A review by nehaanna
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

A fantastic quick read that blurs the lines of reality and fantasy in the similar vein of many  authors such as Gabriel García Márquez. The story is frightfully real, and the illusions it weaves are as skillful as any magician casting a spell. There is relief as a decades long battle with humanity’s streak of goodness against a backdrop of evil culminates after a 68 year long penance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol