Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Los peligros de fumar en la cama, by Mariana Enríquez

56 reviews

pages_with_panda's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad

• 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

Because this is a collection of short stories by the author, I'm going to split the reviews up by story. I've also included content warnings for each story as well and a single sentence summary. 

 Angelita Unearthed: 5/5
Woman is haunted by the dead baby corpse of her great-aunt.
Really liked the story! Very simple but super creepy and unsettling. I thought the relationship between the two characters was kinda funny - almost siblings. Lowkey the last scene made me chuckle.
• Moderate: Death of a child, Body horror, Gore,

Our Lady of the Quarry: 4/5
Teenage kids sneak into a quarry for the summer.
Good story, nice build up. Love any kind of revenge story and this was no exception. Good for Natalie.
•  Moderate: Sexual content,
• Minor: Death,

The Cart: 2/5
A mysterious stranger shows up the neighborhood before horrible things start happening.
I did like where this story was going for the most part,. Again, I like revenge stories...But the story fell apart at the end and I couldn't really make heads-or-tails of what happened.
• Moderate: Excrement, Violence, Classism,
• Minor: Racism, Suicide, Animal death, Cannibalism

The Well: 5/5
A young girl suffers from severe anxiety of death and monsters.
Another favorite. Very, very unsettling and dark. The mystery surrounding what happened to her during that first trip was so interesting. Very well done. Sad ending.
• Moderate: Suicide,
• Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts,

Rambla Triste: 2/5
A neighborhood is haunted by murdered children.
I couldn't really understand the premise for this one at all. Was a little interesting but didn't seem to have a point to the story.
• Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse,
• Minor: Excrement, Child death,

The Lookout: 3/5
A Lady in a tower overlooks the hotel where she lives and invites another women to visit.
Had a nice "The Shinning" vibe and also some mystery regarding the Lady Upstairs. An okay story.
• Graphic: Self-harm,
• Minor: Rape, Attempted suicide, Drug abuse

Where are you, Dear Heart? : 5/5
A girl becomes obsessed with irregular heartbeats and tries to find the most imperfectly perfect one.
Incredibly unsettling. Can't stop thinking about this premise and the absolute horror of it. "What the fuck did I just read!?" But in a good, horrific way.
• Graphic: Medical
• Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Ableism,

Meat: 5/5
Two super fanatical fans of a rock star exhume his body and eat his corpse.
Another very disturbing story. Very well laid out and I really liked it. Horrific.
• Graphic: Suicide, Cannibalism,
• Moderate: Self-harm, Vomit
• Minor: Blood

Neither Baptism or Birthday: 3/5
A man tries to record a girl's hallucinations.
Very creepy story. Interesting build up as well. Ending fell a little flat.
• Moderate: Sexual content, Pedophilias, Mental illness, Self-harm

The Kids That Came Back: 5/5
Hundreds of missing children rematerialize but are the same age as when they disappeared.
I really liked this one. Super unsettling and creepy. Had a nice buildup as well and an interesting POV from Machi. (Interesting enough, compared to the Spanish version, the English version of this story had added a few sections of backstory that I think were completely unnecessary, especially because they added some slurs. And really added nothing to the story.)
• Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide
• Minor: Kidnapping, Death, Transphobic slur, Drug abuse,

Dangers of Smoking in Bed: 1/5
Woman smokes in bed.
Uninteresting. Couldn't really get into it. Thought the title story would be great but it fell flat.
• Moderate: Fire,
• Minor: Death, Sexual content, Blood

Back When We Talked to the Dead: 3/4
A group of girls use an Ouiji board. 
A basic premise but interesting anyways! Unsettling but not too bad. 
• Minor: Ableism slur (Spanish version) 

Overall review for the book: 4/5. Solid stories! This is a horror book so check content warnings. Not suitable for young readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Sexual content, Self harm, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Ableism, Vomit, Gore, Excrement, Violence, Classism, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Child death, and Body horror

Minor: Racism, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Cannibalism, and Rape

Spoiler

Use of transphobic slurs and ableist slurs

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

cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Death, Drug abuse, Excrement, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

alreinwarth's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Body shaming, Child death, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, Excrement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Self harm, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pedophilia

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Lesbophobia and Transphobia

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

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

zoefnk'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

The ideas were good. The execution lacking. A lot of telling, not enough showing, barely scratches the surface of its own subject matter. Every time you think it‘s about to get good, it ends on an amateur cliffhanger sentence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Self harm

adragoninspace's review against another edition

dark sad tense

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, and Body horror

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

cady_sass's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I never read anthologies, because I know myself and I want more depth, more character development, a plot arc. But this book has been calling to me. I’m very glad I finally picked it up. A couple of the short stories I hated, most of them I loved. It feels like the translator really did the original work justice, the prose is gorgeous and vivid and gritty, but someone who’s read the original Spanish will have to say for sure. There’s certainly some triggering imagery so proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Classism, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Abandonment, Animal death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Excrement, Injury/injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Violence, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault

itsgeesus's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense

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

3.75

This was a really interesting read and one that can be read quite quickly. I was hooked on this mysterious entity that haunted Buenos Aires and thought that the author had portrayed it in such a magnificent way. It was morbid, but not in a way that is usually blood, guts, and gore, but more psychiatrically morbid. The way each story is written plays with the mind, which made it all the more enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Self harm, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Drug use, Pedophilia, Body horror, Transphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Mental illness