Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Our Share of Night

This book starts out as only a confusing mess and, while the plot eventually becomes evident, the other worldly elements are never revealed as they should be in a book with this length and ambition. There's a lot of repetition in going back to overlapping points of view which contributes to the unnecessary, tedious length of the book. There's a lot of really graphic torture of children which is obviously not enjoyable.

I did enjoy the ambiance, the writing and I was interested in Juan and Gaspar (if not any of the other characters) and their fate. Ultimately, though, this long book just doesn't pay off in the end. I was left wondering why I slogged through this book to get to this completely unsatisfying non-ending for both the plot and the characters.

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internalnonsense's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Lurid and expansive, this story uses eldritch horror to explore a legacy of exploitation and trauma. We follow a widowed father, Juan, and son, Gaspar, in the wake of the “Dirty War” of 1970s Argentina. From the beginning, we feel the violence that surrounds them—memorials on the side of the road, suspicion of every stranger. Gradually, we find the violence much closer to home. Juan has married into, and Gaspar born into, a cult called “the Order”, which seeks to commune with gods and unlock the secret of immortality. Juan is the Order’s medium to their dark god and will do anything to protect Gaspar from his fate. We see Juan’s escalating paranoia, and the effect it has on the growing Gaspar. Our Share of Night commits to exploring a very true evil, and as such depicts a lot of very dark, violent things (i.e. watch your content warnings).

The cast is large, and, with a few exceptions, compelling. Juan and Gaspar are undoubtedly the most fully realized two, but we also get moments of unexpected depth from seemingly tertiary or even periphery characters. Ironically probably my least favorite section, I was pleasantly surprised to see

Rosario, Juan's dead wife and Gaspar's mother, get a POV. It would have been easy to let her be a ghost to the story, let her death be more important than herself, but instead she's fully realized.

I can’t think of a single character present for more than a page that doesn’t have motivation and interiority. It’s impressive to read, but does contribute to the novel’s greatest flaw: pacing.

While the beautiful prose consistently creates incredibly poignant moments, the overall pacing of the novel is jolting, with the ending in particular feeling more like a sputtering out rather than a climax or an inevitable conclusion. If the final third was stronger, I probably would have forgiven all prior pacing issues, but, as it is, I finished the book disappointed.

Tonally, however, this story is magical in the darkest possible way. Magic here is synonymous with violence, evil, greed; escalating atrocity weaved horribly with real-world atrocity. The exception to this is that there is an implication that indigenous people (that is, those people who are not colonizers, like the Order is) had their own rituals and power there were not inherently evil, but even then the Order would hunt and corrupt it. Throughout, we’re spoiled with haunting imagery, deep, intricate prose full of feeling, and complex conflict where there is no easy answer or solution.

My biggest weakness as a reviewer here is that I don’t know much about Argentine history, and this story is fundamentally about the civil unrest of this time. Even in my ignorance, the novel was effective in its depiction, but I still feel like a better understanding of what happened would have made what was rich richer.

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yuyine's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

Notre part de nuit est un roman horrifique particulièrement oppressant et dérangeant qui nous plonge au cœur d’atrocités où les monstres sont bien humains mais où le fantastique s’invite comme une ombre supplémentaire. Vaste fresque historique et sociale par sa densité et son alternance d’époques et de points de vue, c’est un roman riche. Malheureusement, de vastes longueurs et une intrigue qui manque de rythme auront eu raison de mon plaisir de lecture et me laissent sur un sentiment en demi-teinte. C’est un bon roman, mais je ne rejoins pas les éloges dithyrambiques à son sujet.

Critique complète sur yuyine.be!

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nessafurtado's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It’s literally one of the best books I’ve read in my entire life - made me fall in love with Mariana Enriquez and with horror/ thriller books all over again. Reading a book that doesn’t have the USA or England as a background was refreshing as hell. Just please search for the trigger warnings there’s a lot of sensible content.

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Review:

Our Share of Night is the first book by Mariana Enriquez that I have read. Although the plot and the story (mostly) kept my interest throughout its 500+ pages, I struggled to feel emotionally invested in the story. The horror element of the story, while certainly objectively horrifying, failed to scare me. At most, I felt slightly unnerved. The story is well-crafted and comes together nicely, but it did not need to be as long as it is.

The book explores themes of family/generational trauma, relationships, PTSD, war, queer love, and violence. Personally, I did not find the way the story handles these topics to be particularly insightful or original, and I think the book struggles under the weight of all the themes and issues it touches upon. However, I could definitely see someone else connecting to this story on a deeper level than I did, especially if they have a personal connection to the setting or topics.

Some of the representation of physical disability struck me as a bit insensitive, but as an able-bodied person I do not feel qualified to speak on that. One thing I do feel qualified to object to, however, is the unnecessary and problematic representation of two individuals who undergo sex changes. These characters are described as undergoing these procedures in order to better worship the god of Darkness, an evil demon, and the narrator notes that people would freak out if they knew how the Order (the demonic cult in the story) had infiltrated the NHS. Given how trans health care is under attack, any portrayal of these procedures as being related to demonic worship is inherently problematic—but what makes me especially angry is that these characters are literally of no importance to the story whatsoever. These characters are briefly mentioned, only to die shortly after their introduction.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like Our Share of Night if:

· You have a personal connection to the story’s setting or its themes

You might not like Our Share of Night if:

· You don’t want to read a really dark book (please read the content warnings! This book is not for the faint of heart)

· You dislike morally questionable main characters

A Film like Our Share of Night:

Hereditary, directed by Ari Aster (2018). Similarities between these two pieces of media include:

· Intense horror plotlines that explore grief, family inheritance, and generational trauma

· Demon cults and possession

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sierra_cucinelli's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Hard to know where to start with this one… it’s more like a 4.5 rating. It’s an intense read, with unimaginable cruelty- imagined. Politics and cults aside… this is a story about generational trauma and how we often hurt the ones we love while trying to protect them from the pain we know. Lots left to unpack.

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rhadden's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of the most exciting and interesting books I've ever read. Taking place throughout the 20th century, primarily in Argentina, this massive horror epic tells the story of a family torn apart by a demon-summoning cult. Steeped in true Argetinian history and cultural trauma; dictatorships, natural disasters, the AIDS crisis, workers rights activism, class struggles, etc. etc. this is a brutal and enthralling family saga of inherited trauma that has infected my thoughts and has not let go.

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