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inquisitrix's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
The 12 stories in this brief collection marry the erotic with the uneasy in beautiful, sensuous, and startling ways. Its characters inhabit liminal and ephemeral spaces and states as they experience desire, disgust, desolation, and transformation. At once inspiring aversion and appetite, these are the kinds of stories that demand their readers submit to the experience and ask no questions—and that are written with enough skill and expressiveness to make this demand reasonable.
In a few places—particularly in the second story—there are odd details, such as inexplicable perspective shifts, that jarred me out of the reading trance to puzzle over whether the abruptness was intentional or an error in translation. For me, these were the only flaws in an otherwise mesmerizing collection.
This is a stunning and surprising book. Reading these stories makes it easy to understand why Mónica Lavín’s work is acclaimed in Mexico. While this is her first book to be translated into English, I hope it will not be the last.
I received a free advance copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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