Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk was not at all what I expected, but surprisingly it provided the escape I was looking for and I devoured this novel in a day.

The story is in two parts: the story of a tragic vampire struggling between wanting to hold onto humanity and the thirst of her kind, and a human years later losing her mother. Their stories collide in the most interesting and beautiful way.

There were things I really enjoyed about this novel. The prose was very well written and translated. I was constantly highlighting parts that made me stop and savor the moment.

On the other hand, I struggles with how distant I felt from the story at times. The style used made it feel like a person telling a story not like a person *living* a story and sometimes that created a wall between the emotions of the scene and me the reader.

The description of this story uses the words genre-bending and I would have to agree. I could not at all predict where the story was going. I would say this is the book for those interested in Gothic literature, feminist lit, and a story that will put you in the feels—in all the best ways.

This story gets a 3 out of 5 vampire bites from me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the opportunity to read this story for my unbiased review.

set in two different time periods, this book is an absolute delight. I'm always down for sapphic vampires, but often disappointed. This was great though! Really intriguing, sad and hard at times, but well written.

With translated books, things can get confusing at times. Not so with this one. It was translated beautifully.

Europe wasn’t a great place to be early on. A lot of excesses and people behaving very badly. As a woman leaves Europe for Buenos Aires, she is running for her life. Literally. As she steps off the boat in this strange and not so modern town, she has to learn to live without drawing attention to herself. She is angry and lonely and confused. She needs blood and with the Yellow Fever burning through the entire country, she has a lot of bodies to choose from.

In our own time, another woman is struggling with life, her mother’s illness, and even with her own role as a mom.

She has taken to wandering in the cemetery. And in a twist, her mother has given her an envelope with two keys and the deed to a mausoleum at this cemetery. But since her mom is unable to speak, it’s still a bit of a puzzle.

Finally, she takes out the keys and opens the mausoleum. The smaller key opens a casket and when she opens it, she gets a shock. This other woman has locked herself in there for decades. And yes, she is a vampire!

The relationship between the two women kept me reading long after bedtime. It was intriguing and different from anything I have read. And I absolutely loved it.

If this is gothic, I am all in!

netgalley/ Penguin Group/ Dutton March 05, 2024

Enjoyed from beginning to end,a vampire gothic story told in different time lines.So well written a true page turner a gothic adventure.#netgalley #dutton.

One of those books that I definitely skimmed over because it didn’t capture my attention like I hoped it would

A queer vampire grappling loneliness, rage, and thirst in Buenos Aires. A woman coping with her mother’s illness: navigating motherhood and grief.

This novel is divided into two segments, and eventually comes together as their stories intertwine.

I was so enthralled by the writing! Having never any of read Yuszczuk’s previous works, I’m excited to dive in after having read Thirst.

A gothic/horror love story, told from two points of view, one from the past and one from the present.

Read if you're a fan of; vampires, grief

I just reviewed Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk. #Thirst #NetGalley

Thirst opens as a very good vampire novel spanning centuries abroad. I found part 1 to be so readable and interesting. Part 2 takes a sharp turn into a study in grief. While also well written, I found this part to drag as the pace slowed drastically. Overall, I think the book was uneven but enjoyable. Thanks to NetGallery for the advanced copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC!

Needless to say, I loved this book—very short, sweet, and powerful. I wasn't sure what to expect with this type of story; they tend to be contrived and overwrought. Many of the classic vampire tropes remain but with an emotional edge. I was a little skeptical about the ending (the narrator just sort of abandoning her family for a vampire she's known for a couple days isn't exactly original and a little absurd) but it did feel neatly tied up. Overall this is a very entertaining and beautifully written addition to queer wlw vampire lit—all I've read in this angle is A Dowry of Blood and Carmilla—so it's a welcome offering to the genre. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, erudite vampire read! The English translator did an amazing job.

How fitting that I've finished this book the day before Halloween, although I wouldn't call this scary. It's more of a feminist, gothic horror tale, with quite a bit of gore and sex thrown in. A female version if you may of the vampire Lestat but more gorey, atmospheric, and dark.

