Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez

50 reviews

mackenzi's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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adiloretto's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"—Okey, soy: tengo un novio medio esquizo y mi mejor amigo tiene sida. Dale, soy sobreprotectora. No me jodas.
—Eso porque te gustan los locos y te juntás con putos. No te hagas la Florence Nightingale ahora. Por favor.
"
La autora construye una historia de realismo mágico completamente absorbente. Atrae y puede conectar con lectores de todo el mundo, colando en su historia  elementos y diálogos bien argentinos. Increíble. Viva la patria. La cita me hizo reír en medio de una historia tan sombría; siento que muchos personajes pueden ser personas de la vida cotidiana. Muy realistas sus construcciones.

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plebert's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

5.0

This is probably one of the best horror books I’ve ever read. It flew by, despite being 27 hours long. I really liked the narration and the translator did a good job. This book deals with a lot of heavy themes. The horror of the cult is set against the background of the even bigger horror of The Dirty War and the political unrest in Argentina in the 1970s - 1990s. 

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annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

Creepy. Dark. Violent. Slow. Brilliant.

I adored this book – it’s absolutely on the indulgently long side but the vibes, atmosphere, and writing kept me hooked. Even though it took me a month to read because I was so busy and tired, I was always willing to come back to it.

I will say, I was expecting the freaky evil cult to feature on more pages. They’re absolutely disturbing and make their presence known throughout the story (always in the background, sometimes in the foreground), but I expected more? The first half of the book has more occult scenes whereas the second half focuses more on trauma and how do you even try to process and move on from horrific events. Or in the case of Gaspar, whether you can.

There’s a lot of child abuse in this book, including by the father – who is a main POV character. His abuse is to ostensibly save his son – but he’s also just sometimes not a good man, and Our Share of Night reflects on that in interesting ways.

Using both the dictatorship (the Dirty War) and the AIDS crisis as cultural and historic settings for Our Share of Night was really effective, in my opinion. It lent both a heavy groundedness to the text and an opportunity to explore different traumas – personal, collective, dictatorship/governmental, colonial, familial, etc. The explorations of queerness in several different characters were well done. There was this juxtaposition of our queer characters and most of their immediate circle being comfortable with it while still living in a homophobic and apathetic-to-AIDS society. To me, it emphasized those themes of love, longing, and trauma so prevalent in the text.

Basically, Mariana Enriquez has really established herself as an emerging favourite writer for me and I’m excited to read the remaining two collections of hers I have in translation.

CW: child abuse, blood and gore, references to torture and caged people, murder, AIDS crisis, drug and alcohol use, chronic migraines, hospitalizations and other medical descriptions (including surgery), amputations, and a hell of a lot more

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outofthepinksky's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

4.5


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thedanosaur_dante's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

I would marry this book 

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yajairat's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Took me an abnormally long time to finish this, but don't think that I would have been as engrossed if I didn't take my time with it. So many things this novel touched upon, from its use of supernatural horror elements, the backdrop of Argentina's dictatorship, LGBTQIA characters living at the height of the AIDS epidemic, all interwoven well. What is going to stick with me is its theme of family and familial abuse, especially in regards to Juan and Gaspar's relationship. What do we make of this father/son duo, where abuse is committed in the name of love? I think I'll be pondering that for a bit before coming to a conclusion. 

 Only gripe is I felt the ending to be a little rushed, but still satisfying. Overall, a solid read for this fall season.

"We have children so that we can continue on, they are our immortality."


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cjfreddy's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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
This book was really dense and painfully slow until suddenly it wasn’t and I couldn’t stop. It was good, it’s hard to recommend it for sure.

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9brightshiners's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

5.0

This is an intense, extremely violent, and challenging story that spans decades. While often horrifying, this is an extraordinarily well written novel. Gut punching monstrosities live alongside moments of aching loveliness. Families are lost, found, fled from, and reunited. History and living mythology play out on a grand scale. Our Share of Night is unforgettable, for better and worse.

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn’t want this book to end. It was so enthralling that I wanted to keep reading about these people struggling in this world of horror and evil. It was gory and terrifying, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. 

I haven’t read a book in ages - even fabulous books - where I lose track of time, but I was completely absorbed in the story. The characters are compelling, especially Juan - he seems sympathetic in the section told from his perspective but he’s a monstrous father to Gaspar. The vile grandmother and her sister are the most frightening of all. 

The author conjures a world where magic and the horrors of Argentina’s dirty war are intertwined. By using the supernatural, she’s able to describe the terror of that period so it’s easy to imagine how awful it was for those targeted by the military junta. 

This book is definitely not for everyone. It’s violent and vivid and visceral. It’s extraordinary. 

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