Our Share of Night: A Novel

"A masterpiece of supernatural horror."--The Washington Post
"An enchanting, shattering, once-in-a-lifetime reading experience."--The New York Times (Editors' Choice)

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK - ONE OF TIME, ESQUIRE, AND BOOKRIOT'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 (SO FAR) - A woman's mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family in the first novel to be translated into English by the International Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed--"the most exciting discovery I've made in fiction for some time" (Kazuo Ishiguro).

"A magnificent accomplishment."--Alan Moore, author of Watchmen
"A masterpiece of literary horror."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"One of Latin America's most exciting authors."--Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.

For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar's father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

Moving back and forth in time, from London in the swinging 1960s to the brutal years of Argentina's military dictatorship and its turbulent aftermath, Our Share of Night is a novel like no other: a family story, a ghost story, a story of the occult and the supernatural, a book about the complexities of love and longing with queer subplots and themes. This is the masterwork of one of Latin America's most original novelists, "a mesmerizing writer," says Dave Eggers, "who demands to be read."

BUY THE BOOK

608 pages

Average rating: 7.29

35 RATINGS

|

4 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

empressliviliv
Jul 28, 2024
10/10 stars
Wow. Equal parts heartbreaking family drama spanning generations, vast historical fiction rooted in reality, slice of life, and supernatural horror/fantasy, Our Share of Night somehow does it all without ever wasting time. There were moments I wondered when I would get to "the point" of a section, only to realize by the end of it that I wouldn't have traded a page of it for anything other than exactly what was written. No work of art in any medium is perfect, but the flaws here are few and far between. One of my absolute favorites.
Anonymous
Mar 13, 2024
6/10 stars
Our Share of Night was an interesting multigenerational story about the horrors inflicted by a group of people who would do anything to live forever. It was dark and crazy and told completely out of order. I found it difficult to follow and at times disturbing for its own sake. I didn't love any of the characters and it didn't stick the landing for me. Still, some parts were engaging and the world felt complete. Some of the characters were fully developed and some were painted with a single horrible brush. Now that I've read it and can see the whole picture, I am aware of the horrible nightmare that Mariana Enriquez was trying to show me and it is indeed frightening. I just don't like that much ambiguity in a story and I need to see the direction it's heading even if I'm uncertain where it will end up.
margardenlady
Dec 27, 2023
8/10 stars
A story of the occult set in modern day Argentina, replete with corruption and rebellion. Gaspar is the son of a medium for an ancient occult driven family. His father, Juan, was bought as a child because he was able to access 'the darkness' and the family that bought him provided him care for his serious heart condition. He fell in love with a daughter of the house, Rosario, and eventually married her. The story is told in discrete chunks, each which takes a new perspective and is set in a different time frame. Enriquez fleshes out the characters, grisly as they are, in these multiple perspectives that provide some back story as well as continue the plot line from one to another. Lots of violence, abuse, terrifying scenes. And a glimmer of redemption at the end.
butidigress
Sep 09, 2023
10/10 stars
I’ll say honestly, this book isn’t going to be for everyone. It’s long, it’s dense, and it’s gruesome. I loved it. The book is rich with very real Argentinian history, and I found that it was necessary for me to stop and do some research into 20th century Argentinian politics in order to fully understand and appreciate the story being told. The author did such an amazing job of presenting an incredibly complex plot in a way that kept me intrigued (and nervous) all the way to the end. I didn’t love the ending because I was hoping for a happy one, but that’s just preference, and not a failure on the authors end. Like I said, this book was also gruesome. I tried a couple of times to recommend it to people before realizing I needed to give them a hefty trigger warning first. Parts of it left me with goosebumps, or nausea. But somehow, perhaps because of the length of the book, I never felt like the author went overboard with her descriptions to the point where it felt overplayed. Again, this book definitely won’t be for everyone. But I really enjoyed it.

See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.