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Mariana Enriquez, Megan McDowell: The Dangers of Smoking in Bed (2021, Hogarth) 4 stars

Following the "propulsive and mesmerizing" ( New York Times Book Review ) Things We Lost …

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3 stars

You know I can respect when an author just throws all caution to the wind and doesn't concern themselves with pulling any punches. There is some weird shit that goes down in this short story collection that someone else might've massaged down or merely implied offscreen, but you're getting the full, horrible, unambiguous description of whatever horror is befalling a character, whether you like it or not.

Per my usual approach, I'm gonna rate this collection as a cumulative whole rather than break out each of the twelve stories given here. I generally found there to be a consistent level of quality among them, though I had favorites of course. And the uniquely Argentine and feminine spin on each story (each protagonist was a woman/teen girl) will definitely make this stand out in my memory going forward compared to other anthologies I've read. Anyway, these were my favorites:

"Back When We Talked to the Dead" - Five teenage girls mess around with a Ouija board. Simple premise that actually got a spook out of me.

"Where Are You, Dear Heart?" - A woman discovers she has a fetish for listening to atypical heartbeats and goes waaay down the deep end of a niche community.

"The Well" - One of the most terrifying and depressing depictions of severe paranoia I've ever read.