Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

14 reviews

ouijabroad's review against another edition

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? Yes

1.0

I slogged through this one. I feel like this happened for several reasons. The first one being that there’s sooooooooo much fluff before the “action” begins (I use action loosely and I’ll get to that). This book could have easily been a novella in my opinion and summed everything up much faster, however I still don’t think it would’ve been a worthy enough story to tell.

I knew going in that the characters weren’t likable and I’m fine with that. The thing is I didn’t care about them, the story they were telling or what happened to them. The beginning was sad and I had empathy for Mario’s financial struggles and how healthcare is a sick joke, but that’s about all I felt the entire book.

The messed up and sometimes (weirdly and randomly) even supernatural things that happened had no explanation and the violence was purely there to shock the reader. 

The author cannot write women, he is as bad as Stephen king. Any woman is just there to further plot and they're either reduced to their looks and bodies or viewed as a mother figure (or both like Stephanie!).  Also really loves telling us about fat folks because that totally adds to the story. And all the fat folks were objectively bad people. 

I didn’t dig his writing style; This author really likes to use similes at a distracting rate. 

Now, the “action” during the climax: it was such a dud. All this lead up and exposition with so many unexplained happenings, violence and then it’s just over. I can’t believe I spent so long trying to get through this one. I wish I had put this in the DNF pile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

book_creature's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Transphobia

Minor: Animal cruelty

victoriaharris001's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

meliroo's review against another edition

dark

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail