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A review by clara_mai
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
5.0
Only 20 days into 2023 and I might already have found my favourite book of the year?! At least it's going to be hard for anything to top this masterpiece of a novel. Mariana Enriquez, whom I'd wanted to read from for years, has created an incredible epic with this, a work that blends elements of horror, fantasy, cult story, coming-of-age and Argentine history and politics.
Her writing is very beautiful and captivating, in great parts due to her wonderful and terrifying imagery that fits this story perfectly. The wonderful translation into the English version I read was done by Megan McDowell. The non-linear but very purposeful order of the six parts that the book is divided into as well as the different perspectives they are told from amplifies the tension and creates unexpected moments of realization.
The characters are so well-developed, they are real and flawed and therefore the things that happen to them have a strong emotional impact. I instantly fell in love with this book from the first part that introduces us to Juan and his son Gaspar as we follow them on a roadtrip where a certain darkness already shines through, but oh boy, I couldn't have expected what was to come.
This is a story that goes to very sinister and violent places. Mariana Enriquez manages to link this violence practiced by a cult to that which was done to people under the military junta in Argentine, during which around 30.000 people "disappeared". There is commentary on class, the cultishness of the wealthy English families in Argentina and how they exploited lower class and Indigenous people without consequence.
This is also a very queer piece of literature with multiple gay and bisexual characters of different generations.
All of these elements are effortlessly woven into this darkly gleaming tale. So do yourself a favour and pick up Our Share of Night!
Her writing is very beautiful and captivating, in great parts due to her wonderful and terrifying imagery that fits this story perfectly. The wonderful translation into the English version I read was done by Megan McDowell. The non-linear but very purposeful order of the six parts that the book is divided into as well as the different perspectives they are told from amplifies the tension and creates unexpected moments of realization.
The characters are so well-developed, they are real and flawed and therefore the things that happen to them have a strong emotional impact. I instantly fell in love with this book from the first part that introduces us to Juan and his son Gaspar as we follow them on a roadtrip where a certain darkness already shines through, but oh boy, I couldn't have expected what was to come.
This is a story that goes to very sinister and violent places. Mariana Enriquez manages to link this violence practiced by a cult to that which was done to people under the military junta in Argentine, during which around 30.000 people "disappeared". There is commentary on class, the cultishness of the wealthy English families in Argentina and how they exploited lower class and Indigenous people without consequence.
This is also a very queer piece of literature with multiple gay and bisexual characters of different generations.
All of these elements are effortlessly woven into this darkly gleaming tale. So do yourself a favour and pick up Our Share of Night!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail