trauma, Classism, Medical content, Body horror, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Self harm, Mental illness, Hate crime, Death, Gore, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Grief, and Fatphobia

ahnminjim's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Violence, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, and Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Abortion

Minor: Trafficking, Ableism, Eating disorder, and Rape

allyah's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

burnyayhayley's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This collection is truly impressive. There are some seriously disturbing images and each story achieves a strong sense of unease by the end, sometimes in ways, I did not expect to actually find uneasy. 

The author has a very in-depth grip on characterization and is consistently excellent at giving us the correct amount of information so that all the characters feel real and important and tangible, but when you are finished you still feel slightly robbed of closure, which in the context of horror short fiction, is perfect. 

However, I knocked off a star because I am not feeling so impressed by the writing or the content that I am overwhelmed—I just feel a normal amount of impressed, if that makes sense. It's excellent short fiction, but it did not always hit me where I hoped it would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Trafficking

cindymarieo's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed these unsettling horror stories. You can see the influence of Argentina’s past- the disappearances, the police presence, etc. There is an uncertainty as to whether the horror is due to something supernatural (Demons? Spirits? Ghosts?) or due to other human beings. Feminism is a theme that occurs in multiple stories. I recommend reading this rather than listening to the audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury