"The Heart and Other Viscera" is a beautiful and enthralling, if a bit dense, short story collection. Each story explores different aspects of love, loneliness, loss, grief, and ultimately horror and fantasy using situations which feel just outside the realm of familiarity. The setting of the stories in Central and South America provides an interesting opportunity for a North American reader to retain an "uncanny valley" feeling as they simultaneously are forced to face the complexities of each character. With well developed characters, interesting plots, and beautiful prose, this collection will satisfy short story readers whether they prefer horror, realism, or supernatural tales.

The Heart and Other Viscera - I could not finish this book. I made it through 52% of the stories.

Roses Against The Wind - 2 Stars - The first thing I noticed going into this story was the writing style felt overly descriptive. It seemed almost every noun had to be paired with an adjective if not multiple adjectives. This made the sentences read a bit clunky for me. The concept was intriguing and was satisfying to read about, but the characters and their motivations felt so self centered. All three of the men in this family didn't seem to care about what other people around them wanted or felt. It ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

The Kaenina Syndrome - 1 Star - The flow and style of this story felt more natural to me, but the point of view character was just so unlikable. The way he spoke about the other characters, even his wife Eva, seemed like he was repulsed by them. In contrast, I found for the most part his in-laws and wife seemed to be rather bland average people not worthy of his ridicule. The ending was unexpected.

Snow Globe - 4 Stars- This story had such a lovely atmosphere, and a really odd sweetness to it.
The Land of the Dolls - 3 Stars - I really liked this story. The last line was a bit jarring for me and upset me enough to knock a full star off though.

A Fairy-Tale Life - 3 Stars - I just don't think this story was for me. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't really pull me in either.

Little Fury Animals - 1 Star - I don't think I'm going to continue in reading this collection of stories. The writing choices make me angry and the casual way in which violence, hatred, and sexualization of women is handled feels dated and malicious.

Félix J. Palma's The Heart and Other Viscera offers an unexpected and unsettling collection of short stories. Things are never quite what they seem; the living and the dead become confused; people dwell in more than one world at once. It's the perfect book for picking up before bedtime: you can read through one story then fall asleep turning it over in your mind. I don't have access to the Spanish original, but the translation strikes me as particularly good: the language flows naturally and also has a wonderful level of precision.

I really enjoyed all the stories in this book. Some were really creepy; Others were just full of emotion. I liked the longer stories a bit better. Overall a really good story collection "full of heart."

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed The Map of Time Trilogy, I was very excited to pick up Felix J. Palma's newest book - a collection of short stories focusing on love (but turning it on its head). I found some of the stories to be very intriguing and others to be too far out there. My personal favorites were a story about a man behind a curtain, one about a man who gives himself to his lover piece by piece (literally), and one where a cat falls in love with a man. They're all strange to read, but the emotion behind everything makes sense. Overall, I thought it was a mixed bag and I was slightly disappointed because I loved the The Map of Time trilogy so much.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed these short stories. They were very well written and I liked how many of them explored the emotions of betrayal, love gone wrong, and strange coincidences. I really enjoyed one story where the father began writing letters to his daughter pretending it was from her doll when she lost her doll at the park. It started out very heartfelt to then end with a violent bang. I recommend this collection for those who love speculative fiction and literary fiction.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

The title and cover of this book drew me in completely! I'm a huge fan of short story collections. Typically, every short story collection has some great stories, some okay stories, and some not so good.. but i truly adored EVERY book in this collection!

get it!