Hello friends! Ariel and I are back with a new book discussion. We have a tendency to pick long books in January and Our Share of the Night by Mariana Enríquez hits many of the criteria we love exploring: horror, translated, set in another country. This was such a highly anticipated read for Ariel. Take a look at the synopsis of the book and read on for our thoughts!
Our Share of Night
By Mariana Enríquez,
Pablo Gerardo Camacho (Illustrator),Megan McDowell (Translator)
“We have children so we can continue, they are our immortality.”
A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travels to her family home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed. The woman they grieve came from a clan like no other—a centuries-old secret society called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of eternal life. For Gaspar, the son, this vampiric cult is his destiny.
Now Gaspar is in danger. As the Order tries to possess him, father and son take flight, yet nothing will stop the Order for nothing is beyond them. Hunted by evil and surrounded by horror, Gaspar and his father attempt to outrun a powerful family that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But can any of us escape the fate that awaits us?
Content notes include gore, kidnapping, grief, loss of a loved one, torture, child abuse, homophobia
Our Share of Night
The Opening – Part 1: The Claws of the Living God
Ariel: My initial thoughts while reading this first section is that we as the readers are thrust almost into the middle of a story. A father and his son are on the run in Argentina and we aren’t quite sure why. There’s a hint towards paranormal possession and we aren’t sure why. There’s a feeling of urgency, unrest, revenge, anger, and despair through the father’s point of view. Finally, towards the end of the section, we get some tantalizing answers to some questions, while some answers just lead us to more questions. Overall, while the pacing so far is a bit slow, it is the build up towards explosive scenes that kept me gripped throughout.
I agree. Our Share of the Night isn’t like anything I have read before. It’s a complex story with overlays of magic, supernatural and occult practices set in the backdrop of the unrest in Argentina and the atrocities of the regime. There are a number of emotions as well as strange practices that don’t all make sense. I am glad that as the story is unfolding, by the end of part one, we have a good context for the main characters – Juan and his son, Gasper. The intensity of Juan’s powers and the possible inheritance of the same for Gasper and their implications are starting to reveal themselves amidst a political plot in the Order. I am intrigued to read more and have no idea what is going to happen next.
Whole Book Discussion
There were times it felt Our Share of Night was finally picking up but then it would drop down again. When we were chatting, closer to the end of the book, Ariel, you described this book quite well – a slice of life horror. Pace is erratic and with all the different perspectives that we get, sometimes it was very hard to get into a new part of the book. If this book had been in chronological order, I won’t have minded the different POVs so much.
I agree! While the start of the book had a prominent feel of dread, mystery, and horror, the reader is gradually taken down to a slower pace that has a literary fiction feel, where the everyday details are given meaning and substance. As we change POVs, different pieces of the puzzles start to come together, and the ending concludes with most of our questions being answered.
The first part sets a good stage for Juan and Gasper’s characters and for all the parts that follow them, I enjoyed the story. I cared about their relationship, the person Gasper was becoming, the consequences of Juan hiding things from Gasper, Gasper’s friendships… Everything was interesting and engaging. The rest of the parts showed the true horror of the cult and the magic Juan was capable of exercising. They also did a helped make the story cohesive at the end.
There are a lot of complex, layered, and messy relationships and dynamics between the characters. With so much nuance and descriptors, the pace felt hard to remain engaged, but I’m really glad we stuck through to the end. The Darkness as a ever-present theme that was lurking in the backdrop kept me always on my toes and interested in what would come next.
Me too! Juan was an interesting choice of medium, considering he had a weak heart. Yet, his control and precision with using Darkness is something I only appreciate now in hindsight. I wanted more exploration of his powers, especially the telepathy. If he had taught Gasper, I can’t even imagine how powerful Gasper would have become. Our Share of Night portrays the changing parent-child relationships through Gasper as well as his friends’ families. I loved the band of friends: Adela and Vicky and Pablo and how they were almost haunted by different things in life.
Yes, each of the friends were haunted in ways like Gaspar was, and I think that’s why he found so much connection with them, even if they truly couldn’t understand what his demons were. This was a challenging read and I don’t think I would have appreciated it as much if I read it alone. Thank you so much Kriti for reading it with me! 🙂
Of course! I derive much joy in reading a long book that challenges us together. 🙂
Thanks for joining us today! Will you pick up this book?
Add the book to your shelves on Goodreads.
Our buddy read in previous years for January have been:
- Timekeeper by Tara Sim (2022)
- Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (2021)
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2020)
Many thanks to the publisher for providing us a review copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Cover Photo by jaikishan patel on Unsplash
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