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mackenzi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reading this book was like the author taking me into a little apartment and sitting me down on a couch or at an intimate little table. She brings in a box, an old shoebox or a little decorative wooden box, and opens it up and it's full of time-faded photographs and polaroids. She takes them out one by one, tells me the name of the person in it as she looks at the dates and little notes written on them in all sorts of different handwritings. 1979, 1991, 1983, 1999- I try to imagine what each year might mean but it's hard for me to imagine a place I don't know well during a time I didn't exist yet. It's a thrill to get to peek in at these lives I'd have never otherwise known, but none of the people in the photos seem happy, and I'm filled with apprehension.
She tells me a story about each photo, a story she heard from a friend or a grandparent. Some of the names are the same from photograph to photograph, and I wonder if they're ever the same people displaced a little by time, still finding their way into stranger's photos just to be lost again. The stories are all a little sad, melancholic for their world-weariness, and all are frightening. Some scare me because ghosts scare me like they scare a child, some are scary because the world is just that way and I feel helpless about it.
Each story ends, abruptly, her voice fading into silence as she sets the photo on the table, making a little pile that she's already gone through. I ask what happened to the person, what happened next, and she shrugs, she doesn't know. So each story lingers, because my mind craves completion, resolution- but if you've ever stumbled onto old photos in an antique store, you know there's no resolution. You can stare at the faces in the pictures all day and never know who they really were. And each story haunts because there seems like a world of things in that story, and I want to sift through each one to try and find the meaning, the lesson, the history, the knowledge of someone who might have lived it for real.
But they're still just photographs and eventually she runs out of them, and she's putting them back in the box and she's taking the box away again, and I'm left with a handful of memories that feel startlingly real.
She tells me a story about each photo, a story she heard from a friend or a grandparent. Some of the names are the same from photograph to photograph, and I wonder if they're ever the same people displaced a little by time, still finding their way into stranger's photos just to be lost again. The stories are all a little sad, melancholic for their world-weariness, and all are frightening. Some scare me because ghosts scare me like they scare a child, some are scary because the world is just that way and I feel helpless about it.
Each story ends, abruptly, her voice fading into silence as she sets the photo on the table, making a little pile that she's already gone through. I ask what happened to the person, what happened next, and she shrugs, she doesn't know. So each story lingers, because my mind craves completion, resolution- but if you've ever stumbled onto old photos in an antique store, you know there's no resolution. You can stare at the faces in the pictures all day and never know who they really were. And each story haunts because there seems like a world of things in that story, and I want to sift through each one to try and find the meaning, the lesson, the history, the knowledge of someone who might have lived it for real.
But they're still just photographs and eventually she runs out of them, and she's putting them back in the box and she's taking the box away again, and I'm left with a handful of memories that feel startlingly real.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Child death
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Sexual assault, Police brutality, Hate crime, and Sexism
MOST of these are brief mentions or descriptions. However, if it is brought up in a short story, usually the short story will revolve around those themes even if it does not describe or portray the issues explicitly. Go into this collection aware that, however brief, the intention of the author is to bring to light many real-world things in a creepy, eerie, or supernatural way, but a way that resonates deeply. In my opinion, it is mindfully executed with a deft and subtle hand. The author writes from cultural experience.pseudoliterature's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Story collections tend to be a bit tedious if you read them wrong, the magic trick here is to read not more than 2 stories in one sitting. I've seen people finish these type of books in a day (if you like to binge read short stories you do you, I applaud your ability, I just have adhd), and i think short stories work better when you have a clear mind, you have to take a small pause between stories or they might blend in your mind. Read two stories, go for a cup of tea, watch a YouTube video, and then continue for another two chapters.
Besides that, I had a great time, the atmosphere of this book is so familiar to me, i grew up in a very similar place that some people in this book and I have to tell you, the amount of anxiety i had thanks to those stories was more than I expected.
I wouldn't categorise this book as horror or a thriller, it's more of a tense suspense leaning read.
Besides that, I had a great time, the atmosphere of this book is so familiar to me, i grew up in a very similar place that some people in this book and I have to tell you, the amount of anxiety i had thanks to those stories was more than I expected.
I wouldn't categorise this book as horror or a thriller, it's more of a tense suspense leaning read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm
savgulick's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Suicide, Drug use, and Death
thepassivebookworm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- 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
5.0
I don't read short story collections that often, so I'm never really sure whether I should approach these stories as stand-alone or all tied together. I was getting a sense that the stories shared a common thread, but I couldn't put my finger on it until I looked at some other reviews and then read the Translator's Note at the end. That's when things started clicking for me.
A lot of the horror in the stories appears to be going for a supernatural angle, but they never fully go there. There's always a tangible explanation for the horror involved, and a lot of the time it ties into the underlying issues going on in Argentina. A lot of that ties into the history of the country itself, which I know very little about, but the most obvious ones that stuck out to me were poverty and the violence towards women. They always seemed to be in the back of my mind as I read these stories, and by the end I couldn't really ignore them anymore.
In short, this book showed me that I should read more translated works.
A lot of the horror in the stories appears to be going for a supernatural angle, but they never fully go there. There's always a tangible explanation for the horror involved, and a lot of the time it ties into the underlying issues going on in Argentina. A lot of that ties into the history of the country itself, which I know very little about, but the most obvious ones that stuck out to me were poverty and the violence towards women. They always seemed to be in the back of my mind as I read these stories, and by the end I couldn't really ignore them anymore.
In short, this book showed me that I should read more translated works.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, and Sexual violence
danidamico's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Me gusta Mariana Enríquez, me parece una figura importante dentro de la literatura argentina actual y es genial que este libro de cuentos haya sido traducido en el exterior. Sinceramente, como colección, como un todo, me pareció algo irregular; algunos cuentos me resultaron excelentes o muy buenos, pero hay otros que me gustaron poco o casi nada. Mis favoritos son:
Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego
Bajo el agua negra
La casa de Adela
El patio del vecino
El chico sucio
Pablito clavó un clavito
En algún momento tengo ganas de leer el libro de cuentos anterior a este que escribió Enríquez, Los peligros de fumar en la cama.
Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego
Bajo el agua negra
La casa de Adela
El patio del vecino
El chico sucio
Pablito clavó un clavito
En algún momento tengo ganas de leer el libro de cuentos anterior a este que escribió Enríquez, Los peligros de fumar en la cama.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Violence
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