Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

12 reviews

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

3.5

I loved this story. Gabino Iglesias is an incredible writer, who could take an awful person like Mario and still make him a compelling protagonist. When given an opportunity to help pay off some of his child's medical debt by shooting a man in the back of the head, he doesn't hesitate for long and finds he enjoyed being a hit man. When later given the opportunity to rob a cartel truck and stealing their drug money for a $200,000 payout, he's all for it. But Iglesias makes you care about him, want to follow him on this heist.

There's some great stuff in this book. The discussions of religion are so real, so refreshing, and it's not even my culture and religion! The way characters dipped into and out of Spanish felt real, as someone who lives in an area with a high Mexican population. There amount of swearing in this novel is perfect, it always felt like actual people talking to each other. The supernatural horrors are just as bad as the things humans do to each other. One of the few things that I didn't like is that Mario spends a large portion of the book inside his own head, and all he can think about are his child and his wife and how he failed them in the same ways and it got repetitive, but I could live with that.

And then we get to that fucking ending. I hate it.

This entire book is a "shoot the shaggy dog" story and it made me feel like I had wasted 10 hours of my time.

This is a wonderful and beloved book for someone, but it is extremely not for me. 

Also, we are not messing around with the "murder", "gore", and "violence" tags. Consider this to be a Dead Dove Don't Eat warning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Deportation

megan_harper's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

murder_unicorn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

cmcrockford's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.0

Mix of purple and strong prose here, but I also really hate Dead Kids and Lost Families as motivators for characters. I don't care! I dunno the Dead Kid! Stick to the plot! Plus this felt preachy sometimes. At least the combination of barrio noir and horror is cool.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

amandadelbrocco's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• 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

3.5

 Maybe not my genre but I really did not enjoy this. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

kdwhite's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Suicide attempt

cberbette's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Transphobia and Suicide attempt

ldpaige's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

this book was such a rollercoaster. there were the best of times, there were the worst of times. one thing you cannot say is that iglesias cannot write simple and poetic prose. there were several moments of beauty where i could relish in the abilities of iglesias. but mario

as a character was simply unbearable. i felt like iglesias could have done a better job at making him LIKABLE, which would have easily made this book a 4 star or higher. 

other than that, i enjoyed the ride even if it was a bit bumpy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma

ouijabroad's review against another edition

slow-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

1.0

I slogged through this one. I feel like this happened for several reasons. The first one being that there’s sooooooooo much fluff before the “action” begins (I use action loosely and I’ll get to that). This book could have easily been a novella in my opinion and summed everything up much faster, however I still don’t think it would’ve been a worthy enough story to tell.

I knew going in that the characters weren’t likable and I’m fine with that. The thing is I didn’t care about them, the story they were telling or what happened to them. The beginning was sad and I had empathy for Mario’s financial struggles and how healthcare is a sick joke, but that’s about all I felt the entire book.

The messed up and sometimes (weirdly and randomly) even supernatural things that happened had no explanation and the violence was purely there to shock the reader. 

The author cannot write women, he is as bad as Stephen king. Any woman is just there to further plot and they're either reduced to their looks and bodies or viewed as a mother figure (or both like Stephanie!).  Also really loves telling us about fat folks because that totally adds to the story. And all the fat folks were objectively bad people. 

I didn’t dig his writing style; This author really likes to use similes at a distracting rate. 

Now, the “action” during the climax: it was such a dud. All this lead up and exposition with so many unexplained happenings, violence and then it’s just over. I can’t believe I spent so long trying to get through this one. I wish I had put this in the DNF pile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

book_creature's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Transphobia

Minor: Animal cruelty