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unboxedjack's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Mariana Enriquez is a master at the unsettling. The collection of stories in A Sunny Place for Shady People all give that trill of horror any good book of the genre will offer, but with poignant takes on sexism, queer relationships, generational/historical trauma, colonialism, and classism. These stories, set in Argentina, offer a wide scope of perspectives and characters, each deeply developed and captivating. At times Enriquez's prose gets in the way of story, but that's easily excusable for the atmosphere it presents. Thanks to NetGalley and Granta Publications for an ARC of this collection.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
rainbowbookworm's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
Un lugar soleado para gente sombría fue mi primera experiencia leyendo a Mariana Enríquez en castellano, y definitivamente no será la última. Escuché el audiolibro, narrado por Mara Brenner, quien hizo un trabajo excelente al capturar la atmósfera inquietante de cada historia—aunque el inglés en las citas sonaba un poco fuera de lugar.
Enríquez sabe cómo hacer que el horror se sienta profundamente real y cercano, con cuentos que van de lo espeluznante a lo francamente asqueroso. Como ocurre en la mayoría de las colecciones de cuentos, algunas historias se destacan más que otras, pero todas logran transmitir esa sensación de peligro latente en lo cotidiano. Una lástima que el audiolibro no incluya los títulos de cada cuento, porque me hubiera gustado mencionar mis favoritos en esta reseña.
Para mí, Mariana Enríquez es una de las mejores voces del horror latinoamericano, y me alegra ver que su obra esté recibiendo el reconocimiento que merece en el mercado anglosajón. Después de esta experiencia, estoy decidida a seguir leyendo sus libros en el idioma original, pues siento que ciertos matices y detalles podrían perderse en la traducción.
En definitiva, Un lugar soleado para gente sombría es una lectura perturbadora e imperdible para los amantes del terror que buscan explorar historias con una perspectiva única y profundamente inquietante.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
javafenn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.5
This book is a translation but honestly didn’t feel like it. I loved the spooky stories and often found myself craving more form the stories or more of a resolution only because they sometimes ended on a mystery, as a spooky story would. I LOVED listening to stories of Argentines, specifically women. It was interesting to get some of the folklore mixed into the tales. The story of the boy trapped in the fridge was especially haunting. I also really liked the story of the ghosts who haunt a neighborhood. The story of the woman who loses her face was my favorite and least favorite at the same time. The idea that generational trauma can present like is does in the story is terrifying and beautiful. It’s a sad, sad story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
bisexualbookshelf's review against another edition
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! This book releases from Random House on September 17th, 2024 in the US. Unfortunately, I chose to stop reading the book at 47% due to extremely fatphobic and ableist language.
This is my second foray into Enriquez's work. I withheld my reservations about my first experience with her (The Dangers of Smoking in Bed) because I was new to Bookstagram, who loves her, as well as new to translated literature, which I understand has some nuances when it comes to diction. I was excited to explore Enriquez's latest collection and see whether or not I had the same issues. Turns out, I did.
First of all, a lot of these stories just didn't work for me. "My Sad Dead" was a really strong start, but after that, I got halfway through the book and didn't enjoy any of the other stories.
The titular story, "A Sunny Place for Shady People," follows a journalist to Skid Row to report on a group that holds rituals honoring Elisa Lam. For those who don't know, Elisa Lam was a real person who mysteriously died in Los Angeles in 2013 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elisa_Lam). Elisa was bipolar and had likely been off her medication at the time of her death. As such, her death was ruled an accidental drowning, with many suspecting she was experiencing a psychotic episode due to her bizarre behavior in surveillance footage that is the last known sighting of her. However, not all the evidence points in this direction, and many people still suspect Elisa was the victim of foul-play. Either way, Elisa was a 21-year old neurodivergent Chinese American woman who died a tragic death, and Enriquez's use of her story in this book feels particularly exploitative.
