I read Enriquez's Things We Lost in the Fire when it first came out, and fell in love with her haunting brand of literary stories. When I finished the collection, I immediately searched for more...and couldn't find them.

This is Enriquez's second collection published/translated into English, but was written prior to TWLitF. I didn't realize that at first, but was glad to discover it simply because while I enjoyed most of these stories, they didn't live up to the memory of what I'd experienced in her work before. It's possible this book suffered some from me reading through all of the stories quickly, vs pacing them out, as the themes/devices got to feeling repetitive after a while, but I suspect it's simply that Enriquez grew as a writer between this, her first collection, and her second one.

I'd still recommend this one, particularly to writers new to her work, but it's her other collection that I really loved. Obviously, I'll remain on the lookout for more of her work. ( )

Not my cup of tea ( )

Short stories from Argentina, mostly teenage behaviour, with drugs, alcohol, superstition, friendships, suicide, ghosts, and more. Very readable, sometimes hard to face subjects, but moreish, and enjoyable. Dark humour and realistic. Uncomfortable and culturally sound. ( )

This collection of short stories is not for the faint of heart. The stories start in the vein of South American magical realism, but as they progress, the author mixes folklore with horror, sometimes with disturbing scenes that the reader will have a hard time forgetting. Interestingly, in several of the stories the author treats depression, anxiety and other mental conditions as horrors, not merely diseases, but spooky horrors. Lovers of paranormal stories will be delighted, but impressionable readers must be warned. ( )

An uneven collection with hits and misses. When it hits, it hits hard but there's also weaker efforts that let it down (the last two tales including the titular one made for a weak finish). There's also only so many samey ghost stories you can read before it all blurs into one but I'll allow that might have been an intended effect, creating an alternate Argentina where these creepy things all coexist. ( )