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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content warning for almost everything for this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual violence
Mi libro preferido de todos los tiempos. Oscuro y para nada predecible, cargado de información nueva, de cultura, esotérico, perfecto. Mariana como cuentista es fabulosa, pero esta novela se llevó mi alma. Infinitas veces sentí la piel de gallina en sus páginas. Lo volvería a leer.
DNF.
Nothing happened in 250 pages and while the writing was beautiful and drew me in, I didn't like any of the characters. This wasn't so much horror as it was mundanity with random bits of disturbing content thrown in. Not a lot of plot, and no explanation of the magic system. The creeping dread was deadened by the meandering minutiae that formed the bulk of this novel.
Nothing happened in 250 pages and while the writing was beautiful and drew me in, I didn't like any of the characters. This wasn't so much horror as it was mundanity with random bits of disturbing content thrown in. Not a lot of plot, and no explanation of the magic system. The creeping dread was deadened by the meandering minutiae that formed the bulk of this novel.
I feel a bit flummoxed by this book. I'm usually not a big horror reader (I dabble) but I LOVE a long, historical, family epic. While I did "enjoy" this book (it's not fun, but you know what I mean) I am shocked to find that, if I were the editor, I would make this book shorter and add more horror. Which is crazy not just on personal preferences but also because this is easily one of the most effed up books I have ever read. While the Darkness/the Other Place/the cult is all a large metaphor for the Dirty War, I wish there had been something a bit bigger as a resolution, likely more horrible. Again, crazy to say cause the end is horrible! But it felt like after 560 pages of learning the intimate history of this family, we get 28 pages of quick resolution that flew by. I also wanted to know more about the Darkness, though maybe that's kind of the point that Darkness is terrible because it's powerful and it can be. It left me feeling like either I was missing something (totally possible, I definitely lack proper historical context) and/or the book's length promises a level of metaphorical horror that was more ambitious than what was delivered. I never found myself wanting to pick this book up, which makes sense because it is truly horrific, but was always completely transfixed once I cracked it open. I'm glad I read it and it'll sit with me for a long time...as will the image of the eyelids...but I cannot think of a single person in my life that I would recommend this to.
It’s been 6+ months and I have literally never stopped thinking about this book so I gotta give it 5 stars
Probably the most comprehensive horror book I’ve ever read - moves from Lovecraft to King to reportage to short story to revenge narrative with such grace that i can’t believe this is all from the same book - the characters are all super engaging and incredibly well woven into Argentinian history: magic and history as horror.
good lord that book felt long.
things picked up in the final part (ironically enough, it actually felt a bit rushed in the final fifty pages) but this was such a slog for me. not at all saying it was bad - I especially wonder if I would've appreciated it more if I had more political/historical context about Argentina - but I felt like I was being held at arm's length constantly. things that were probably meant to be mysterious or abstract often felt deliberately vague and disjointed and made it real hard to keep pushing through 700+ pages.
that said, there were some truly fantastic moments of spookiness and I did enjoy the final 150-ish pages a lot more - though I probably would have enjoyed them more if the previous 550-ish pages had been less alienating. oh well!
things picked up in the final part (ironically enough, it actually felt a bit rushed in the final fifty pages) but this was such a slog for me. not at all saying it was bad - I especially wonder if I would've appreciated it more if I had more political/historical context about Argentina - but I felt like I was being held at arm's length constantly. things that were probably meant to be mysterious or abstract often felt deliberately vague and disjointed and made it real hard to keep pushing through 700+ pages.
that said, there were some truly fantastic moments of spookiness and I did enjoy the final 150-ish pages a lot more - though I probably would have enjoyed them more if the previous 550-ish pages had been less alienating. oh well!
Lo oscuro de lo real, de lo vivo, de lo humano. Y lo mágico de la oscuridad, de lo que no se entiende, de todo aquello a lo que nos aferramos.
