Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez

19 reviews

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

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Vomit, Suicide, Self harm, Pregnancy, Drug use, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Racism, Gore, Alcohol, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic relationship

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

thenonbinaryc's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Sexual violence, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Vomit, Violence, Transphobia, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, 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

irenemarie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: 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

noel_b's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A creepy collection of stories that are unsettling, sometimes disgusting, and always, always vivid. Every story goes to a different part of Argentina and explores a different version of life at its margins.

Most of the stories have a gothic feel to them and the prose (at least in Spanish) managed to describe my home country in a way that felt both familiar and alien. Comforting and disturbing. The author knows exactly how to latch on to the shadows we tend to look over, and make them deeper, darker, impossible to ignore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Self harm, Police brutality, Misogyny, and Mental illness

patricia_epub's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? N/A
• 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: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Confinement, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Police brutality