Don’t let its length deter you, Our Share of Night is a fantastic literary horror experience about one Argentinian family…who happen to be members of a dark and evil death cult. I won’t use the word Satanic because it isn’t Satan they believe in but a much darker and older God, This book is not overly horrific but has some very tense and creepy moments throughout. You will eagerly await reading or listening as soon as you can to find out what is going to happen in Juan’s and Gaspar’s stories next, You will have moments of happiness, anger, sadness, and despair right along with them. Highly recommend it. I’m still thinking about them days after I finished reading.

I don’t usually include trigger warnings in horror novels but this one includes some a few twisted moments of child and even baby abuse and torture that could be hard for some to read/hear.

I received my copy from the publisher and NetGalley but I also bought the audiobook from Audible and both read and listened to it. The narrator did a great job plus hearing the accent and the correct Spanish pronunciation of places like Puerto Reyes added to my experience.

This book was really something. It was spooky, weird, atmospheric, descriptive, and creepy. The author's writing style and the way she wrote these characters were amazing. However, the pacing was off, not sure if it was because of the timeline going back and forth. There were moments where I got bored and felt it dragged. However, I was interested enough to keep reading it. All in all, it was a good read. I'd highly recommend.

“Our Share of Night” is a novel by Mariana Enriquez, an Argentinian writer. The book is set in the decades during and after Argentina’s military dictatorship and is an occult treatment of the ‘dirty war’. The novel fuses political allegory and gleeful gore, and it follows Gaspar, a child in 1981, into early adulthood in 1997. Gaspar’s mother died in suspicious circumstances, and he grows up in the care of his dying father, Juan. Juan is a medium; his son has inherited his powers. Gaspar’s abilities make him useful to malign and politically powerful groups, but Juan is determined to protect him.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House, Hogarth for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Full disclosure, I had to DNF this book at 26%. The reasons that I didn't enjoy this reading experience likely has more to do with my own personal reading tastes than any true fault of the book. My only actual critique is that this book is very long and very slow paced.

What I enjoyed: This book is beautifully translated and very well-written so I would definitely give this author and translator another attempt in the future. I can also tell that this author did a lot of medical research to make Juan's (potentially demon-induced/exacerbated) cardiac issues seem very authentic. The scenes in the story where Juan is really suffering with his condition felt so incredibly visceral.

What I didn't like: This book features a lot of child abuse/neglect/emotional manipulation. I never thought I was necessarily overly sensitive to reading this kind of thing, but what I read in this story felt really sad and a bit gratuitous. Other reviewers have said that the graphic abuse of children in this story is mostly off-page, but I tend to disagree, so be aware of this going into this story because everyone's sensitivities vary greatly. Given the length of this book, the pacing, and the fact that the main plot-point of this book surrounds the emotional manipulation of a grieving six year old with the intention of protecting him from demons and becoming a sacrifice to the Darkness, I quickly realized that 600+ pages of this would not end up being a fun experience for me.

Thanks again to NetGalley and Hogarth! While this reading experience wasn't for me, I'm glad I gave it a chance!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I was excited get a copy of this book since I had seen so many positive reviews and promotions. I really liked the writing style, characters, and family dynamics, but this was way too long....especially for a horror novel. Since I was reading an ebook, I didn't realize the length until I noticed I was only about half the way through after reading forever.. It kept my attention enough to finish, but guessed the ending pretty soon into the last part of the book. Definitely a slow burn. 3.5 stars rounded down.

Wow! What a truly incredible achievement. This is a masterpiece and not something many authors could achieve. While this wasn't quite for me, there's no denying this is a work of art.

This is a book that will absolutely stay with you.

On the surface it's about how one family suffers under the weight of a terrible cult built on torture and darkness in the name of a dark God they think offers them immortality in exchange, beneath this it's about trauma and loss- the sort that devours generations- even nations. If you have a hard time with the first book (I certainly did because of my personal triggers), maybe the third too, keep going, there's more than enough reason to finish. Enriquez has built a unique world here, one with edges of atmospheric weight, true and carefully written grief, and an improbably powerful purpose.

It has been a long day today but it seems fitting to post this #bookreview during dusk. This is my first time diving into @mayaxenriquez 's work and I emphasize DIVE because the character development, the society development, the atmosphere - this shit is DEEP. Thank you to the author, @netgalley, and the publisher @randomhouse for the e-ARC of OUR SHARE OF NIGHT.

