vulturetime's review against another edition
3.75
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Sexual assault and Cannibalism
Implied incest (between parent and child) in Thicker Than Water. There might be more, but I've forgotten.woolgatherer's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, and Sexual assault
Minor: Cannibalism and Infidelity
sanuye's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Cannibalism and Death
Minor: Child abuse and Incest
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Drug use
Minor: Cannibalism
becandbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Milk Blood Heat is a slice-of-life, literary style collection of stories. Each and every story was unique and engaging, raw and authentic. The cast of largely-POC characters were incredibly crafted - Moniz ensured each was multi-dimensional, with history, personality and backgrounds in a very short amount of time.
The story-telling felt natural, never overwhelming or jolted. In particular, I personally loved the element of implied circumstance Moniz utilized in many stories. Without explicitly spelling out major character or plot points, Moniz makes moments tangible and thought-provoking.
My one critique is based on my experience with the audiobook. While each story is named, the editing style of the audio left me quite often missing that one story had ended and another had begun. This lead to more than a few moments in which I was confused about a stories apparent change in direction and characters.
An exceptional author who I look forward to picking up more publications from in the future.
Note: Review copy (audio) received via Libro.FM. This does not impact opinions within this review.
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Happy reading! ❤
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Cannibalism, Violence, Child abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Minor: Abortion
ashleysarra's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Although each story is written expertly, it's likely that a couple stories will linger in your mind more than others. The story about a woman grieving after her miscarriage and another woman realizing her child is in a romantic relationship with her teacher in particular stand out a day or two after reading the book. Readers should be warned that while these stories do have a beginning, middle, and end, their resolutions are at times not as clear or complete as some may hope for. (The open ended nature of these stories are part of the reason that each story should be dissected and interpreted by the reader before starting the next one.)
For readers who are fans of horror elements or literary fiction, this book is certain to live up to expectations. For a debut short story collection especially, Milk Blood Heat is a triumph. Despite its taboo elements described in the book, it's clearly capable of hooking its readers.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry
rosiecockshutt's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Self harm, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Drug use, and Cannibalism
franklybookish's review against another edition
4.5
CW: suicidal ideation, rape, sexual abuse, miscarriage, abortion, cannibalism, suicide, grief
"What is the nature of hate? What's it useful for? And Zey imagines the townspeople, their whispers, and cruel laws, their narrowed eyes. How they ostracized the women [The Scarlet Letter], conspired to contain her light.
They were scared of her, Zey tells the teacher, realizing it as she speaks, and he jabs a finger in her direction. Yes! Exactly that, he says. Now he's getting excited, pacing before their desks, and Zey tilts forward in her seat, angling closer to his truth. Hate, he continues is almost always a cover for some perceived psychological threat-- our guilt or pain. Our fear. And how do we treat things of which we are afraid?" from 'Tongues'
Review: I found this debut to be a remarkable, authentic, and poignant collection of moments, interactions, relationships, and individuals grounded in common situations, yet hidden in the dark spaces of what we keep out of public eyes. Written in a lyrical, truly raw, and unencumbered way it's impossible to not feel compelled and emotionally linked to these characters. Moniz, in so few pages, draws the reader in and develops foundational relationships, in many ways better and stronger than many 200+ page novels do. Many of these stories, although ambiguous in nature and lacking traditional resolutions, find great success in the emotional transference to readers of what the characters are going through, how they are attempting to navigate life, and the impact of their relationships.
As with most short story collections, some stories were stronger than others. 'Milk Blood Heat' the first story presented and from which the whole collection is named, is one of the stronger pieces. Additionally, 'Tongues' and 'The Hearts of Our Enemies' stood out to me, though none of the stories stood out as a true "week link", the entire collection is strong. I personally loved the darkness of these stories, to me that darkness mimicked true life and meant there was no shying away from the truth of difficult situations and the impact of mental health.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advanced e-copy in exchange for a fair review*
Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Blood and Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness