Reviews with content warning for Medical content - The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: Stories

Part of me thinks I may have made a mistake in reading this at the same time as I read another short story collection with Latinx roots.

Don’t get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed this and am planning on nabbing a physical copy for myself.

But I couldn’t help compare the two while reading, and due to the non-chronological way I chose to consume these collections, I started on a high note with Maria, Maria, and by chance, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, the titular story, was one of the weaker stories that I started with in this one.

But the last ones I partook in were all winners in my book, so let’s discuss my thoughts on each of these individually:

Angelita Unearthed: 3.75/5
- Not the most conclusive ending, but I really enjoyed this premise.
- I like how Angelita wasn’t portrayed as evil, but was more stuck in Limbo a la Dante’s Inferno through no fault of her own.
- It’s interesting that sometimes Angelita was visible to others and at other times wasn’t. I was a little confused on the why of it all though.

Our Lady of the Quarry: 3/5
- This was not my favourite of the collection.
- There was obsession and envy and jealousy and infatuation, but the way it all played out was very Heathers but without any sort of payoff.
- I can definitely see others enjoying this if their inclined to that movie’s premise.

The Cart: 4.25/5
- I quite liked this one. It was very rooted in reality and how humans perceive fortune and throw blame on others.
- The complete nosedive in the community’s luck was very abrupt and harsh, but it paired so well with how the man who left the cart was treated, and really hammered home how devastating the bystander effect can be.
- It was quite short but I thought the twist at the end was great.

The Well: 4.5/5
- This was deliciously dark, ominous and seeped in betrayal.
- A tale where there is no loyalty amongst blood brethren. And sacrificial lambs cannot be saved when guilt settles into one’s soul.
- The family threads in this one were wrecked by The Woman’s brutal truth of what happened in Corrientes and it was like a dark soap opera moment that I couldn’t get enough of.

Rambla Triste: 4.25/5
- Just the neck is fucking morbid.
- Why is there beginning to be a trend of paedophilia in this collection?
- That ending though, the way it all rolled out? I wanted this to be longer and for Sofia to actually be trapped in Barcelona because the creepy kid spirit vibe was doing it for me.

The Lookout: 5/5
- Hands down one of my favourites of the lot. This is my kind of haunted hotel.
- The dual perspective worked really well, and I really liked how The Lady Upstairs was more of a moniker because the hotel’s lookout is a prison.
- It’s not about the ghost, it’s about how one could take the ghost’s place and she preyed on the living, and that’s my favourite kind of ghost story. It’s very tit for tat and I love the simplicity of it and how it was executed here.

Where Are You, Dear Heart?: 5/5
- The way the lead character describes her infatuation of disease in conjunction with anatomy, ugh, I was sold so hard with this one.
- Truly, this was probably one of the more disturbing tales of the collection, and I was hooked.
- And the ending? The last sentence just hits so good. This was also one of my favourites.

Meat: 4.75/5
- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when it comes to horror, you can’t go wrong with cannibalism.
- And cannibalism paired with obsession and fanaticism? Even better.
- This was morbidly believable in the best possible way and I wanted to know what the ending was building towards so badly, but I also kind of love how compact of a tale this is because I think it packs more of a punch this way, with that feeling of terror on the horizon of the imminent future.

No Birthdays or Baptisms: 4.5/5
- This was creepy and strange and invasive and gross and I couldn’t look away.
- Like this was enrapturing despite containing some horrid content, and it was so fitting that there was no real resolution to the tale, no proper sense of conclusion or explanation.
- And it leaves the reader with such an acrid taste in the mouth, but it’s also so compelling. I’m disgusted but impressed at the same time.

Kids Who Come Back: 4/5
- I wanted a little bit more from the ending, especially since this was one of the longer tales in this collection.
- The premise was definitely intriguing. The story itself builds pretty slowly and doesn’t reveal anything right away, but when everything clicks into place and the bizarre twist occurs, it’s very satisfying.
- I wanted answers though and I never really got them; not in terms of what was happening to the kids themselves, nor in how it all culminates with respect to what happens when summer rolls around.

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: 3.25/5
- One my biggest issues with short stories is I find that a lot of them just don’t have enough content for me to sink my teeth into. This one, especially as a titular story, falls into that trend.
- Does the suffocating feeling of loneliness permeate the pages? Sort of.
- But there wasn’t enough here to make it memorable for me.

Back When We Talked to the Dead: 3.25/5
- Not a very fulfilling ending.
- Premise and worldbuilding were interesting though.
- As the last story of the collection? Not what I would’ve picked.

This collection is a little more darker than I initially anticipated, but I was here for it all. The darker stories were actually the ones I enjoyed the most, which probably says something about me but we’re just gonna gloss over that entirely and focus on the eerie vibes and how such tragedy and trauma was paired with the macabre so effectively.

This is a translated collection, and I think the translator, Megan McDowell, did a fantastic job with word choice and diction while still capturing the horror elements set within urban sprawl and maintaining a sense of realism at the same time. Each story is set within Argentina and while I can’t really say the worldbuilding was intensive, it still had a very definite flair to it. And even when I didn’t completely jive with a story, I still always wanted to complete this in it’s entirety.

So if you’re looking for a short story collection that’s going to delve into the more nightmarish kind of daydreams where nothing ever truly makes sense and you can feel the hairs on the back of neck rise because something is off, something is out there and it’s full of all the bad juju and none of the sugar or spice, definitely pick this one up.

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sygritte's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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introverted_reads's review against another edition

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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? No

5.0

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izzyknight's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I have never read a book like this. Horrific, haunting and addictive. I usually don’t love short story collections but that did not put me off with this, I enjoyed the snapshots of disturbed worlds the structure allowed. I thought some stories were stronger than others but each had such a twisted core, I was relentlessly engaged. Some parts were so disgusting, so disturbing I had to put the book down but that was clearly the intention of the author. A very well writing collection and one that will haunt me for a while.

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mmirjamm's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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toriauricht's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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rachkoch's review against another edition

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4.25

like every tw imaginable but man this was so good and so fucked up and just like ,,, evil

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akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I think this is a really interesting collection of short stories. They all have very common themes like female sexuality, witchcraft, smells (which I thought was particularly interesting), children/childhood, mass hysteria/fanaticism, and religion.

While some stories are better than others, I think they’re all a good read! My top three are:
1. Where Are You, Dear Heart?
2. Meat
3. Kids Who Come Back
With a special mention to Angelita.

I feel that perhaps a study guide of sorts would help understand the symbolism of the stories, but honestly they’re all really good and I enjoyed all of them to a degree.

TRIGGER WARNING:
Be warned though: most stories contain some element of child abuse/pedophilia/forced incest/child prostitution/etc.
“kids who come back” contains some transphobic and lesbophobic slurs/characteristics.

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