Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez

22 reviews

noel_b's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

5.0

This is a slow, atmospheric book about extremely fucked up family relationships. And a death cult 

Enriquez is so good at capturing the voice of different people from different places, eras, economic classes. Even the most monstrous characters feel pathetically human.

Even the most human character carry a monstrous threat

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

andalicesays'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gore, Child death, Rape, Grief, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Murder, Slavery, Homophobia, Death of parent, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Death, and Body horror

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

kathburke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Death, Drug use, Torture, Grief, Child abuse, Colonisation, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Violence, Car accident, Confinement, Classism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Genocide, Gore, Abandonment, Addiction, and Alcohol

nicoleh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

fiz23_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Violence, Grief, Classism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Body horror, Child death, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Ableism

shannonbauchat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Child death, Suicide attempt, Torture, Gore, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Rape, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Animal death, Police brutality, and Sexual violence

Minor: War

jennaem27's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Child abuse, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Pregnancy

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 

Spoiler

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.