Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez

It is rare for me to not like a book. Especially one like this, Our Share of Night has elements that I love: a woman writer, represents the latinx community, is of another country and time period, uses historical events to tell the story of very complex issues, is spooky and could be seen as horror, and has a diverse group of characters that does not seem to be pandering. It is sad. It is told from different perspectives, meaning that everyone has their own truth. It is well written.

This is a book that I picked up from recommendations based off of TikTok, though from the title and cover I would have wanted found it appealing. I can not wait to read other works by Mariana Enríquez, it is clear from this and how her works are being lauded, she will be gracing us with amazing works to mull and learn and be transported to.

It is a story that takes place over several decades and focuses on a family high up in a darkness cult that resembles what old Europeans obsessed with the occult wished they were successfully doing - conjuring demons through the mediums to enact their wishes. This novel is about a family impacted and impacting the “Dirty War” in Argentina, but adds a fantastical element to discuss a real event in modern history. It does this well and the trigger warnings to give for this is that it can be grotesque and talks of child victims. Had the writer not used the occult and just told a fictional story of one of the colonizer families would it not be more truly terrifying to realize that people justified their destruction of life by saying those different from them were not human? 

This is not a heavy handed analogy but an apt way to educate readers on the real events of Argentina in the 1970s to 1980s. Our Share of Night manages to humanize some of the generational players while exposing the colonizers and their damaging tactics for the darkness that it is. Although I was ignorant of the historical context, the story and the realization of what it was about hit me hard, and I believe this was intentional so that way uninformed people like myself could be forced to learn and mourn something that we should have known about. Not knowing, even if we do not contribute to the decisions or regimes, is still some form of complicity.

There are themes of ableism, homosexuality, colonialism, and racism. These are sensitive topics, so even when calling out colonialism by talking about how resources and people were plundered, stolen, assaulted, it could be hard to read. This is a writer who I have faith to show nuance in her tone, she acknowledges rape and does not then use it as a way to go into depth the acts on her fictional characters - when discussed it is mean to horrify the reader not to tantalize.

There is also death, this book starts off with a parent having the opposite conclusion the father makes in Something Wicked This Way Comes. This book shows how ugly the fear of death and of aging is, how greedy and hungry colonizers and people become - how it consumes them in the end. While Ray Bradbury may have been holding back and thinking of his audience, Mariana Enríquez does not hold back because she is aware the audience will need this.

This seems to be a retelling of the message pushed with Elizabeth Báthory, there is something dark in society in which people panic and feel that they must live forever. If there is any type of other-worldly force in this world, it does seem to be darkness that feeds on this to begat more darkness. Through different periods of time, and amongst different groups of people, we can find countless examples of this story. The story with darkness (and dark magic) has always been that you can bargain and make plans, only to find it means nothing to the monsters in control.

There is a lot going on with novel. And it is a hardy book, for the majority of the book, the first 300 pages it is broken up in sections and not chapters. There is one paragraph that goes across a page or two. It is not until section IV that you have something within it, a few spaced out numbers to denote possible chapters. I do not mind this, I love and have read everything by Jose Saramago. I mention this, for those who may need a little more structure to their reading. Heavy subject and no chapters, I know that could be a deal breaker for some. But if you have it in you, try, this is a tale and writer worth stepping out of your comfort zone for.