Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

54 reviews

rosie_valadez's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Drug use

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

3.5

I loved this story. Gabino Iglesias is an incredible writer, who could take an awful person like Mario and still make him a compelling protagonist. When given an opportunity to help pay off some of his child's medical debt by shooting a man in the back of the head, he doesn't hesitate for long and finds he enjoyed being a hit man. When later given the opportunity to rob a cartel truck and stealing their drug money for a $200,000 payout, he's all for it. But Iglesias makes you care about him, want to follow him on this heist.

There's some great stuff in this book. The discussions of religion are so real, so refreshing, and it's not even my culture and religion! The way characters dipped into and out of Spanish felt real, as someone who lives in an area with a high Mexican population. There amount of swearing in this novel is perfect, it always felt like actual people talking to each other. The supernatural horrors are just as bad as the things humans do to each other. One of the few things that I didn't like is that Mario spends a large portion of the book inside his own head, and all he can think about are his child and his wife and how he failed them in the same ways and it got repetitive, but I could live with that.

And then we get to that fucking ending. I hate it.

This entire book is a "shoot the shaggy dog" story and it made me feel like I had wasted 10 hours of my time.

This is a wonderful and beloved book for someone, but it is extremely not for me. 

Also, we are not messing around with the "murder", "gore", and "violence" tags. Consider this to be a Dead Dove Don't Eat warning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Deportation

brandi1122'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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer

shiftycow1313's review against another edition

I knew based on the description that this book was going to be dark, but it is DARK DARK DARK. I'll try to pick it up again someday when my head is in a better space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

horizon_fire's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

amandaroa's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I tried to read this book a year ago but it was just too ugly and I stopped. I decided to try again, being in the right mood for it, started over from the beginning.  
I can acknowledge the writing was great. The book put me into the shoes of a character whose world I have never experienced and did so im a way that was thought-provoking. But did I like the book? Not really. Might someone else? Sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, and Murder

lisettemarie's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Classism

cmcrockford's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.0

Mix of purple and strong prose here, but I also really hate Dead Kids and Lost Families as motivators for characters. I don't care! I dunno the Dead Kid! Stick to the plot! Plus this felt preachy sometimes. At least the combination of barrio noir and horror is cool.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cbushwrite's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

Please read this book. If you like suspense and supernatural horror, and as long as anti-heroes don't completely turn you off, this will be the best book you've read in a long time. One I will not forget.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

thewellbitch's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

 3 stars - This was a wild ride. I purchased it because I had seen it recommended in horror book lists, but it started out as some narco/crime novel so I was disappointed. But then we get bits of horror and I was like whoa. Some parts were very good (and disturbing), but having lived in cities where cartel violence is/was rampant I really do not enjoy it as the central part of books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Drug abuse