Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

34 reviews

woolgatherer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.5

I was really looking forward to this collection of short stories, especially as someone who enjoys some haunting atmospheres. Enríquez does a great job crafting an eerie Buenos Aires and some very dark plots for her stories, though I found some were more convincing than others. Unfortunately, I felt that something was missing in these stories and I really struggled to stay focused on this collection. I want to say the issue might be that almost all of them fell flat at the end for me. It could be that the author wanted to leave an air of mystery at the end of these stories, but I found that she was a bit unsuccessful on this front. It should also be noted that the short story, “Kids Who Come Back,” has a lot of transphobic slurs that I thought were entirely unnecessary and didn’t serve a purpose to the story (and, in fact, ruined it).

I’m still interested in reading Enríquez’s other works, but this collection was a bit of a letdown.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Cannibalism, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Trafficking, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Transphobia

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

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

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

ewwniamh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Drug use, Blood, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Death, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Trafficking, and Drug abuse

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

alreinwarth's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Body shaming, Child death, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, Excrement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Self harm, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pedophilia

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Lesbophobia and Transphobia

agat's review against another edition

Flemme et j'ai pas les références pour comprendre vraiment de quoi il s'agit : de l'histoire de l'Argentine. Une fois que je serais plus informée je comprendrai sûrement la profondeur de l'ouvrage et pourrai en reprendre la lecture. Mais pour l'instant ce ne sont que des creepy pastas peu originaux et sans grand intérêt

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abandonment, Vomit, Violence, Stalking, Grief, Excrement, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Drug abuse, Death, Colonisation, and Child death

jojobings's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Abandonment, Bullying, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Slavery

cady_sass's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I never read anthologies, because I know myself and I want more depth, more character development, a plot arc. But this book has been calling to me. I’m very glad I finally picked it up. A couple of the short stories I hated, most of them I loved. It feels like the translator really did the original work justice, the prose is gorgeous and vivid and gritty, but someone who’s read the original Spanish will have to say for sure. There’s certainly some triggering imagery so proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Classism, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Abandonment, Animal death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Violence, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault