Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

52 reviews

ava_lanche's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Twelve eerie stories that thrive in the mysteries they create! These mysteries are not meant to be solved, only experienced through the eyes of different Argentine women whose voices have been quieted, either by shame and insanity or by the ever-present fear of it.

Hailing from impoverished slums, trafficked children haunt the streets; raped and murdered girls reappear in silence; mothers curse their daughters; girls are possessed and scarred yet no one believes them. Crushed rib cages and torn entrails – anatomical obsessions turn bloody. Here, what is not said is the most powerful.

As with most collections of stories, some pieces are stronger than others. Many of these stories feel a little... unfinished. Some endings are unsatisfactory, which is such a shame, as most of the premises are unusually creative and thought-provoking.

However, "The Well", "Where Are You, Dear Heart?" and "Rambla Triste" were definite highlights. I also liked "The Cart" and "The Kids Who Come Back".

The stories work well together, and create a Buenos Aires that is filled with danger – physical, mental and paranormal. The poisons of the city has taken on a ghostly shape, and the repercussions are felt mostly by the women, whether it's their bodies or their minds that are marked by violence, and whether the sins are committed by people or by ghosts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Self harm, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Rape, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Body horror, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Murder, Medical trauma, Death, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Suicide, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Violence, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Gore, and Excrement

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

snowiceblackfruit77's review

dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

lucinotlucy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Alcohol, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Violence

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

glaybor's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Death, Self harm, Violence, Excrement, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Trafficking, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Police brutality

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

gracieyue's review against another edition

3.25

Trigger warning: The short story Kids Who Came Back contains two uses of the t-slur and three uses of the word "transvestites." 

I think The Dangers of Smoking in Bed was overhyped to me from seeing it on BookTube. I find a lot of books that people say are "so fucked up" to ultimately let me down in that respect. I don't know if I just consumed way too much horror content as a child which desensitised me, but I was immediately disappointed after cracking this one open. I wish that this prior expectation didn't exist because this book's strengths are moreso in atmosphere and subtle horror, and mixing in the everyday urban and suburban. I enjoyed seeing the settings of the book, mostly Argentina and Spain. When I think of this book, I think of concrete streets filled with cigarette smoke.

I was glad to see that this book was older than I thought - it was first published in Spanish in 2009 and only translated to English in 2021. This actually makes me excited to read the other works by Mariana Enríquez, her other short story collection Things We Lost in the Fire (2019) and her novel Our Share of Night (2022) because I see a lot of potential in her writing and I'm hoping she's taken her strengths from Dangers and improved on them. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, and Transphobia

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

cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Death, Drug abuse, Excrement, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Transphobia