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burnyayhayley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
The author has a very in-depth grip on characterization and is consistently excellent at giving us the correct amount of information so that all the characters feel real and important and tangible, but when you are finished you still feel slightly robbed of closure, which in the context of horror short fiction, is perfect.
However, I knocked off a star because I am not feeling so impressed by the writing or the content that I am overwhelmed—I just feel a normal amount of impressed, if that makes sense. It's excellent short fiction, but it did not always hit me where I hoped it would.
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Gore, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
sonnenbarke's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
georgiee_'s review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Vomit
moonlighthepburn's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Abortion
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Self harm, and Violence
perditorian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Self harm
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, and Police brutality
Minor: Suicide and Excrement
noel_b's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Most of the stories have a gothic feel to them and the prose (at least in Spanish) managed to describe my home country in a way that felt both familiar and alien. Comforting and disturbing. The author knows exactly how to latch on to the shadows we tend to look over, and make them deeper, darker, impossible to ignore.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Cannibalism
chiaralzr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Murder
mackenzi's review against another edition
- 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
She tells me a story about each photo, a story she heard from a friend or a grandparent. Some of the names are the same from photograph to photograph, and I wonder if they're ever the same people displaced a little by time, still finding their way into stranger's photos just to be lost again. The stories are all a little sad, melancholic for their world-weariness, and all are frightening. Some scare me because ghosts scare me like they scare a child, some are scary because the world is just that way and I feel helpless about it.
Each story ends, abruptly, her voice fading into silence as she sets the photo on the table, making a little pile that she's already gone through. I ask what happened to the person, what happened next, and she shrugs, she doesn't know. So each story lingers, because my mind craves completion, resolution- but if you've ever stumbled onto old photos in an antique store, you know there's no resolution. You can stare at the faces in the pictures all day and never know who they really were. And each story haunts because there seems like a world of things in that story, and I want to sift through each one to try and find the meaning, the lesson, the history, the knowledge of someone who might have lived it for real.
But they're still just photographs and eventually she runs out of them, and she's putting them back in the box and she's taking the box away again, and I'm left with a handful of memories that feel startlingly real.
Graphic: Child death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Minor: Hate crime, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Police brutality
MOST of these are brief mentions or descriptions. However, if it is brought up in a short story, usually the short story will revolve around those themes even if it does not describe or portray the issues explicitly. Go into this collection aware that, however brief, the intention of the author is to bring to light many real-world things in a creepy, eerie, or supernatural way, but a way that resonates deeply. In my opinion, it is mindfully executed with a deft and subtle hand. The author writes from cultural experience.pseudoliterature's review against another edition
4.0
Besides that, I had a great time, the atmosphere of this book is so familiar to me, i grew up in a very similar place that some people in this book and I have to tell you, the amount of anxiety i had thanks to those stories was more than I expected.
I wouldn't categorise this book as horror or a thriller, it's more of a tense suspense leaning read.
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Blood
samanthaleereads's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Blood