Things We Lost in the Fire: Stories by Mariana Enríquez

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE:

“…[S]lim but phenomenal…in [Enriquez’s] hands, the country’s inequality, beauty, and corruption tangle together to become a manifestation of our own darkest thoughts and fears. The spookiness of these 12 stories sets into the reader’s mind like a jet stone, sparkling through all that darkness.”—Vanity Fair

“These stunning, incandescent stories... crackle with sophisticated weirdness, illuminating everyday activities against the underbelly of the macabre… Similar to Shirley Jackson and Jac Jemc, Enríquez is certain to dazzle and discomfit.”—Booklist

“[S]taggering in its nuanced ability to throw readers off balance… rich descriptions of narcos, addicts, muggers, and transvestites quickly transport readers to an alien world… A rich and malcontent stew of stories about the everyday terrors that wait around each new corner.”—Kirkus

“Mariana Enriquez is a mesmerizing writer who demands to be read. Like Bolaño, she is interested matters of life and death, and her fiction hits with the force of a freight train. "The Dirty Kid" is one of the most memorable and brave stories I’ve read in years. It lingers in the mind for weeks, and redefined my sense of Buenos Aires, a city I love dearly.”—Dave Eggers

"These spookily clear-eyed, elementally intense stories are the business. I find myself no more able to defend myself from their advances than Enriquez's funny, brutal, bruised characters are able to defend themselves from life as it's lived."—Helen Oyeyemi

"These stories unsettle; they disturb; they disquiet. Read them!"—Kelly Link

"When I read Mariana Enríquez's stories, I forget where I am. I miss my subway stop. I hold my breath. Her fiction is that pulse-racingly superb, that electric and original. Mariana Enríquez is an essential voice in contemporary fiction, and The Things We Lost in the Fire will be a sensation."—Laura van den Berg
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About the Author

Mariana Enriquez is a writer and editor based in Buenos Aires, where she contributes to a number of newspapers and literary journals, both fiction and nonfiction.



Stunning, Dark Short Stories
By Louis N. Gruber

Twelve outstanding short stories are included in this powerful collection by Argentine author Mariana Enriquez. The stories are compact, powerful, easy to read, and leave a lasting, haunting impression. The theme of the book is despair--unremarkable characters caught up in utterly hopeless situations, Conditions that may be contagious, that may even affect you, the reader. Yet the style is so gentle, so unpretentious, so free of horror-story cliches, that you read on to the horrifying conclusion of each story without hesitation.

Author Enriquez has a gift for simple, lucid prose. She never strains for effect. Her characters are likeable and her unbelievable situations are somehow believable. If you are looking for a collection of haunting, disturbing stories, beautifully written, then this is the book for you. I recommend it highly.
Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber