Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

10 reviews

mondovertigo's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Excrement, and Trafficking

Moderate: Incest and Suicide

Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

adragoninspace's review against another edition

dark sad tense

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

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

introverted_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Incest, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I think this is a really interesting collection of short stories. They all have very common themes like female sexuality, witchcraft, smells (which I thought was particularly interesting), children/childhood, mass hysteria/fanaticism, and religion. 

While some stories are better than others, I think they’re all a good read! My top three are:
1. Where Are You, Dear Heart?
2. Meat
3. Kids Who Come Back
With a special mention to Angelita. 

I feel that perhaps a study guide of sorts would help understand the symbolism of the stories, but honestly they’re all really good and I enjoyed all of them to a degree. 

TRIGGER WARNING:
Be warned though: most stories contain some element of child abuse/pedophilia/forced incest/child prostitution/etc. 
“kids who come back” contains some transphobic and lesbophobic slurs/characteristics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gore, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Body horror, Drug abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

saoirsebb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Abandonment

lasafica_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

worldsworstmilf's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I had to keep taking breaks from reading this as everything about it was so miserable and homogenous. The characters and individual stories form one elongated, fucked up narrative - the book succeeds in showing that the real horror comes from the complicit and dismissive attitudes characters have towards lots of (really triggering) things, but half of that content seems more used as a shortcut for dark world building. The writing is skilled, sure, but when you can guess the outcome of every story it’s more a test of resilience to see if you can finish the collection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Incest, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia

biblizo's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

NB: I was gifted a copy of this book for review from the publisher, Random House Publishing, via NetGalley. All the thoughts below are my own. 

This collection called my name. I love horror writing, and I love short story collections. Enriquez delivered with a collection of dark and mysterious fiction. 

It's certainly possible that many North American readers might discount this collection as "not scary enough" due to the ways in which we are desensitized to overt gore and crashing scores in horror films. However, this collection is, in all the best ways, deeply scary. It isn't overt, but rather so subtle. There are stories that end so abruptly that one is left to question what really happened, and it is in that reflection that the stories haunt you. 

This was a quick read, and a beautiful piece of translated work. I can't imagine that any of the original artistry was lost in this translation to English, and if it was, what a gift to native speakers to be able to enjoy this book in its original form. 

CW for this book include sexual assault, drug addiction, suicide, cannibalism, and transphobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Incest, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Transphobia