abenit21's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
4.5
As a lover of short stories, this collection was great! I read the first few stories while experiencing caffeine-induced anxiety and was genuinely spooked. My favorite story was "The Funeral" though, "The Houseguest" was a close second!
jorjablue's review
3.0
I really wanted to like this book, and don’t get me wrong I did! The stories were interesting and captivating, dark and mysterious. But I feel it fell flat at times, not delivering the stories ending with enough punch, although I don’t believe this is because of Dávila writing but more because of the translation.
jbogerhawkins's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I'm rating this collection as a whole slightly lower than if you were to add up the ratings for individual stories because I honestly think I was a bit too generous in my initial ratings. The experience of reading this reminded me of reading a collection of Poe's stories, because when you see read them back to back the effect of repeating motifs and plot points actually makes the whole thing way less haunting and interesting. A lot of these stories ran together for me and became forgettable, with the exception of the top 3 that I thought were real standouts. There were a lot of recurring themes, and I didn't find all of them equally interesting- I found the stories about gender based violence and unreliable narrators to be the most compelling, and I wasn't particularly intrigued by all of the nightmares, alcoholism, doubles/impersonation, and mysterious wasting diseases. This book is definitely gothic in the most textbook sense, so if you're into that, then give it a try.
Fragments of a Diary- 10/10
Tina Reyes- 10/10
Haute Cuisine- 9/10
The Last Summer- 9/10 (rated too high in retrospect)
Musique Concrete- 8/10
Oscar- 8/10
The Houseguest- 8/10
The Funeral- 7/10
Moses and Gaspar- 5/10
The Cell- 5/10
The Breakfast- 5/10
End of a Struggle- 4/10
Fragments of a Diary- 10/10
Tina Reyes- 10/10
Haute Cuisine- 9/10
The Last Summer- 9/10 (rated too high in retrospect)
Musique Concrete- 8/10
Oscar- 8/10
The Houseguest- 8/10
The Funeral- 7/10
Moses and Gaspar- 5/10
The Cell- 5/10
The Breakfast- 5/10
End of a Struggle- 4/10
maddiedomecq's review
I enjoyed all of the short stories! “The Funeral” I think is my favorite. As an anxious person I related to the vibe.
lezliepez's review against another edition
5.0
Una recopilación de cuentos en donde no puedes decir que alguno no te gustó. Amparo Dávila es magnifica para abordar los sentimientos, el terror y crear una atmósfera que te atrapa y no te deja salir. Poco a poco el miedo se va colando en el interior sin aviso para aterrorizarnos desde lo más profundo.
Un libro que, después de su lectura, crece enormemente dentro del lector. Las ilustraciones de esta edición son simplemente bellas, terroríficas y tienen la esencia de que cada cuento, no imagino otra forma de ilustrar a Amparo Dávila. es sin duda un libro que todos deben tener en su colección.
Un libro que, después de su lectura, crece enormemente dentro del lector. Las ilustraciones de esta edición son simplemente bellas, terroríficas y tienen la esencia de que cada cuento, no imagino otra forma de ilustrar a Amparo Dávila. es sin duda un libro que todos deben tener en su colección.
kirke16's review
4.0
the writing is impeccable— but with all the metaphors and symbolism that comes into play I sometimes got lost to what was the exact meaning of each short story. sloooow read for me bc of second sem,, itigil na ang second sem! boooo!
ashalucienne's review
3.75
short story collection about neighbors and houseguests that was haunting and thrilling. one story about a woman paralyzed on the stairs with grief particularly struck my fancy. I've also noticed that all the Spanish translated books I've read have had really long run on sentences, which isn't really for me tbh. I love short stories though, because they are easy to read (especially if you aren't able to get into all the stories) and relatively fast-paced.
mariesophiee's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
i really enjoyed the writing. i rated each of the 12 stories individually. all stories were good in the beginning and the middle but for many the ending wasn’t my taste. the rating in the order the stories are in: 3,3,2,3,3,4,3,3,4,4,4,3