Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor

46 reviews

oversherin's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Not rating this book because it is not my taste - but I respect the hell out of it. 

This book is incredibly violent and dark. You get right into the mind of the characters who are deeply troubled and hateful people who are wrecked by their environment. Chapters are long dark spirals into the depths of these characters and their darkest thoughts imaginable. Despite this, Melchor is very skilled in giving them just enough humanity that I empathized with them and wanted to stick it out to the end. As other reviewers have said, this book is deeply, disturbingly, honest in a way I have never read before. To me, the hardest part of this book is that most of the characters are children who are wrapped up in the worst of the world. The run-on prose took adjustment, but I found it very natural by middle.

Overall, I thought the story was compelling and timeless. I gritted my teeth through the whole book and had to scan some chapters because I just couldn't stomach it. However, I respect this book and the stories it's telling. There is more truth to this book than I'd like to face. It definitely affected me in an artful way. 
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elizafiedler's review against another edition

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

3.0

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cat_22's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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amelietherin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • 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

5.0

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savvylit's review against another edition

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I really enjoyed the feverish writing style of Hurricane Season. Run-on sentences, huge paragraphs... it all felt claustrophobic in a way that I loved. At least, at first. However, after sitting through some intense rape scenes, pedophilia, misogyny, and homophobia, I thought it couldn't get any worse. By the time a character started having elaborate fantasies involving bestiality, I had to throw the towel in and give up. The depravity of Hurricane Season simply became too much for me to bear.
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lowercase_a's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

O Verdadeiro Horror de Ser Latino-Americano

O brilhantismo de Fernanda Melchor floresce em meio aos canaviais e o sol impiedoso de La Matosa, pedaço de terra e de gente esquecida pelo resto do mundo, pelos oito capítulos mais atordoantes que já li, um testemunho da desgraça alheia que é nossa, e o que torna esse romace assombração não é a perpétua condenação das mulheres entre si ou as cenas gráficas do fatídico assassinato ou sentir o desfazer dos personagens na palma de nossas mãos pela falta de dinheiro, pela vergonha, pelo ódio, pelas drogas, pela faca, pelo abandono, pelos punhos, pela culpa, pela ostrisização, pelo abuso, pela ignorância mas, o que torna o horror latente, é a compreensão visceral de que por traz (senão pela frente) de toda cidade latino-americana existe La Matosa e que essa desgraça nunca foi alheia, essa desgraça toda é nossa e por traz de toda garganta colonizada guarda um grito igual a voz deste livro: atroz e sanguinária.
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george_tte's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

Un libro terrorífico, incómodo y espectacular. Vale la pena leerlo porque Melchor es una maestra y este libro lo demuestra con facilidad. 
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ghast's review against another edition

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challenging sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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torismazarine's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • 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

4.5

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motherofbears's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Written in stream of consciousness with shifting points of view. I felt like each character took a turn sitting down and telling their story while chain smoking and drinking. There are no reliable narrators, the story is told like a small town legend. Casually devastating at times. 

I would say this is a challenging read, especially for someone not used to the writing style, but also because of the subject matter. All the trigger warnings, really. 

It will stay with me for a while. 
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