I don’t know if it’s because of the translation or if it’s my own incompetence, but I found this book to be slightly confusing at times. It feels deeply religious in some ways and maybe that’s where the disconnect is for me. It’s not as if the book is shoving religion down your throat, or even mentioning it all of the time, but it feels as though there’s a heavy religious element to the story that may have contributed to my confusion. I enjoyed the theme of death and I did think that the language used was beautiful in some ways. Although, in others it felt disjointed. Maybe I need to reread this in a different headspace to fully understand what I’m divulging in, because I feel as though even though I read it, not everything clicked for me.

Irena Solà’s I Gave You Eyes And You Looked Toward Darkness is a deeply poetic narrative that cannot be easily categorized. Drawing on Catalonian folk tales and legends, Solà imbues her writing with a strange sense of magic grounded in womanhood and an intimate connection to nature.

The story is told in nonlinear fragments, following the craggy twisted branches of a, perhaps-cursed, family tree. Written with an uneven timeline as the past and its ghosts bleed into the present, the novel mirrors the ways trauma can be inherited like a family heirloom. The generational sin originates with Joana, who, in her desperation for a husband, summons the devil. Yet when he comes to collect, she presents a convenient loophole because her husband is not a whole man, as he’s missing a pinky toe. Whether by chance or by cosmic vengeance, all of her children are born incomplete. First it was a missing piece in her daughter’s heart, a missing tongue, a liver, and finally her son who “was born without a hole back there and died, stuffed like a sausage." At this point, Joana understood the curse she had brought upon her family. “And by dint of willow, ivy, almond tree root, pennyroyal, and hemp, she quelled that flow of defective babies.” The repercussions of Joana’s sin cast ripples down through generations of women who follow.


Full review at West Trade Review

To be quite frank, I could not connect or truly immerse myself in this book. The premise of the book was really intriguing and I thought I’d be more interested in reading it, but I had to dnf.

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC

From the synopsis and the cover of the book I was hoping for something else. It started off well and then it just started to get a bit more confusing. It seemed like a lot of things were happening at once and I lost track of characters. I don’t know if it’s me or the translation of the book. I finished it but I am going to return to it again at a later time and maybe the second time around the story will flow a little better for me.

Irene Sola's novel, I Gave You Eyes And You Looked Towards Darkness, translated from Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem is a blend of folklore, eerie family drama, and dark satire. Set against the Catalonia mountains, the story follows a matriarchal family living in an old farmhouse haunted by bandits, ghosts, beasts, and demons. Bernadeta, the crone of the family, is on her deathbed while her family prepares to throw her a party to celebrate her passing. The drama begins early when Joana, the matriarch, fails at trying to manipulate the Master Trickster, the Devil, which, unsurprisingly, doesn't end well for her and the family. He curses her brood and the story unfolds from there and spans generations.

Sola delivers a short literary horror novel that blends Catalan folklore with heavy tones and magical realism but with a darker twist. The numerous characters and generations can be a bit unlikable and confusing at times – I relaxed and just went along with its “weird” vibes and winding plotlines – even more so after reading the author’s notes.

Thank you to Graywolf Press & Netgalley for the ARC!

This was an very interesting depiction of generational trauma and what women have to do to survive. I especially enjoyed the back and forth between the present and the past and thought the character-driven structure was very smart. The translation was also excellent and the writing was superb.

There's a lot of heavy and grotesque imagery throughout that felt very similar to Lapvona. I've definitely been inspired to read more on Spanish history and hope to pick up the author's other work!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC of this novel, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have to admit, I saw the cover of this and I was just enchanted. I have a thing for witches and wolves, so I figured just based on cover vibes alone this was going to be a book for me. After reading the synopsis, I had cemented in my mind that this was going to be just the perfect read. All that being said, it didn't quite work out the way that I was hoping for. I found the overly descriptive writing a bit of a chore to read and I found myself confusing which female character was which. While I can appreciate some of the themes and discussions being had (insert big finger to the patriarchy here), but while being confused, I was also a bit bored. So, this book didn't end up for me, but I think that if you like darker fairy tales, descriptions that make you squirm, multi-generational curses, and unlikable characters, this could be for you.

I was immediately drawn into this extremely strange, little novel, but I fully lost the plot around the 30% mark.

Here’s what I can say: part of the fun of this novel is being disoriented. The multi-generational story, filled with off-putting characters, most of whom are long dead, weaves through time and family lines in a way that I’m sure, in another moment, I would love. The folklore and the history are firmly rooted in a sense of place. On a sentence level, the language is bizarre and crude and a delight.

The dark, somber tone of the book, the intentionally disorienting storytelling format… these are all things I generally love.

But I never fully understood what was happening. It feels like I missed some crucial bit early on. At some point; I will revisit this novel. I am quite sure I picked it up at the wrong moment and my brain just didn’t want to untangle the threads to really grasp what was happening. It happens sometimes!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am not sure how to rate this book. Most likely, this is because I am not entirely sure of any dimensions in this book. Chronology? No. Characters? Confused. Location? Vague Catalonia. The devil is there, making pacts and babies. Women die and are featured in the next scene. Characters that are mentioned in the first few pages do not appear until much later in the book. A family tree would help keep the characters straight.

Some scenes are horrifying and outright gross, yet are strong features of this book if you're not squeamish. If you don't mind a warped chronology, many characters, and descriptions of torture, this might be the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Graywolf Press for the ARC.