Juan, Gaspar, Stephen, Rosario, Adela... todos esos personajes sin ser dueños de sus vidas y al mismo tiempo capaces de transformar realidades y discursos. ¿Acaso no todos somos eso? ¿Posibilidades infinitas y limitadas al mismo tiempo?
La transversalidad de la novela de Mariana Enríquez es maravillosa. Como en una novela larga (en páginas y en el tiempo que transcurre en ellas) logra plasmar disntintas realidades a partir de la cotidianidad y también del horror. Habla de los muertos, de esos que se encuentran y se siguen encontrando en ese y muchos otros países; de esos que mueren con el estigma en el cuerpo, por una enfermedad excluyente e incurable porque es redituable para el sistema.
Mientras leía las últimas páginas mi cabeza se mantuvo con la paleta de colores de "Suspiria" de Luca Guadagnino y se agradece. Se agradece cómo los relatos de lo místico juegan entre sí. Los tonos de esa oscuridad de más que negra tiene diversas tonalidades de piel.
Juan, Gaspar, Stephen, Rosario, Adela... todos esos personajes sin ser dueños de sus vidas y al mismo tiempo capaces de transformar realidades y discursos. ¿Acaso no todos somos eso? ¿Posibilidades infinitas y limitadas al mismo tiempo?
La transversalidad de la novela de Mariana Enríquez es maravillosa. Como en una novela larga (en páginas y en el tiempo que transcurre en ellas) logra plasmar disntintas realidades a partir de la cotidianidad y también del horror. Habla de los muertos, de esos que se encuentran y se siguen encontrando en ese y muchos otros países; de esos que mueren con el estigma en el cuerpo, por una enfermedad excluyente e incurable porque es redituable para el sistema.
Mientras leía las últimas páginas mi cabeza se mantuvo con la paleta de colores de "Suspiria" de Luca Guadagnino y se agradece. Se agradece cómo los relatos de lo místico juegan entre sí. Los tonos de esa oscuridad de más que negra tiene diversas tonalidades de piel.
dark
tense
slow-paced
Throughout this book I alternated between a rating of 2 or a 4. It just depended on the section of the book.
We learn that Juan can converse with the darkness, an evil entity. The Order is using Juan as a medium to learn how to gain immortality from the darkness. We learn this pretty early on in the book.
Now, we spend the next 400 pages alternating timelines with different POVs. Rosalia’s was actually my favorite as it seemed the most gripping for me.
The things this book does well:
-the atmosphere was intense, and I felt the heat and the sweat.
-the writing was violent and elegant at the same time. Really well done.
-the parts that were engaging were REALLY engaging.
-the history regarding the dirty war, the uprising and unrest in Argentina.
The things I personally didn’t like:
-this was just too long. It really dragged on, and I think it could have been edited down a bit. Like there was so many lulls that I was close to dnfing a few times.
-the ending was rushed. I spent 550 pages reading up to this moment, and this is the ending? I think we deserved more
It needs to be said there is a lot of child abuse, violence, murder, and mentions of rape. So you might want to proceed with caution.
We learn that Juan can converse with the darkness, an evil entity. The Order is using Juan as a medium to learn how to gain immortality from the darkness. We learn this pretty early on in the book.
Now, we spend the next 400 pages alternating timelines with different POVs. Rosalia’s was actually my favorite as it seemed the most gripping for me.
The things this book does well:
-the atmosphere was intense, and I felt the heat and the sweat.
-the writing was violent and elegant at the same time. Really well done.
-the parts that were engaging were REALLY engaging.
-the history regarding the dirty war, the uprising and unrest in Argentina.
The things I personally didn’t like:
-this was just too long. It really dragged on, and I think it could have been edited down a bit. Like there was so many lulls that I was close to dnfing a few times.
-the ending was rushed. I spent 550 pages reading up to this moment, and this is the ending? I think we deserved more
It needs to be said there is a lot of child abuse, violence, murder, and mentions of rape. So you might want to proceed with caution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Rape, Murder, War