The story that put the nail in the coffin for me was "Julie." In this story, the narrator's cousin Julie moves back to Buenos Aires after a childhood in the US. Julie started seeing "invisible friends" as the result of seances her parents hosted as social gatherings. Almost immediately, the narrator describes Julie as fat. Several scenes describe how Julie eats with her hands, shoveling fistfuls of food into her mouth at a time. The story describes Julie as "ob3se" multiple times, including in this quote:
This is my second foray into Enriquez's work. I withheld my reservations about my first experience with her (The Dangers of Smoking in Bed) because I was new to Bookstagram, who loves her, as well as new to translated literature, which I understand has some nuances when it comes to diction. I was excited to explore Enriquez's latest collection and see whether or not I had the same issues. Turns out, I did.
First of all, a lot of these stories just didn't work for me. "My Sad Dead" was a really strong start, but after that, I got halfway through the book and didn't enjoy any of the other stories.
The titular story, "A Sunny Place for Shady People," follows a journalist to Skid Row to report on a group that holds rituals honoring Elisa Lam. For those who don't know, Elisa Lam was a real person who mysteriously died in Los Angeles in 2013 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elisa_Lam). Elisa was bipolar and had likely been off her medication at the time of her death. As such, her death was ruled an accidental drowning, with many suspecting she was experiencing a psychotic episode due to her bizarre behavior in surveillance footage that is the last known sighting of her. However, not all the evidence points in this direction, and many people still suspect Elisa was the victim of foul-play. Either way, Elisa was a 21-year old neurodivergent Chinese American woman who died a tragic death, and Enriquez's use of her story in this book feels particularly exploitative.
The story that put the nail in the coffin for me was "Julie." In this story, the narrator's cousin Julie moves back to Buenos Aires after a childhood in the US. Julie started seeing "invisible friends" as the result of seances her parents hosted as social gatherings. Almost immediately, the narrator describes Julie as fat. Several scenes describe how Julie eats with her hands, shoveling fistfuls of food into her mouth at a time. The story describes Julie as "ob3se" multiple times, including in this quote:
My aunt faked a fainting spell, I think so we would stop picturing her ob3se daughter's rolls of fat being fondled...
For those who aren't aware, the word "ob3se" is considered a fatphobic slur by many because of its medicalized, stigmatizing history and how it pathologizes fat bodies. It is derived from medical language that often equates higher body weight with disease, labeling fat bodies as inherently unhealthy, without considering individual health differences. It is also frequently used in ways that reinforce negative stereotypes about fat people, such as being lazy, unhealthy, or lacking self-control. The Body Mass Index (BMI), which classifies people as "ob3se" or "overweight," is widely critiqued for being an inaccurate and incomplete measure of health. As such, many body liberation advocates prefer terms like "fat," which some have reclaimed as a neutral descriptor without moral or medical judgment.
Beyond the fatphobia, Julie is assumed to be schizophrenic due to her "invisible friends," leading to some ableism and sanism about psychotic people.
Despite these concerns, I tried to read the story that follows "Julie" and found it just as disappointing as the others. With this in mind, I chose to DNF A Sunny Place for Shady People at 47%. I am not familiar with all the nuances of translated literature, so I am unsure if this is a problem with Enriquez's writing or McDowell's translation, but I am unlikely to seek out Enriquez's work in the future.
Beyond the fatphobia, Julie is assumed to be schizophrenic due to her "invisible friends," leading to some ableism and sanism about psychotic people.
Despite these concerns, I tried to read the story that follows "Julie" and found it just as disappointing as the others. With this in mind, I chose to DNF A Sunny Place for Shady People at 47%. I am not familiar with all the nuances of translated literature, so I am unsure if this is a problem with Enriquez's writing or McDowell's translation, but I am unlikely to seek out Enriquez's work in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Fatphobia
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment
Please note that my content warnings only apply to the first half of the book as I did not read any further than that.