Advertisement
Books

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez review – bleak, often brutal, horror

The Argentinian author’s new collection features more of the eerie hauntings and brusque violence that have made her name

A short story collection is a lot like an album: each track should stand alone, but together a mood emerges. When your collections have merited the literary fanfare that Mariana Enriquez’s short stories have garnered, there exists (in certain circles) a similar swell of anticipation as elicited by the news of a certain band’s reunion. Mariana Enriquez’s third short story collection to be translated, A Sunny Place for Shady People, contains much of what readers have come to expect from the Argentine author, namely bleak, often brutal horror. Her dark stories vary from eerie hauntings to brusque violence that is seemingly inevitable in a state which cares little for its citizens, alongside the mundane settings that form Enriquez’s terrain.

However, like a third album, her third story collection often leaves us wanting. It seems as if ideas that didn’t make the first or second collection have been dusted off for the third. Although Enriquez’s ability to conjure uniquely terrifying images remains, the stories themselves feel simultaneously bloated and incomplete. A jumble of ideas where the titular concept of the story is discarded only a few pages in. While Enriquez has never played by conventional rules, it seems as if her penchant for subversion should have some limits.

For fans there are still gems to be mined. Favourites that play on repeat in my head include: My Sad Dead, A Sunny Place for Shady People and The Suffering Woman. The collection may not be everything readers hoped for but what remains is Enriquez’s originality and powerful political voice.

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez is out on 26 September (Granta, £14.99). You can buy it from The Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us moreBig Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

Read All
The truth is we're all sinners – it's how we survive as human beings
Neuroscience

The truth is we're all sinners – it's how we survive as human beings

Top 5 books with a hero, chosen by teacher and author Jack Jackman
Books

Top 5 books with a hero, chosen by teacher and author Jack Jackman

Gliff by Ali Smith review – ingenious and warm anti-establishment storytelling
Books

Gliff by Ali Smith review – ingenious and warm anti-establishment storytelling

Ground by Jadelin Gangbo review – hope for healing amid the wreckage
Books

Ground by Jadelin Gangbo review – hope for healing amid the wreckage

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue