Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

43 reviews

amandadelbrocco's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Torture, Murder, Death, Gore, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, and Classism

Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

hollowbound's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

This had a really interesting rhythm to it, where we'd go from scenes of relative mundanity to hyper-stylized violence and back again. It worked to lull you into some sense of security, humanizing the deep sorrow so many of the characters face, before striking you with the depths of cruelty even the most good-intentioned people can fall to. I will say, Mario's grief over Anita and Melisa, while completely understandable, became far too repetitious for my tastes. It blocked out other opportunities for other character-building, such as strengthening my belief in his and Brian's friendship leading to the ending. Just as well, I found Juanca a much more engaging character. It almost felt like the book was way more about him than Mario, who was just along for the ride, and I think that's what made the ending feel so abrupt to me. Overall, though, the writing was solid and the characterizations were on point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Racism, Child death, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs and Murder

cberbette's review

dark emotional sad tense 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: Animal cruelty, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Drug use, Death, Body horror, Blood, Torture, Drug abuse, Racism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Suicide attempt and Transphobia

melm1216's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Racism, Drug use, Violence, Gun violence, Death, Cancer, Blood, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Drug abuse, and Child death

tyler_j's review

This is a great book from what I read. DNF 108 pages.

This DNF has nothing against this book itself. The reason I can't finish it is highly personal.

I wish I could finish this book. It truly seems amazing and I believe if I could finish it i'd give it 5 stars. But I can't.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Torture, Drug abuse, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Death

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

This story is not for the faint-hearted because there are some very brutal incidents involving injury, murder, death, abuse, drug use. Set primarily in Texas in a world of violent crime and desperation, the main character, Mario, is still reeling from the death of his young daughter and the breakdown of his marriage. The author nimbly weaves a number of serious social issues throughout his book, with one in particular being the way health care costs in the United States can bankrupt people and take them to a very low point in their life.

Looking for a way to recover financial stability and win back his estranged wife, Mario embarks on a life of crime he sees as short term. An opportunity becomes available for Mario to join two friends for a high-paying job that promises to be the payday they all need to start over and leave behind their criminal pasts. Unfortunately, this last job takes them into the underbelly of a world where the strong survive eliminating rivals and punishing traitors, and in this world, spirituality harnesses not just God, but the Devil too.

Really well-written story and a good translation. The assorted people and various landscapes of their environments felt visceral and real. In a lot of books and movies, criminals and the poor are portrayed in a one-dimensional way, but in this book, the characters possess great intelligence and depth, and the reader may likely be exposed to a harsh reality that many people experience but many more are insulated from by virtue of their skin color, neighborhood, lineage, and sometimes just luck.

I listened to the audiobook, and the narration by Jean-Marc Berne was excellent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Animal cruelty, Murder, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Grief, Racism, Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Child death, and Racial slurs

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Medical content

_meeg's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Gore, and Abandonment

vtleon715's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Gore, Child death, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

_astronomay's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, and Torture

sarinac_reads's review

challenging dark 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

3.75

This book is not for the faint of heart!! Graphic and gory and overall disturbing, this is not a light read. Nevertheless, it is beautifully written with both poetic prose and highly sympathetic insights into one grieving and deeply troubled man's psyche (a tall feat, considering the acts that this man commits throughout the book).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Hate crime, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and War