Another Latinx Woman written thriller! YES PLEASE!

Our Share of the Night is a dark, mysterious, and tense story that explores the complexities of love, family, and the supernatural, with a focus on the occult and queer subplots, set against the backdrop of Argentina's military dictatorship and its aftermath.

Amazing and thrilling and so much to stay about Argentina during the military dictatorship. Fantastic!

Juan is running from his parents-in-law with his young son, Gaspar. Juan is a medium, and his wife’s family worships an entity called The Darkness. They want to do horrible things to Gaspar, and Juan has to figure out how to stop them.

This is a hard book to read. It’s mentally heavy. Horrible things happen to children, and Juan abuses his son. He has a reason for the abuse, but it’s still hard to read. Yet, this book is compelling, and characters you think might be one-off are vital. All of the characters are well-crafted and distinct.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

This book was longgggggg. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. I don’t think it was for me. Maybe it was the way it was translated? It Was a good and interesting story line though

First off, my sincerest apologies for getting this to you absurdly late. Please know that my life was incredibly busy and hectic and the publication date just slid by me, and that it was a huge honor to be asked to read this.

That being said: this was absolutely incredible. It was like an Enriquez story expanded to novel-length, and in fact, she managed to recontextualize one of her own short stories in such a meaningful way. The only gripe I have about the novel is the length and the way that some things and plot points felt dragged out for the sake of adding pages, but overall, Enriquez kept my attention throughout.

A spellbinding read!

I took my time with this novel and did not want to finish. Our share of night, originally a Spanish translation - is a political story that just left me captivated. The elements of horror , a cult, romance and overall complex themes left me loving it so much. This is a must read for Al latinx and horror lovers for sure!

"Our Share of Night", by Mariana Enríquez, translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell, is a tome of a horror novel, set in Argentina. I was a fan of Enriquez's previously translated short story collections, "The Dangers of Smoking in Bed", and "Things We Lost in the Fire". Some of the themes present in her short story fiction are easily recognized here, like the horror inspired by Argentina's political past. For me, her prose was more impactful in short form, as I found "Our Share Of Night"'s almost 600 pages to be a little overwhelming and too long to deliver the same punch.

Plot-wise, the story follows a father and son, on the run from the boy's mother's side of the family. The mother's family is implicated in an old cult, and wants to use the boy as part of their rituals, due to his supernatural abilities. There is a lot of history behind the cult, as well as focus on the father-son relationship, and the love relationship between the father and the mother. Overall, the story was interesting and the writing atmospheric. However, I found my interest falter at times due to the length.

I would still recommend this to fans of Enriquez's short stories, as it's definitely been loved by many of her fans. Also, horror lovers who prefer longer books, this one may be for you. Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth, Random House for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. "Our Share of Night" has been out since February 2023.

I was hoping for something closer to the author's short stories, I think, and was disappointed by this title. I think the length was my main issue, as I felt the story could have been told in 50% of the page count.

I have read so many glowing reviews of this book and it is clearly so well loved, and I genuinely feel like I am missing something huge. I just read something around 700 pages that never actually went anywhere???? The writing and the characters were well done, but the extremely graphic torture of children was upsetting and then genuinely, I don't know what the point of the book is. plz feel free to mansplain

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

I will continue recommending this book to readers who might enjoy it, but it wasn't for me. I would have liked it if it were half the length. Much of it, some entire character perspectives, felt unnecessary.

Gaspar and his father Juan travel to the ancestral home of their late mother (/wife). She was part of the Order, a cult of people who worship the Darkness and seek immortality. Juan wants to protect his son from the Order, and there isn't much he won't do to this end.

This was gorgeous. Told in long sections throughout time, we learn about the family, grief, love, and loss.
The writing was lyrical while maintaining an intriguing plot. My one gripe is that the ending felt a bit rushed, but this is still well worth your time.

This book is both captivating and challenging to read. Its unconventional structure, lacking chapters and divided into uneven sections, may frustrate some readers. Just as you settle into the narrative, it abruptly shifts, introducing new perspectives, moods, and themes. Enríquez doesn't slow down; she demands your full attention to grasp the story. To truly understand the ending, you must read the entire book. While it falls under the horror genre, it deviates from traditional Western horror storytelling, embracing a dark magical realism approach. Don't expect flashy horror effects or a grand battle against evil. Identifying the true villain in this book is difficult; apart from Luis, every character has shades of awfulness. The supernatural and grotesque elements are deeply horrifying, surpassing the incomprehensible supernatural entity worshipped as a god. Despite its flaws and brokenness, I found this book satisfying in ways that few horror novels achieve. It is beautifully written, thematically dense, and the characters are intricate. The story is addictive yet repulsive, ending on an oddly hopeful note. Amidst the imperfections, the human capacity for love triumphs over the selfishness of those who reject it as illogical, leading to their downfall.

I really wanted to love this one - but it was too long and it lost me :(. Love her short stories and I'll continue to read whatever Enriquez puts out!

Like one big mystery that leaves you wondering what is going on, until you are hit with revelation after revelation. Our Share of Night was simply fantastic

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.