As all vampires do, she arrives in Buenos Aires via ship from an unnamed European country where she's been persecuted and her family slain. There are some great paragraphs here to set the mood: "I had only emerged a few times during the journey to feed.It had not been difficult to stalk and seduce my prey: the challenge had been waiting long enough between attacks that the passengers and crew would not notice that someone was eating them."

Upon disembarking, Buenos Aires is soon engulfed in yellow fever, which works in her favor. Able to hide among the dying, she squats in an abandoned house and gets settled. She soon stumbles upon a doctor treating the afflicted and begins a relationship with him, or so he thinks. In his opium induced haze, he doesn't realize she's been feeding on him. "His wavy hair was combed back and had been flattened against his forehead by sweat, heat, and effort. Only his lower lip peeked out from under his moustache, and it was a warm red, like an offering, a proof of carnality trying modestly to cover itself." Things get out of hand and soon she must relocate to avoid capture. She does so in a mausoleum in the center of the city. We never learn her name.

The novel then fast forwards to part two, set in the present day, where we meet another woman, dealing with the imminent death of her mother. Upon a chance meeting, they become obsessed with each other. This woman has a son, Santi, and a father, and 1-2 friends. Due to her mother's condition she feels that 'death is all around her', and has 'taken a seat within her'. She soon starts neglecting all her obligations to begin a torrid affair with the vampire. She then makes a decision that will alter her life forever.

This reminded me of Mariana Enriquez' "Our Share of Night", another argentinian female gothic horror writer. In 'Thirst', however, it's much easier to determine what is going on, but the same atmosphere is there. It's very well written, but does drag in some spots, towards the end of part one. If you want a different type of vampire novel, with a Latin American setting, this could be the book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the eARC in exchange for my unfettered opinion.

Perhaps current horror fans somehow missed <I>The Vampire Lestat</i> by Anne Rice, so by making this comparison, I can both support <I>Lestat</i> and illuminate <i>Thirst</i>.

Down with sparkly vampires! Up with moral ambiguity and the gnashing of fangs!

In my opinion the comparison with Lestat is apt: each centers on an immortal blood drinker with a philosophical bent who spends centuries considering truth, evil, value, and meaning, while doing dark deeds in a beautiful, Gothic setting.

In <I>Thirst</i>, we start with a nameless child in a medieval European mountain landscape: a child sacrificed to a monster, and then made into a monster herself. After the villagers storm the castle, killing all of her "sisters" and the creature that sired them, she realizes that she must move, that she has to find a way to adapt to the changes in the world. Before long, she disembarks from a ship into 19th C Buenos Aires, where she hunts and survives, watching to coming and goings of yellow fever, human population, time.

As with Lestat, the vampire kills with brutal carelessness, with sensual care, or with a devilish desire to offend a Christian god. She takes lovers, one of whom betrays her, causing a photograph to be taken –– one of the most feared of trespasses for the vampire.

Meanwhile in present-day Buenos Aires, a woman is caught between caring for her child and caring for her dying mother. She discovers a photography and the key to a long-unopened crypt, and, as one might expect, discovers the vampire.

The first half of the novel, focused on the vampire is a --ahem!--feast of beautiful imagery. Buenos Aires seems like a New Orleans of dark delight; a chamber of commerce couldn't ask for more appealing atmospheric press. The second half, focused on the living, was less compelling to me: the quotidian details and the character's seemingly inexplicable decisions about choosing death over life were not compelling to me.

Nevertheless, this novel is so much more interesting and entertaining than nearly any other "vampire" novel I've read recently, I wish I could prescribe it, like powerful medicine, against anemic genre fiction.

There were many aspects of this story that I loved and appreciated. I liked the look at motherhood, the discussion in the pages about people who were or weren't meant to be mothers, just based off of their own desires. The otherness that motherhood brings with it in a way that most people don't seem to touch on. However, I do think that some of the points could have been better fleshed out.

This was a good read. Not my favorite but I liked it. Thank you so much Netgalley for the book. It was a good time.

Round this one up to a 4.5. Half a lush Gothic vampire story, half a tale of a woman driven to modern madness. All set in a Buenos Aires as alive as one of its protagonists isn't. Yet another reminder that Argentinian women are dominating the horror scene like no one else right now.