Enriquez has created a whole underground universe that intertwines the stories in this collection about a black magic cult that enslaves its mediums under the guise of protection and the multi-generational fight of a family trying to break the curse/gift/enslavement of being a medium for this collective. The stories mostly take place in Argentina and switch between past and present to form the whole of the characters therein.

I enjoyed this connected collection immensely, especially the queerness that radiated through the stories: Juan's bi/pan/poly lifestyle, the discussion of androgynous magic, etc. The shadowy society, attempts to outsmart them, etc were a lovely accompaniment.

I will certainly pick up my copy of THE DANGERS OF SMOKING IN BED by the same author soon! Yes, I bought a book by an author I have never read and then promptly grabbed a copy of said author's new, completely different book on netgalley. Is that weird? Can you relate?

Stay hydrated out there friends!

💚SMASHBOT💚

#bibliophile #booknerd #booksta #bookworm #bookdragon #bookreview #ourshareofnight #marianaenriquez #shortstorycollection #bookish #booklover #books

Some days, and then days and days following, you just need to read an absolutely sprawling and brutal cult story, and that’s Our Share of Night.

Following multiple timelines and narrators we see the implosion of a family as they attempt to escape their fate. While woven deftly around that thread is psychedelic portals, ghostly visions, grotesque demonic rituals and the violence of The Dirty War. Serious, this book is dense.

What makes this book easy is the rhythm of Enriquez prose, and what I’m assuming is an excellent translation by Megan McDowell. It’s horrifying and also incredibly pleasurable to read. I was already recommending it to people when I was only halfway through.

This very well may be my favourite book of the year.

Love a book about a cult, can't keep me away from them. This was no exception. Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

As usual, her writing is great. Lush, dark, creepy, and intense. The story is interesting and slowly unwinds. I realized the storyline may be a bit too dark for me at this time. I've never been big on horror but wanted to try this one since I read her short stories and love her writing style.

I think I liked this book. It was masterfully done; my favorite part is how we learn a little more about the people and events of the plot with each character’s perspective that we read. An unsettling and fascinating read.

This was very long but also so wonderful. This author did an amazing job at weaving this story together - one of my favs of the year

I LOVED this book, we have already purchased it for our library and it continues to be a hit. The way the story is told leaves you wanting more.

I think I would have liked this more if I was in a different headspace. This month has been very slumpy and this was sooo long. I started off a little confused than it started to make sense and then I got confused again, there was some stuff that I felt could have been left out and didn't really add to the story. I still can't tell you what this is about really, but I didn't hate it which is a win for me right now.

This book is a RIDE. It's also a door stopper. Huge and extremely nuanced. 4.5 stars

We meet Juan and his son Gaspar, seemingly on a pretty normal father-son car trip. But soon I was picking up on the weird interactions between the two, the unspoken bits between the spoken words. It gets really spooky and strange REALLY fast. The 600+ page journey hops timelines, but I believe Enriquez does a fantastic job of keeping it pretty streamlined and followable. The narrators change, and we're able to get some fantastic perspective shifts and revelations.

I will admit that a book of this length can fall into pacing issues, and it did just that. There were parts that were great for context but not so great for my attention span. The end is a bit rushed, and I wish that we would have skipped past some of the slower bits and extended the ending to give it the oomph it deserved. BUT. I loved this spooky ooky shit.

Genres: ALLL THE GENRES. just kidding. but there are many. it gets dark and occulty, supernatural fantasy-ish, with all the gothic and horror vibes. Which is my jam.
Warning: this shit is dark. there's major imagery of violence against children, animals, women, etc. etc. The writing is superb, but it makes these scenes all the more disturbing. Read with caution.

I wanted to love this book. I really enjoyed the scene setting, the atmosphere, and the characters toward the beginning. But the story just moved too slow for me and was bogged down by the details. I would definitely like to check out more of this author’s work, as I do think this had an interesting premise and vibe. Ultimately it just could not keep my interest enough to read it quickly and this made the reading experience drag on too long.

This book is terrifying and amazing and I will never be the same again.

From the very first page you get this sense that this book is something great, and as I kept going, that sense just got stronger and stronger.

I have one complaint and that is a request for a longer resolution with Juan and Rosario, but I think that my request is more of a need to continue reading Enriquez's work, rather than a flaw in her writing.

Epic, hypnotic, unpredictable. Enriquez's power to write characters into and out of lifetimes of nightmares only gets stronger with time.

What a captivating and entrancing read. I was hooked from page one to learn more about the mysteries buried inside this gem of a book. Twisted and weird I recommend to anyone who wants a longer literary adventure!