Women in Horror Month Book Review: Our Share of Night
By: Mariana Enríquez, Translated by Megan McDowell
Genre: Horror
I kind of don’t know where to start with this one. There’s a lot going on in Our Share of Night, and not just because it’s 736 pages. The novel spans decades, covering a large period of upheaval and tragedy for Argentina under a military dictatorship. The aftermath is explored, too, with a focus on two generations.
Juan is a medium, able to draw a dark and hungry god to him. The Order would rather he live forever, but that requires the sacrifice of Juan’s young son, Gasper. The Order will stop at nothing to get their successor, and Juan will stop at nothing to protect his child.
There are a number of themes at play here, bridged together by elements of Fantasy and Horror. At its heart, the book is about trauma; each character is suffering their own kind of trauma, and the way one experiences it impacts on the others. The clearest example are Juan and Gasper. The Order are a group of upper class fanatics, who commit atrocious acts in the name of their ‘god’. As politics shift around them, they remain separated from the rest of the Argentinean people, seemingly unaffected. There are heavy indications that the Order are involved in the disappearances, but even where they aren’t directly linked, it’s clear they benefit from the turmoil.
Enríquez does a brilliant job with shifting you from one character to another, of evoking the different time periods each part is set in. She expertly guides you by the hand, giving what feels like it could be three or four different novels, and gently directs your attention like a magician, leaving you to focus on exactly what she wants you to see, until ready to end the trick with a reveal and a moment of “aha!”.
Honestly, there were times I felt caught off-guard by what was happening, as the proverbial pennies dropped. The first section is about Juan and Gasper, from Juan’s eyes. And we see him exactly how Enríquez wants us to see him; we put faith in him, and trust him. Even when he crosses lines, we see his reasons for doing so. Once we’ve had Juan’s road trip story, we enter a section of the book that feels a little IT-like in the best possible way. We see Gasper’s formulative years, as he goes from child to teenager against the backdrop of 80s Argentina with his three best friends. It’s very much Coming of Age Horror. Here is where we get a shift in how we view Juan; we know he’s doing everything he can to simply keep his son safe, but he is cold, distant, and cruel as his health deteriorates. He’s a troubled man, struggling to do the right thing. Later, we see him through another set of eyes, and understand more about the Order and what Juan has been put through.
Admittedly, this is a pretty dense book. There is a lot going on, a lot of various things conveyed, and at times it was a bit of a struggle to keep up with it all and the variety of characters who surround Juan and Gasper. It’s both the biggest drawback and biggest appeal, to be honest – this feels almost like it could have been three separate books in one series. I will admit, the ending was worth the journey, especially with the way Enríquez ties things together.
Our Share of Night is at times brutal, harrowing, and cruel, a story of trauma and destiny and cutting bonds, and one where certain scenes linger longer after the book is closed. There’s little else a horror fan could ask for.
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09ZHBFJHZ/
Bookshop UK: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/our-share-of-night/9781783786732
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter & Instagram: @elleturpitt
I received this ebook from Granta Publications via NetGalley for review consideration.