Four centuries of cursed women haunt a Catalonian farmhouse in I Gave You Eyes and You Looked at the Darkness, starting with Joana's devil's bargain for a husband and rippling through generations of supernatural consequences. The premise has everything I usually love—folklore, generational curses, rural gothic atmosphere—but Irene Solà's relentless enumeration style wore me down: "The darkness was purple and noisy, opaque, scarlet and blue at the same time, buzzing, freckled, blind, thick, deep, and brilliant." Page after page of this breathless listing technique made even a short book feel like a slog, and I kept losing track of which century I was in or which cursed woman was speaking.

Thank you NetGalley and Graywolf Press for early access to this translated novel.

Solà's previously translated novel WHEN I SING, MOUNTAINS DANCE is one of my favorite novels of all time, and I was very excited to get early access to her new novel available in English. Unfortunately, this one worked much less for me (perhaps too high expectations?). Where her previous novel oozed lightness, this novel is a much darker, more violent, counterpart and pairing. A family saga about female ghosts, wolves, disability, and folktales, I loved the ideas and descriptions here. Solà's writing on nature and food are fascinating to read. The character work here, though, is really flat. The women in this novel all bleed together, with too many characters introduced within the short page length. The plotting was messy and somehow, in less than 200 pages, I was really bored. I don't know how a novel with so much action and fairy tale folklore could be boring. Still I'll read everything Solà writes (in English). Her prose is very lovely.

This novel comes out June 17, 2025 in the U.S.

Thank you to Graywolf Press for the ARC!
This is a gorgeous, brutal fairytale of a book. I love this writer's ability to create simultaneously a sensual and grotesque image. I will always appreciate a story that centers women as complex, interesting, vile, hungry, intelligent, resourceful people. I think magical realism can be a polarizing genre, but this is definitely a novel to read regardless, purely for the writing style, as a work of art that demands the reader's attention. I will definitely be delving more into Sola's other work and into the regional Catalonian folklore. I'm glad I didn't go into this with really any expectations; it blew me away as both a horrific and therapeutic work about family ties and identity.

What a…different kind of story. Not going to lie, it made me feel kind of dumb! It took me awhile to get the groove of what was going on. Once I got the hang of the story, it was good. Not great. There was too much description, many times entire paragraphs describing one thing and it felt repetitive. I can see where people would love this. I can’t help but wonder if some things got lost in the translation? I’d be interested in hearing other’s thoughts on this one. This had a lot of potential for me. What am I missing?

Reading I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness felt like stepping into a deeply poetic and meditative space. Solà’s prose is rich and evocative, inviting reflection on themes of loss, identity, and the fragile nature of human connection. The narrative unfolds in a way that’s not always linear or straightforward, which requires patience but rewards with moments of real emotional clarity.

What stood out most to me was the author’s ability to blend the lyrical with the profound—there’s a haunting beauty in how the story explores darkness without ever feeling bleak for the sake of it. It’s a book that lingers in the mind, gently pushing you to consider the unseen and unspoken parts of grief and memory.

At times, the pacing felt uneven, and the abstract nature of some passages made the story less accessible, which might not suit everyone. But for those willing to engage with its layers, the novel offers a thoughtful, haunting experience that I found both challenging and rewarding.

Thank you to Netgalley and Graywolf Press for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, in return for an unbiased review.

As a Catalunyan resident, and a native English speaker, I'm probably the ideal ARC reader for this 2023 Catalan novella (barely 180 pages), now being released in its first English translation. And while I respect Solà's writing and creativity, I just couldn't connect with this novel. It's intensely stylistic, not written in a linear style, and frankly incredibly confusing. In an attempt to define the plot: Over the course of a single day in the modern era, a very old woman, Bernadette, lies dying in bed in an ancient farmhouse in rural Catalunya. Her granddaughter and great-granddaughter live with her, and are there during her dying hours. But also present are all the (dead) women who've ever lived in this house- mainly ancestors of Bernadette's. And throughout the day, their backstories are (confusingly) told across several timelines and ancestries.

While I loved reading a book set in my home area, and I wanted to love this book, I just...didn't. To be honest, it's too highbrow and high-concept for my (I guess) pedestrian, Basic tastes in books! But if you like highly stylized concept novels, this is the one for you.

This book is one of the strangest things I've ever read, and I LOVED it. Set over the course of one day, we know our lead is about to die, we meet the women that came before her in a book that transcends all expectations. WOW.

I really enjoy Irene Solà's writing. She is so talented and the stories end up being strange, surreal ,and like a fever dream you cannot wake up from. That's a good thing,to me
I have one complaint, I do wish she would write longer novels. There is so much more I feel she could add to these characters and the storylines. I hope she does in the future. I have a feeling it will be her best yet.

This is a weird one but I really enjoyed it. I love weird books and woman getting revenge so this book was a great match for me. This was really good even if I didn't love the writing style. I liked the story so much I looked past the writing. Overall a solid horror

I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness is a haunting and vibrant novel set in a Catalonian farmhouse where the line between life and death blurs. As an impossibly old woman lies dying, the spirits of all the women who have lived in the house prepare for her arrival, unraveling centuries of stories filled with dark deals, laughter, and loss. Irene Solà crafts a mesmerizing tale that weaves together folklore, history, and the supernatural.

What a strange little book! The writing style is very distinct and I really enjoy it but I think both the content and the repetition of various descriptive words will not be for all readers. At various points this felt a bit like a fever dream and I felt myself trying to place where we were in the story and how to process all of the information about the family. I really enjoyed the way the book was split into sections by time of day. Overall a really enjoyable read and I think it’s something I’m going to have to pick up again soon! It wasn’t a long book but it was definitely immersive! This reminded me of how I felt when I first read One Hundred Years of Solitude!