Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez

11 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love Mariana Enriquez’ writing, she is just a brilliant author! The short stories in this were in the genre of horror with some supernatural elements, however they were seated in realism, exposing the horrors of human experience. I very much enjoyed!

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

"Lo miro como una bruja, como una asesina, como si tuviera poderes." 

Nunca había leído a Mariana Enriquez, y me lleve una increíble sorpresa, como saben yo soy cero de cosas de terror (por qué soy súper miedosa) pero está antología de cuentos hiso que me diera cuenta que a veces vale la pena asustarse para saber el final de las historias. 

El parque de la casa se llenaba de sombras, que corrían, que saludaban burlonas 

Me encantó que el terror de Mariana no sólo radica en un 'scare jump' o en fantasmas, ella lleva el terror a la cotidianidad, el terror del día a día, dónde la protagonista siempre es femenina, nos lleva a conocer la mente de las personas, sus miedos, lo que estamos dispuestos a hacer por la libertad, el internet, la voz que tenemos en nuestras mentes, etc.

"¿No los escuchas?¿No escuchas los tambores de ese culto de muertos? 

Uno de los mejores libros que he leído este año.

PD. Mi relato favorito fue el último (el que le da su título al libro) 

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Una colección de cuentos muy difícil de leer en el mejor sentido posible. Muchos cuentos de terror clásico como casas abandonadas, o apariciones y desapariciones repentinas, pero lo que une a todo el libro son las voces de mujeres, creando personajes difíciles y complejos. No todos los cuentos me encantaron, pero comprendo a lo que la autora quería llegar, y para mí eso es suficiente. Están hechos con tanta delicadeza que no puedo darle otro rating que no sea casi cinco estrellas.

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: N/A
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

This collection is truly impressive. There are some seriously disturbing images and each story achieves a strong sense of unease by the end, sometimes in ways, I did not expect to actually find uneasy. 

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. 


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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A creepy collection of stories that are unsettling, sometimes disgusting, and always, always vivid. Every story goes to a different part of Argentina and explores a different version of life at its margins.

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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