Was looking forward to this most for my Oct. read!!

This novel comprises two distinct segments: the initial half, taking place in the 1800s, is intense and provocative, laying the groundwork for the vampire protagonist's backstory. In contrast, the latter half adopts a contemplative tone, delving into the introspective journey of the human main character as she grapples with her own mortality and that of her family.

While I found enjoyment in both sections for different reasons, I felt they could have been more seamlessly integrated although the themes briefly converged towards the end, I desired a more cohesive blend throughout.

“There was a before and an after. We had crossed a threshold- or, rather, I had crossed one that brought me closer to her”

Following a dual timeline, of a vampire in the nineteenth century fleeing to Buenos Aires in the height of the Yellow Fever, and current day, a woman dealing with the terminal illness of her mother and her connection to motherhood. These woman, suddenly Intertwined with one another form a relationship they can never turn back from.

“I support woman’s rights, but more importantly, I support woman’s wrongs.”
This explains my exact thoughts on this book.

Wow! What a great short read. Yuszcuk’s writing is full of beautiful prose and has such lyricism to it. This was a great gothic book for this time of year. The characters however in vastly different situations both touch on grief and the concept of mortality and it was done beautifully. This quote in particular really stood out to me.

“I’d said to Julia that death had taken a seat at my family's table, but that wasn't it: Death had come to inhabit my body. It was a possession, not a visit”

I just think the writing was so stellar. However, I did want more of the character's relationship I feel like it just touched the surface of what it could be. I think the author's view on illness was such a raw and vulnerability to it that I enjoyed it. Overall what a great read. I will say I did picture our main character as Nadja from WWDITS which also thoroughly enjoyed. Queer vampires, what’s not to like?

Rating: 4⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with this book for review.

Idk this just might not have been for me, but I feel like I went into this really wanting the cool gothic sapphic worldbuilding, and that just never really happens.

Thirst" by Marina Yuszczuk is a riveting, genre-defying novel that takes readers on a journey through two different time periods, exploring fear, loneliness, mortality, and an insatiable yearning that refuses to be quelled.

The narrative unfolds in the twilight of Europe's tumultuous past, where a vampire arrives on the shores of Buenos Aires. In her second lifetime, she witnesses the transformation of villages into a cosmopolitan city, only to be threatened by the outbreak of yellow fever. Her struggle to adapt, blend in with humans, and remain discreet is a haunting and enthralling tale.

In contemporary Buenos Aires, a woman grapples with her mother's terminal illness and her own complex relationship with motherhood. Their lives intersect in a cemetery when they encounter the enigmatic vampire, sparking a connection that propels them into an irreversible and mesmerizing journey.

"Thirst" is a literary creation that stands alone, pushing the boundaries of traditional genres. It delves into themes of female agency, the consuming nature of desire, and the delicate vitality of even the most immortal beings. Yuszczuk's storytelling is a tour de force, immersing readers in a narrative that resonates long after the final page is turned. This is a book that challenges and captivates, a unique and unforgettable literary experience.

Simultaneously grotesque and sexy, Thirst is a gorgeous new addition to the canon of literary vampires. Split into two (quite disparate) parts, it is the first half that really shines. "María" is a vampire floating through the some of the darkest years of Buenos Aires, notably the corpse-filled decades of the yellow fever. Her story is one of agency, dominance, and the boxes that women have been forced into all our lives. The second half of the novel centers a young woman, Alma, who is coping poorly with her mother's worsening illness while navigating being a mother herself. At the core of the novel is death itself - both the fear it instills and the freedom it offers - and the question of who, if anyone, has the right or ability to decide when, where, and how someone dies.

Thank you, NetGalley for an ARC of this book.
I liked this book a lot more than I expected! I usually do not go for a vampire or dual POV books. But this book by far exceeded all of my expectations. The connection between the two women in this book and their experiences made for a powerful story about loneliness and life, that spans throughout hundreds of years. The conversation of what life and living means gives a deep introspection into the lives of both women. The ending was not what I expected and left me thinking about this book.
October was the perfect time to read this book and get into the fall spirit!