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Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin
Having found Samanta Schweblin’s Mouthful of Birds to make for a relatively disturbing collection of short stories I was intrigued to read more by her. Seven Empty Houses even promised a thematic unity in its seven stories, as they all featured strange houses. Sadly I found the motif to be explored/utilized in a rather underwhelming…
2 STARS, Adult, argentina, argentinian author, collection of short stories, Contemporary, creepy setting, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, ghosts/spirits, haunted house, hauntings, HORROR, latin america, latinx author, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, published in 2015, read in 2022, Samanta Schweblin, Seven Empty Houses, short stories, surreal, SUSPENSE, weird -
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
“You have something of mine, I passed on something of me to 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” Although I have previously quoted Lady Gaga’s iconic “talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same,…
1980s, 1990s, 4 STARS, abuse, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, argentina, argentinian author, atmospheric, big books, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, boyhood, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, coming of age, creepy setting, cults, dark, DEATH, england, FANTASY, fathers & sons, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, graphic content, GRIEF, grotesque, growing up, GUILT, haunted house, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, illness, latin america, lgbtq+, loneliness, Mariana Enríquez, missing girls, missing persons, morality, occult, orphans, otherness, Our Share of Night, parallel universes, PARANORMAL, POWERS, published in 2019, queer, read in 2022, road trip, sexual assault/abuse/rape, strong sense of place, summer reads, SUPERNATURAL, toxic relationships, tragedy, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, unrequited love, violence -
Portrait of an Unknown Lady by María Gainza
“Strange: It has come to me that one doesn’t write to remember, or to forget, or to find relief, or to cure oneself of some pain. One writes to plumb one’s own depths, to understand what’s inside.” Having found Optic Nerve to be a puzzling yet thoroughly compelling book I was very much eager to…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, argentina, argentinian author, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, existentialism, female authors, GRIEF, history, introspective, latin america, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, María Gainza, My reviews, MYSTERY, navel gazing, obsession, Portrait of an Unknown Lady, psychological, published in 2018, read in 2022, reading, TRANSLATED FICTION, unnamed narrator -
Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin
Like most collections of short stories Mouthful of Birds has some stories that are hits and ones that are misses. I think the collection definitely showcases Samanta Schweblin’s creativity and versatility. While most of the stories are permeated by the surreal they differ in tone and subject. Schweblin makes the familiar feel unfamiliar. Many of…
3 STARS, argentina, argentinian author, collection of short stories, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, grotesque, HORROR, latin america, latin american, latinx author, MAGICAL REALISM, Mouthful of Birds, psychological, published in 2009, read in 2020, Samanta Schweblin, short stories, surreal, SUSPENSE, weird -
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez
Well…that was disappointing. Given the hype around this collection and the comparisons to Shirley Jackson, I was prepared to read some truly unsettling tales. However, as with a lot of other contemporary authors of horror, Mariana Enríquez relies on body horror, gore, and animal violence to instil feelings of unease in her readers…and while her…
2 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, argentina, argentinian author, CHILDHOOD, collection of short stories, Contemporary, female authors, grotesque, hallucinations, haunted house, HORROR, illness, latin america, latin american, latinx author, lgbtq+ side, madness, MAGICAL REALISM, Mariana Enríquez, published in 2016, queer side characters, read in 2020, short stories, Things We Lost in the Fire, toxic relationships, TRANSLATED FICTION -
We Came Here to Forget by Andrea Dunlop — book review
For the most part We Came Here to Forget was a somewhat inconsistent read. Perhaps this is due to the two timelines, one which follows Katie Cleary as she grows up, and the other one focuses on the aftermath a personal tragedy. In order to escape from her unbearable existence (one in which she has…
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OPTIC NERVE : BOOK REVIEW
Optic Nerve by María Gainza ★★★★✰ 3.5 stars “I am a woman hovering at the midpoint of life, but I still haven’t lost my touch completely: it is within my power, for instance, to flit from the Schiavoni painting in the National Museum of Fine Arts to the Miguel Carlos Victorica they hold in the…
3.5 STARS, Adult, argentina, argentinian author, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), existentialism, female authors, history, introspective, latin america, latin american, latinx author, LITERARY FICTION, María Gainza, MEMORY, philosophical, published in 2014, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2021, surreal, Thomas Bunstead, TRANSLATED FICTION, unnamed narrator
luce [is reading] 