Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Our Share of Night: A Novel by Mariana Enríquez, Megan McDowell

15 reviews

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Car accident, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Gore, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Self harm, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Sexual content, Addiction, Homophobia, Police brutality, Alcohol, Child death, Mass/school shootings, and Slavery

Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cannibalism, Classism, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Abortion, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Rape

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

5.0

Our Share of Night is an inimitable masterpiece, a stunning work of literary horror.  Enríquez’s storytelling is breathtaking and immersive, with gritty, tightly-woven character relationships which evolve over decades.  At the novel’s center is a pagan cult like that of Argentina’s San La Muerte, which here is guided by heart-stopping nightmares and pure horror.  The book is chiefly, however, a heartbreaking story of father and son, colored by political violence, a culture of fear, and ties that bind.  I didn’t want it to end, and I want to read it again, immediately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Racism, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Torture, War, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Excrement, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Rape, and Slavery

Minor: Suicide, Alcohol, Cancer, Cannibalism, Vomit, Colonisation, Eating disorder, and Racial slurs

introverted_reads's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

5 stars

ARC provided by publisher on NetGalley for an honest review

“The god lives in the shadows. Be careful, it sleeps, but it lives.”

Our Share of Night is a delightfully gothic exploration of paternal love and protection, desperation, Argentinian political history, and the allure of cults and promises of immortality. Mariana Enriquez captures a turbulent period of politics, as well as the extremities of paternal love, in a thrilling novel of the supernatural and the unnerving gothic tropes also demonstrated in Enriquez’s short stories.

“‘People who love each other don’t hurt each other’… ‘That’s not true… I hurt you to save you’”

The relationship between Juan and Gaspar is central to the novel, and it is unapologetically raw and rooted in a primitive urge to protect. The extremities Juan goes to in order to protect his son are savage; Gaspar’s life is placed above all else, including Gaspar’s well-being. Mariana Enriquez captures a complicated father-son relationship which is steeped in moral ambiguity, suffering, but above all else, an unconditional love. 

“… I didn’t hurt you. I’m protecting you the best that I can and as far as I know how to do it.”

Juan as a character and father is a triumph of skilful construction; he’s complex, and thoroughly maladjusted, yet there is an immediate connection to his character. Juan is, most essentially, a victim - he is what the Bradford family made him, his humanity abandoned for the sake of survival. Juan raises complicated moral questions; his methods are savage, but underlying every choice is a fierce love of his son. Juan demonstrates the lengths that we, as humans, will go for the people we love. Juan’s characterisation is rooted in reality, Juan echoes the parents who have killed their own children in a final desperate attempt to protect them, and it is this fundamental reality which makes Juan’s character so essentially human.

“I wish I could stop loving him, forget him, I wish he’d die… He was never afraid with his father; he could be afraid of him, but not with him.”

Juan’s son, Gaspar, continues this complicated relationship. There is a maturity to Gaspar’s character that allows him to recognise his father’s moral failings, as such; Enriquez doesn’t choose a blind obedience, an unconditional love, but an incredibly real response of a resentment of the love towards those who hurt us. It is inevitably disaster and pain which draws Gaspar and Juan together, suffering which ties their souls to one another: “He only had dreams. Dreams where he opened the door and found Adela. Dreams where she didn’t get away from him… Dreams where Gaspar got up from the mattress, his father already dead, already ashes on the bed, and went to the kitchen and slit his own throat with a knife, blood pouring out, drenching the walls, his pants, his face, his hands, until everything he saw was red and he could let himself die once and for all. He, too, could have black eyes.”

In addition to complex characterisations, Enriquez offers a commentary on political affairs, from dictatorships and financial elitism, to underground queer culture of the 60s and rebellion. 

“How can I get you out of hell? I can’t, I am one of the mistresses of hell, but hell has its corners, and we can rule there, rule and disobey.”

Mariana Enriquez roots their novel in the Argentinian history of dictatorship, guerrilla fighters and genocide; rebellion and defiance are foundations of the narrative. It is rebelllion and non-conformity which drive the narrative forward, demonstrating the desperate push for liberation seen so often in history. Disobedience is presented as the ultimate weapon against dictatorship and enslavement, and the cult of the Darkness acts as a perfect microcosm of wider political issues. There is a sharp attack on capitalism - “All fortunes are built on the suffering of others, and ours, though it has unique and astonishing characteristics, is no exception.” - as well as references to queer history, polari and androgyny. Despite being a work of fiction, Our Share of Night is firmly rooted in politics and history, and offers an immortalisation of underground communities, as well as a condemnation of dictatorships and capitalism still prevalent in a contemporary political climate.

“… you have something of mine, I passed something of me onto you, and hopefully it isn’t cursed, I don’t know if I can leave you something that isn’t dirty, that isn’t dark, our share of night.”

Our Share of Night is a triumph of contemporary gothic fiction, utilising extremes of religion, cults and behaviour, and combining the empirical with the supernatural, to explore anthropological questions on love, family, faith and rebellion. Mariana Enriquez is an unmissable voice in gothic fiction, and this novel is well deserving of a place in the canon of gothic. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest should this be made a classic.

Quotes taken from e-ARC provided through NetGalley and may change in final published work

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Violence, Medical content, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder

stanisz's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Child abuse, Violence, Terminal illness, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Eating disorder and Suicide attempt

danfromluthadel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

9/10

Este libro ha sido todo un viaje.

Mariana Enríquez tiene, por ahora, una de las mejores prosas con la que te puedes topar en la literatura actual. La forma de contar esta historia tan macabra, tan desagradable, tan trágica, es simplemente excepcional.

No le poco el 10, sencillamente, porque el ritmo no es constante. La parte final se hace un tanto pesada y aburrida. Lo entiendo, pues es un libro de 670 páginas y mantener a un lector entretenido al 100% en tanto es complicado. También, puede ser, por lo que me ha horrorizado. Los temas que trata (maltrato, homofobia, brujería negra, sacrificios...) son demasiado duros para poder disfrutar de esta lectura en su totalidad.

¿Recomiendo «Nuestra parte de noche» a todo el mundo? Sí y no. Sí porque, sin lugar a dudas, es una grandísima obra literaria. No porque es demasiado duro y, para algunas personas, puede despertar sentimientos demasiado desagradables.

Lo que tengo claro es que esta obra no te deja indiferente, que Enríquez sabe marcarte con su pluma y que, a partir de ahora, seguiré de cerca sus proyectos.

Podría extenderme más hablando del libro pero no quiero exponer demasiado la trama y al final entrar en spoilers. Quiero que se disfrute sabiendo lo menos posible, como yo lo hice. Es una gran experiencia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence