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A review by pushingdessy
Nuestra parte de noche by Mariana Enríquez
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
[MY BOOKSTAGRAM]
I’ve read one of Mariana Enriquez’s anthologies so far (“The dangers of smoking in bed”), and I enjoyed it a lot more on my second read. That is to say, she can be an acquired taste, so I was wary of what a +600 page horror novel from her might be like. Especially since the English translation made it into a bookstragram darling in 2023 - was it worth the hype?
That’s a yes from me. This book has everything. Not only cults, magic, haunted houses, evil assholes, and a complicated father&son relationship, but also a lot of real life issues and history. The Argentinian dictatorship of '76, the plight of indigenous people, slave labour and workers' uprisings, the crisis of the '90s, the education reform, student uprisings and police repression, colonization, the queer scene and the AIDS epidemic. It was incredibly local, while at the same time appealing to an international audience by setting part of the book in Europe and including some British flavour.
The story is split into six parts, set in different years (going back and forth between past and future) and offering different POVs. One thing that bothered me is that the text often ran on without a pause, and combined with the scarcity of chapter divisions and the mix of POVs, it didn’t give you much of a visual break. But maybe that’s by design, as the book is hard to put down anyway; kind of like that story I read once about a mysterious book left on roadside motels that, once you started reading it, you could never stop.
In some ways, the story felt inspired by Stephen King, although, imo, I enjoyed it more than I often do with large swaths of King’s books. Juan, the father and medium of the Order, sought to protect his son at any cost, often becoming abusive and cryptic; Gaspar, the son, both loves and resents him to the end, a relationship that felt reminiscent of Jack and Danny in “The Shining”. Gaspar’s gang of childhood friends, and a shared trauma that haunts them to their adulthood, reminded me of the Losers' Club in “It”. Less inspired by and more of an association, it also reminded me of “Mexican Gothic” in terms of evil British people and their colonizing ways, and of the Upside Down in Stranger Things.
This is a dark, often disgusting, sometimes lighter, considerably deep, touching book that, in its rounded horror still managed to shock me with one particular moment that made me gasp (iykyk 😭), and left me wanting more (but do we want to know more? Maybe not). The summary doesn’t even begin to cover what the story really is about/like, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend starting with the author’s short stories because I think they’re fundamentally different. If any of what I’ve said piques your interest, go for it! It’s definitely one of the best horror books I will have read this year.
I’ve read one of Mariana Enriquez’s anthologies so far (“The dangers of smoking in bed”), and I enjoyed it a lot more on my second read. That is to say, she can be an acquired taste, so I was wary of what a +600 page horror novel from her might be like. Especially since the English translation made it into a bookstragram darling in 2023 - was it worth the hype?
That’s a yes from me. This book has everything. Not only cults, magic, haunted houses, evil assholes, and a complicated father&son relationship, but also a lot of real life issues and history. The Argentinian dictatorship of '76, the plight of indigenous people, slave labour and workers' uprisings, the crisis of the '90s, the education reform, student uprisings and police repression, colonization, the queer scene and the AIDS epidemic. It was incredibly local, while at the same time appealing to an international audience by setting part of the book in Europe and including some British flavour.
The story is split into six parts, set in different years (going back and forth between past and future) and offering different POVs. One thing that bothered me is that the text often ran on without a pause, and combined with the scarcity of chapter divisions and the mix of POVs, it didn’t give you much of a visual break. But maybe that’s by design, as the book is hard to put down anyway; kind of like that story I read once about a mysterious book left on roadside motels that, once you started reading it, you could never stop.
In some ways, the story felt inspired by Stephen King, although, imo, I enjoyed it more than I often do with large swaths of King’s books. Juan, the father and medium of the Order, sought to protect his son at any cost, often becoming abusive and cryptic; Gaspar, the son, both loves and resents him to the end, a relationship that felt reminiscent of Jack and Danny in “The Shining”. Gaspar’s gang of childhood friends, and a shared trauma that haunts them to their adulthood, reminded me of the Losers' Club in “It”. Less inspired by and more of an association, it also reminded me of “Mexican Gothic” in terms of evil British people and their colonizing ways, and of the Upside Down in Stranger Things.
This is a dark, often disgusting, sometimes lighter, considerably deep, touching book that, in its rounded horror still managed to shock me with one particular moment that made me gasp (iykyk 😭), and left me wanting more (but do we want to know more? Maybe not). The summary doesn’t even begin to cover what the story really is about/like, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend starting with the author’s short stories because I think they’re fundamentally different. If any of what I’ve said piques your interest, go for it! It’s definitely one of the best horror books I will have read this year.