A review by abbie_
Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda

dark emotional sad fast-paced

3.5

All the reviews calling this book absolutely brutal aren’t exaggerating. I’ve read a few fiction books covering femicide in Mexico, and it’s never an easy topic to read about, but so important to keep talking about, so I’m glad this one made the International Booker longlist. However, I don’t see it making the shortlist, personally. The stories do pack a punch, and I liked the interconnectivity of them, but I think some of them lacked depth. The Smile and Sequins were my two ‘favourites’ in that, they were the ones that stomped on my heart the most. 

I have to agree with another reviewer on StoryGraph who mentioned that the English translations of the colloquial language came off as a bit ‘how do you do, fellow kids?’ I’m sure de la Cerda’s original Spanish flowed more naturally, but sometimes the informal English came off as stilted.

But it is overall a very engaging collection, raw and unafraid to pull back the curtain on the blood, violence and corruption that rule the lives of young girls and women in Mexico.