Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez

17 reviews

angela_iseli's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, and Violence

abiofpellinor's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Imo this should have been released instead as a duology. The second half of this book, focusing on the son rather than the father, had much less direction than the first. The fathers section was very much a horror book. The sons was dark, but nowhere near so much and the events set up by the fathers section seemed underwhelming. So much potential with this book.

I will say the representation in here around AIDS, gay people, disabled people, and more was absolutely fantastic. Everything flowed very naturally and none of the representation felt forced. Very well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

Minor: Car accident

mirissab's review against another edition

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

Please give me more fiction with history, occultism, and queerness. I struggled reading this--a balance between binging and lingering on each chapter, each page. I still have questions but maybe they are never meant to have an answer. It was beautiful, haunting, and layered. Selfishly, I want more from this world, this undeniably tragic yet enchanted universe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, War, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Medical content, Alcoholism, Classism, Colonisation, Gore, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Homophobia, Addiction, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Bullying, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Drug use, and Medical content

blackteadragon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Child abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Death, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Gun violence, Addiction, Rape, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Miscarriage and War

confusedwhale's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Death of parent, Blood, Child death, Death, Medical content, Body horror, Grief, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Classism, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racism, Drug use, and Vomit

Minor: Rape, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

jarjarblingg's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

baccou's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Vomit, Alcohol, and Drug use

lautreamont's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Child death, Chronic illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and War

Minor: Rape, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Car accident, Slavery, and Cannibalism

internalnonsense's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.75

 Lurid and expansive, this story uses eldritch horror to explore a legacy of exploitation and trauma. We follow a widowed father, Juan, and son, Gaspar, in the wake of the “Dirty War” of 1970s Argentina. From the beginning, we feel the violence that surrounds them—memorials on the side of the road, suspicion of every stranger. Gradually, we find the violence much closer to home. Juan has married into, and Gaspar born into, a cult called “the Order”, which seeks to commune with gods and unlock the secret of immortality. Juan is the Order’s medium to their dark god and will do anything to protect Gaspar from his fate. We see Juan’s escalating paranoia, and the effect it has on the growing Gaspar. Our Share of Night commits to exploring a very true evil, and as such depicts a lot of very dark, violent things (i.e. watch your content warnings). 

The cast is large, and, with a few exceptions, compelling. Juan and Gaspar are undoubtedly the most fully realized two, but we also get moments of unexpected depth from seemingly tertiary or even periphery characters. Ironically probably my least favorite section, I was pleasantly surprised to see 

Rosario, Juan's dead wife and Gaspar's mother, get a POV. It would have been easy to let her be a ghost to the story, let her death be more important than herself, but instead she's fully realized.

I can’t think of a single character present for more than a page that doesn’t have motivation and interiority. It’s impressive to read, but does contribute to the novel’s greatest flaw: pacing.  

While the beautiful prose consistently creates incredibly poignant moments, the overall pacing of the novel is jolting, with the ending in particular feeling more like a sputtering out rather than a climax or an inevitable conclusion. If the final third was stronger, I probably would have forgiven all prior pacing issues, but, as it is, I finished the book disappointed. 

Tonally, however, this story is magical in the darkest possible way. Magic here is synonymous with violence, evil, greed; escalating atrocity weaved horribly with real-world atrocity. The exception to this is that there is an implication that indigenous people (that is, those people who are not colonizers, like the Order is) had their own rituals and power there were not inherently evil, but even then the Order would hunt and corrupt it. Throughout, we’re spoiled with haunting imagery, deep, intricate prose full of feeling, and complex conflict where there is no easy answer or solution. 

My biggest weakness as a reviewer here is that I don’t know much about Argentine history, and this story is fundamentally about the civil unrest of this time. Even in my ignorance, the novel was effective in its depiction, but I still feel like a better understanding of what happened would have made what was rich richer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Classism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gore, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Biphobia, Sexism, Colonisation, and Sexual violence

All of the content warnings, particularly if you're sensitive towards violence towards children.

mispaintedlady's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Absolutely amazing , beyond words how good this story is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Blood, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Mental illness, Torture, Terminal illness, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Murder, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Moderate: War

Minor: Dysphoria, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Animal death, Car accident, Classism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, War, Medical content, and Alcoholism