Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

30 reviews

sina4books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Excrement, Gun violence, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Violence, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, and Blood

librarymouse's review

adventurous challenging dark medium-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

3.5

This was a quick read. The shorter stories felt like an RL Stine book, but vulgar. "Kids Who Come Back" had unnecessary use of transphobic slurs, but was the longest and most engaging story in the book.
Copious references to and depictions of bodily fluid didn't necessarily add to the horror, but made reading this a bit disgusting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual assault, Self harm, Sexism, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Body horror, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Transphobia

Moderate: Abandonment

kjboldon's review

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

4.25

Enter at your own risk: rape, violence, cannibalism, self harm, suicide, use of transphobic slurs by a character and a whole bunch else. This book is bonkers, horrifying on purpose, and not for the faint of heart. But wow was it a ride. Dark AF. I was reading along and feeling like I was doing OK even though horror isn't usually my jam, then I got to the story on heartbeats.Whoa. So, there's lots of landmines and triggers here. Take care of yourself as you read this and if something upsets you, skip to the next story or put it down. But reading to the end gets you a fabulous story about teen girls and a Ouija board. This is scary, spooky AF, and part of that is the way the supernatural and the everyday horrors overlap and bleed into one another. I think Mary Shelley and Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith would all be proud that this work stands on their (and many others') shoulders. Did you enjoy Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties? This reminded me of that, but even more so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Transphobia, Blood, Death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Self harm, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Trafficking

neugrowf's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Addiction

brye_wheels's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Violence, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Chronic illness

maggies's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Heavy on the horror, I think this collection of short stories will stay with me. Just about every content warning applies, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Gore, Rape, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Excrement, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Vomit

anouk_adriana's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

What the fuck

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Vomit, Abortion, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Trafficking, and Violence

lunacueva's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Cannibalism

Moderate: Blood and Pedophilia

Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

denlia's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Excrement, Homophobia, Death, Drug use, Terminal illness, and Transphobia

orlabutler's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This book really was not for me. I'm sure there are some people out there that would love it but I honestly wanted to give up on it over and over again. I only powered through because it is a book of short stories and I thought I might find one I liked. Every story felt like it was dragging on and then the end felt like a page was missing. There are some serious and disturbing themes explored and not well, I feel like they are more being used for shock factor than anything else. I saw so many people recommend this book and I am very disappointed 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Classism, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Suicide, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Drug use, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child death, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Slavery, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Addiction, Terminal illness, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Trafficking, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, and Incest