Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Los peligros de fumar en la cama, by Mariana Enríquez

29 reviews

clara_mai's review against another edition

4.0

 This is an extremely dark short story collection, mostly set in Buenos Aires. As in her novel Our Share of Night, which I read and loved earlier this year, Mariana Enriquez creates a unique kind of horror that is very rooted in its setting - Argentinian politics and history, Indigenous mythology and urban legends of Buenos Aires are the bones of this collection. At its heart lie the strange obsessions we humans harbour - with bodies for instance, with sex and death. Most of the stories really pack a punch in only a few pages. I was captivated by Mariana Enriquez' simple and sharp prose and the scenes she creates. The descriptions of gore and injuries evoke a visceral reaction, Enriquez really knows how to make the reader squirm with disgust. My favourite stories in here are The Well, Meat and Our Lady of the Quarry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Pedophilia, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Excrement

Moderate: Alcoholism and Transphobia

library_of_al's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Some of the stories were great other I could of done without, but not a bad read.

My Favorites Stories Were:
Angelita Unearthed
The Lookout
Where Are You, Dear Heart

The ending story, ‘Back When We Talked to the Dead’ ended this book on a creepy note which upped my rating for the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Gore, Alcoholism, and Drug use

Minor: Cannibalism

agat's review against another edition

Flemme et j'ai pas les références pour comprendre vraiment de quoi il s'agit : de l'histoire de l'Argentine. Une fois que je serais plus informée je comprendrai sûrement la profondeur de l'ouvrage et pourrai en reprendre la lecture. Mais pour l'instant ce ne sont que des creepy pastas peu originaux et sans grand intérêt

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abandonment, Vomit, Violence, Stalking, Grief, Excrement, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/injury detail, Gore, Drug abuse, Death, Colonisation, and Child death

cosyskog's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.5

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories, and it definitely needs to come with multiple content warnings. However, maybe the ugliness of some of the characters is the real horror, the unspoken realisation that they are just like people we already know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Child death, Child abuse, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, Body shaming, Drug use, Sexual assault, Suicide, Ableism, Classism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Police brutality

nathalie_tl's review against another edition

2.75

really mixed for me? a lot of stories started off with a lot of potential and the creepy, morbid vibe i really love, but the endings were often rushed and didn't deliver on the tension the stories built up. i will say though that Where Are You, Dear Heart? and Meat were excellent, but other than that i felt mostly meh. 

also had to bring rating down because the transphobic slurs were not it. and do check content warnings in general if you're interested in reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Death, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Gore, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Transphobia, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

chloeantoinettereads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

I both loved and hated this book

It was beautifully written but was very hard to read at times and would leave a bad taste in my mouth after certain chapters. Very original though and worth the read as the perspectives in it are nothing like I've ever read before.

Wonderfully horrible. Beautifully grotesque 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Addiction, Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Murder, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

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

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Body horror, Body shaming, Excrement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Favourites were meat and kids who come back
‘She longed for summer to be the last, and she spent more and more time in the lookout tower, where she could b barely hear the whisper of the living, which she knew how to imitate so well, but could not comprehend.’

‘ I have three memories of him, but one of them could be false.‘

SPOILERS-
Kids who come back- kids who’ve disappeared return but not really human
Meat- teen girlies eat their dead idol
The lookout- ghosty wants sad girl in the tower to replace her
Angelita unearthen- lonely ghost baby comes to haunt her relative cause she was left behind
Our lady of the quarry- fuck u smart girl im gonna pray u and ur hot boyfriend get eaten alive by rabid dogs
The cart- neighbourhood chase away homeless man and theyre all cursed but one family isn’t affected
The well-  girl grows up fearless, becomes terrified as her mother and sister delay their fears onto her, she lives on misery, but is too afraid to throw herself down the well
Rambla triste- woman visits friend in barcelona who tells her the streets are full of ghost children who wont let anyone leave
Where are you dear heart- girlypop has a heartbeat irregularity fetish but her boyfriends doesnt mind to much if he dies cause she wants to her his heart beat get more and more problematic
No birthdays or baptisms- guy hired to film things asked to film girl having seizures in which she claims ‘he’ makes her do things
The dangers of smoking in bed- her neighbour was paralysed and smoked in bed till she caught fire and died, girly pokes holes in her sheets with cigarette, the ceiling looks like stars, and smokes out the moths
Back when we talked to the dead- teen girls talking to spirits duh they start to leave mid convo, say they don’t trust one of the girls, one girls brother comes in but it was not her brother

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Violence, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

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

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

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