A Sunny Place for Shady People

I read Things We Lost in the Fire, Mariana Enriquez' collection of short stories translated into English not long after it came out in 2017, having found it in a library and taken a chance on it. The visceral and beautifully written horror stories astounded me. And the way that she embeds political and social critique is pitch perfect. After such a brilliant debut I worried that a second book might prove to be a repetition or just nowhere near the same quality. I haven't yet read the lauded The Dangers of Smoking in Bed (her debut in Spanish but second collection translated to English), but this, her third, certainly did not disappoint me.

A Sunny Place for Shady People is literary horror. Across 12 short stories, very few events of any great drama takes place, but strong characters and realistic settings bring everything to life. In each story there is a creeping dread or an uncanny unease that grows page by page. In a way, the unease is a little like peeking repeatedly into something private, and this is partly because the stories situate themselves mainly in Argentinian urban and suburban areas, with intimate characters mostly speaking from the first person.

Some moments will continue to haunt me: A character whose face disappears, an accident inside a fridge and a violent terror in a burned out ruin are among the most visceral images. This collection is again brilliant, and Enriquez has cemented her place as one of my favourite short story writers.

As the title of my review implies, reading this book in the evening before you go to bed may not be the best idea. While most of the stories are mostly just creepy rather than being absolutely terrifying, exceptions apply. But yes, I read all of the stories in this collection to "wind down" before bed. I never claimed to be the brightest cookie in the jar.

I liked this collection much like I've liked the earlier English translations of this author's work. It's critical of misogyny and machoism in all the ways I enjoy, and it doesn't hold back the punches when it comes to pointing out other societal issues like poverty, but I'm currently shivering under the covers and wondering how I'm going to be able to go to sleep without thinking of demon children finding me in my room and dragging me out of my bed.