Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

8 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

shiftycow1313's review against another edition

I knew based on the description that this book was going to be dark, but it is DARK DARK DARK. I'll try to pick it up again someday when my head is in a better space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

nashaytreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

4.5

A beautifully written, tragic quest for a new start and escape. Mario’s journey just progressively escalated, and just like the characters, there were moments when I wanted to stop reading because I could see things getting worse, but was compelled to keep going anyway. 

Even though I saw the “twist” pretty far in advance, it was still heart wrenching all the same. I don’t think it was necessarily supposed to be a surprise, just…impactful.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Death of parent

ohsnapsabrina93_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

If you don't like gory details, don't read the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

victoriaharris001'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jennifer_bush_73's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail