Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

35 reviews

shawnthulhu's review against another edition

<Spoiler> I just can't get past them torturing a child for religious gain...written in detail. I get there is likely metaphor there. But that was hard to read and it made me feel too uncomfortable and I wasn't prepared for it in any way. Read the trigger warnings before you pick this one up so you know what you're getting into.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sophiaangela's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nithya_natalya's review against another edition

dark 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

True to the descriptions, this book was genre-bending, and I loved that. It wasn’t a typical horror novel, but sort of naturally blended horror elements into hyper-gritty realism. None of the supernatural elements felt out of place. I thought that at times the points that the author made about racism were heavy handed. But maybe being heavy handed is a good thing. One star deducted for his depiction of women. I felt like most of the women were not multidimensional at all. I think that might have been part of the point. The character sort of mythologized the women in his life, rather than seeing them as real people. But sometimes it was hard to tell whether it was intentional or just the authors own biases leaking through? 

One note: there is a good amount of Spanish mixed into the novel, although it is mostly written in English. I would recommend not trying to translate those sections if you don’t understand them. Writing parts of conversations in Spanish was an artistic choice. Imo, non Spanish speakers are not meant to know what’s being said. That’s part of the experience of it. Spanish speakers will catch everything and non-Spanish speaker will miss things, feel lost, or not fully understand. And to me, that is part of the point of the artistic choice that was made. If not understanding what’s going on makes you feel uncomfortable, sit with that! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, and Cannibalism

kenziburke'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, and Drug abuse

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

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

doomluz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.75

I like the mix of Spanish words and phrases, though I’m not sure how much non-Spanish speakers might be able to understand some of them.
It starts sad, but then it gets really intense. It has some supernatural elements, but for the most part it's gritty and realistic, in a gory and violent way.
Overall, it was a great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Misogyny

Minor: Transphobia

jennifer_bush_73's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ashleymg99's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.5

This book just wasn’t for me. I was really interested in the mysticism, but it was just a bit too dark, gritty, and gory for my personal taste. Some scenes are very graphic (violent) and hard to read, and I don’t consider myself to have a weak stomach. Overall, the book was pretty depressing. I think the writing was great, and the story had a unique premise, but the tone was a bit too rough for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail