#Monstrilio

[therainbowfishy]

All the books (except for picture books) I read in 2023!

#books #favorites are: #Tuesday Mooney talks to ghosts #terrace story #dinosaurs #the book of delights #when you trap a Tiger #roaming #time is a mother #Imogene obviously #Catboy #accursed vampire 2 #the girl who became a Rabbit #also liked #Juliette #monstrilio #and the first 75% of the book of love #2023 #fiction #poetry #graphic novels #comics #mini books #watercolor #illustration #book covers #artists on tumblr #lettering #preorder #galley brag

[haveyoureadthishorrorbookpoll]

Have you read...

Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago’s lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family’s decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses—though curbed by his biological and chosen family’s communal care—threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.

submit a horror book!

#Monstrilio #Gerardo Sámano Córdova #horror books #horrorbookpoll #horror #bookblr #books #magical realism #monster horror #mexican horror #mexican literature #queer horror #gay horror #queer lit

[musicboxghost]

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova is a Frankenstein story if Victor have been horrified and disgusted by the monster but still chose to love it. Still chose to protect and parent it.

It's Frankenstein but the queerness isn't subtext. It's integral, explicit, and kinky.

It's Frankenstein but the horror isn't being haunted by what you've abandoned. It's being haunted by what you are devoted to. What that devotion hath wrought.

It's Frankenstein except Frankenstein's monster isn't being hunted by the village. The monster has its own village that loves it. And they draw blood too. That monster is their baby.

#frankenstein #monstrilio #books #Gerardo Sámano Córdova #horror #cannibalism #queer #queer books

[hernamewasquynh]

diversity win! the monster created from a piece of the lung of your dead son is gay!

#This Book #Monstrilio #mine

[halalgirlmeg]

6 days into the new year and I'm already failing at my 'read one book at a time and don't hop from book to book like you always do' plan

#currently reading #the traitor baru cormorant #monstrilio #an island princess starts a scandal #into the drowning deep #rouge #and I'm thinking about adding Gideon the ninth like SOMEONE STOP ME #books

[judgingbooksbycovers]

Monstrilio: A Novel

By Gerardo Sámano Córdova.

Design by Alex Merto.

#Monstrilio #Gerardo Sámano Córdova #Gerardo Samano Cordova #Alex Merto #books #book covers

[book-repository-for-ducks]

"I wanted my grief, but instead I was left with a horrible nothingness, and I got really scared. But then I realized fear was a thing I could feel, and I clung to it. I was afraid of my loneliness. I was afraid I would never have anyone to love again. I blamed you for it. For leaving. Fear and anger. The anger helped me wake up in the monrings and eat and clean the house and wash myself. The anger even distracted me long enough that I would forget my loneliness, and sometimes, in short bursts, I even felt cheerful."

― Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Monstrilio

#book quotes #quotes #gerardo samano cordova #monstrilio #grief #anger #loss

[steppesliver]

what if you fed the lung of your DECEASED child and it became an monster-human and it grows out to be a GAY sex FREAK who labels his hunger and cannibalistic urges as BITING kink on dating apps

#monstrilio #it killed me when romy told him to download a dating app and add on his bio #that he's into biting #poor girl did not know that the kid had eaten a human until there was just bones before #anyways great book:) i liked it

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Monstrilio | Author: Gerardo Sámano Córdova | Publisher: Zando (2023)

#books #Monstrilio #Gerardo Sámano Córdova

[avienpare]

Monstrilio, Gerardo Sámano Córdova

#literature #words #quotes #sunset #light #pretty #dread #monstrilio #gerardo samano cordova

[itstremmy]

Monstrilio (2023) Written by Gerardo Samano Cordova

#monstrilio #book

[lifesarchive]

MONSTRLIO by GERARDO SÁMANO CÓRDOVA

quickly: a grieving mother grows a monster from the lung of her dead child (the grieving process / emotions made manifest / folk magic and wives’ tales / hunger pains and sharp teeth / friends who could be lovers / women who work by the hour / the mystery of metamorphosis / sleeping in trees in the park / taming wild things / loving and letting go).

This is the story of four people (Magos, her partner Joseph, her friend Lena, and Monstrilio) adjusting to the loss of one person (Santiago). Santiago, a young boy born with one lung, succumbs to his condition at 11 years old and his parents’ lives are halted and darkened. His mother, Magos, in her grief, takes a piece of his lung to remember him by. After going home to Mexico City and hearing an old folk tale about a woman who grew a man, she decides to feed the piece of lung. It grows… but it grows into a monster, whom she calls ‘Monstrilio’. 

Transferring her attachment from Santiago to Monstrilio, Magos binds herself to this hungry and uncontrollable creature whom she sees as her son returned. 

The concept is interesting but weighed down and dulled by the portrayal of this story through four different people. What should have been an outstanding work of family horror (i.e. Hill House, Hereditary, Servant, etc.) is instead just an *okay* story about a family, with a ‘creature’ running around in the background. There is no horror. A monster, but no real ‘horror’. The close falls flat and does not meet the ambition of the emotions called forth at the opening. There are some poetic moments, but overall, not enough to speak to the heart. For how little horror Monstrilio’s ‘monsterness’ brought to the story, Magos may as well have adopted an unruly dog from the local pound.

★ ★ ★

more thoughts: NO SPOILERS!

After reading THE SHARDS by BRET EASTON ELLIS, 500+ pages of cocaine-fueled private school kids, I wanted something that would bring me back down to earth a bit. I’d previously read HUMAN SACRIFICES by MARÍA FERNANDA AMPUERO and was so moved I checked it out again, immediately after returning it to the library. SACRIFICIO by ERNESTO MESTRE-REED was incredible as well. Both writers deal with the heavy heavy stuff, but with such incredible worlds and characters, grief is an active part of the story. It shifts and changes as the characters change. It is an antagonist almost, something to resist and have conflict with. Here, it is just some abstract thing, unintentionally drawing energy away from the center.

I was disappointed at where the story ended up (as well as how it got there). I can’t tell an author what to write, but there just seemed to be so many missed opportunities!! (I wonder what audience this was written for?) It had a beginning, middle, and end… the characters were distinct… the core plot is intriguing… but I couldn’t find the unique and horrific tear-jerking story I thought that I would find in this book. 

Separately, I’m also starting to become annoyed at how loosely the genre label ‘horror’ is applied to stories. Several reviews of this book mention this being ‘truly’ or ‘genuinely’ scary… to quote Tiffany Pollard, “It was nothing like that… nothing of the sort”. Horror should be horrific! And more than just blood, guts, and scares; good horror unashamedly examines the darkness and gives air to the things we’d rather not talk about. 

#monstrilio #gerardo samano cordova #3 stars #fiction #books & libraries #currently reading #booklover #booklr #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #literature #book review #reviews #horror #2023

[owilder]

Monstrilio has a surprising number of sex scenes for a horror novel about grief. Ordinarily, such scenes in any genre have me rolling my eyes, but here they annoy me much less. These scenes are not intended to provide "spice" or "smut" for the reader. They are awkward, they are clumsy, they are about using sex to fill a void within oneself or to feel more human and understand what that means, and the characters involved are often dissatisfied in the end to some degree because it's not enough. Well done, Córdova. It takes a lot for me to appreciate a sex scene in any media, let alone multiple such scenes, but you pulled it off splendidly.

#Books #Reading #Monstrilio #Gerardo Sámano Córdova #Sex in storytelling

[thehappyscavenger]

Books Read in August 2023

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

I'd never read a Ward book before I got the ARC for this but I was so impressed with the beauty of her writing voice. Set during the American slavery this follows an enslaved teenager as she struggles towards freedom aided by a spirit that has its own agenda.

I found the plot a little too convenient at times but overall this was an amazing read.

Of Jasmine and Roses by Jill E. Warner

Another ARC I picked up at random. This sounded like Bridgerton fanfic to me since its set during Regency times and follows a half-Indian woman who is raised by her noble family but works as a governess after they fall into poverty. It's a lot more depressing and realistic than I thought (i.e. there's a ton of racism). The romance also felt a bit half-baked and a lot of the racism is waved away.

An okay-ish read. If you're obsessed with Regency romances but want something a little meatier (but with absolutely no sexy scenes) this is for you.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Finally captured the White Whale!

I've been meaning to read this for a decade plus and finally committed to it this year after seeing so many people say it lives up to the hype. It did not live up to the hype for me but I did enjoy it overall. An interesting and dense classic with plenty of humour and lots of gay subtext for those who are into that.

The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt

I've never read DeWitt before but I definitely will read more of her after this book.

The novel is about a linguistic prodigy who gives birth to a linguistic prodigy who far surpasses her and whom she raises single handedly in this weird way. I can't describe it. Bizarre, funny, and yet still with a dark twist. A wonderful read.

The Future Future by Adam Thirlwell

Another ARC I wanted solely because of the beautiful cover! This reminded me a lot of one of my favourite reads of the year, When We Lost Our Heads, but there was just something not quite right about it. Set in pre-peri-post terror France the novel is about a young woman who is set upon by gossip pamphlets and how she tries to harness writing for her own purposes.

I wish I had liked it more because it is bonkers and should be up my alley. IDK. I'd like to revisit it in the future (future). Maybe I'd like it more then.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

I wanted to like this since I saw so many people raving it but it fell a little flat for me.

A horror story about a couple who lose their son only for them to grow a new son out of a piece of his lung which turns into the titular monster.

Nothing wrong with it per se, it followed the story beats perfectly but the writing was nothing special.

Also like EVERYONE in this book is gay and/or bisexual and it's not a big deal so lots of lgbtq rep is you want it.

#Currently reading #Let Us Descend #Jesmyn Ward #Moby Dick #Herman Melville #The Last Samurai #Helen DeWitt #The Future Future #Adam Thirlwell #Monstrilio #Gerardo Sámano Córdova

[saraquirtle]

“Sometimes I think I should disappear to a cabin in Greenland, become a lumberjack.”

“Why Greenland?”

“Why the fuck not?”

— Gerardo Sámano Cordóva, Monstrilio

#2023 #monstrilio #gerardo sámano cordóva

[portersqbooks]

There’s currently a couple ARCs of MONSTRILIO by Gerardo Sámano Córdova making their way through the booksellers, who are all totally obsessed with it:

Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago's lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family's decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses--though curbed by his biological and chosen family's communal care--threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.

Annie says “Everyone buckle in for me only talking about this book and no other book for at least 7 months”!

Preorder here - it comes out on March 7!

#monstrilio #gerardo samano cordova #horror #magical realism #fantasy #annie #engel #jen #katherine