You need to read the epic Argentinian horror novel Our Share of Night
I read a lot of horror books over the past two years. But my absolute favorite is without a doubt this one by Mariana Enriquez. Our part of the night. The book was originally published in 2019 in Argentina, but it wasn’t translated into English until 2023. While it doesn’t quite reach Stephen King length, at almost 600 pages, I’d say it still counts as an epic.
There are certainly some frightening and horrific moments in the story involving ancient gods, powerful worship, and brutal ritual violence. But as is usually the case with the best horror, the supernatural here replaces the terrors of the real world. In this case, Enriquez uses the occult to explore the history of political violence, family trauma, and the unchecked greed of Argentina’s wealthy elite.
The story spans several decades, moving from the 1980s to the 60s and 70s, before moving to the late 90s. It primarily follows the story of widower Juan and his son Gaspar as they try to escape the clutches of a group of wealthy occultists known as the Order. Juan is a medium used by the Order to commune with the Darkness, a sort of unknowable Lovecraftian deity who the Order believes can grant them immortality.
Although I have a hard time being truly terrified of a book, there are several passages in Our part of the night It really got under my skin.
Juan was born into a poor immigrant family, but when his abilities are discovered, the Order takes him from his family and makes him a tool in their rituals, which they know will exhaust him and lead him to an early grave. Juan wants to prevent his son from suffering the same fate. The relationship between the two is expertly handled by Enriquez, who manages to capture the complexities and intimacy of parenthood like few others have.
Unfortunately, between the tender moments of Juan holding his son as he mourns his lost mother, he is often cruel and abusive. Although he is willing to go to great lengths to protect his son from the external threat of the Order, he cannot protect Gaspar from his own rage and emotional instability. Like most of the characters in the book, Juan is both a perpetrator and a victim of abuse, both at the hands of his family and an uncaring system that treats human beings as disposable beings.
Our part of the night is a heavy novel that can feel dark at times, as it navigates graphic depictions of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, authoritarianism, and addiction. And, at times, the prose can seem a little clunky due to translation, but it’s still one of the most compelling books I’ve ever read. (I plan to reread it soon.)
The characters Enriquez evokes are complex: almost no one is purely a good person, and people’s motivations can be murky. The gothic world she created is rooted in the very real political trauma Argentina suffered during the Dirty War of the late 1970s, in which at least 22,000 people were killed or disappeared. The history of the Order is detailed and frightening.
Although I have a hard time being truly terrified of a book, there are several passages in Our part of the night It really got under my skin. One scene in particular, in which Juan communes with the Darkness in a cemetery, stuck with me for days — not because of any gruesome depiction of violence or gore, but solely because of Enriquez’s disturbing writing.
Our part of the night is also sometimes a pretty sexy novel. Although horror and sex are often closely linked (see almost all vampire stories), it is not an afterthought. There are several sex scenes which add to the air of hedonism that surrounds life within the Order. Juan is portrayed as an almost irresistible Adonis – tall, blond, muscular – but he is also fatally ill, suffering from a chronic heart condition since childhood that could realistically end his life at any time. Enriquez deftly plays with this juxtoposition, as well as Juan’s sexuality. It also highlights several queer characters.
Mariana Enriquez has quickly become one of my favorite modern authors. I also read his two collections of short stories, The dangers of smoking in bed And Things we lost in the fire. It’s great, but it’s Our part of the night that I can’t get out of my head.
You can find it at most e-bookstores, but I highly recommend picking up a physical copy at your local independent bookstore or supporting your local library.
