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I feel like I‘m going to have to read these stories again to fully “get” them—that being said, this is a great collection of stories, the longest of which is almost a novella, that are all odd & varying degrees of unsettling. They are all very well constructed and the writing is excellent. So too is the translation which is phenomenal. I imagine this is a book that evokes strong love/hate it reactions. I found it really interesting.

Tonight‘s reading…

This author leaves me wondering about her characters after the story ends.

My first by the Argentine author and I didn‘t know what to expect, reading these collection of short stories, even the blurb did not prepare me for it. They revolve around daily settings in houses where the characters live..though these houses are not ‘empty‘ in literal sense, there‘s an emptiness or something missing in each..awkward relationships, grief, dysfunction family,etc. The stories are a bit strange, dream like, mostly disquieting, ⬇️

Loved Fever Dream and Mouthful of Birds. This story collection is more grounded in reality (so more approachable, if her previous stuff wasn‘t for you.) The stories here are centered around uneasiness in houses or domestic life, and I suspect different stories will resonate with different readers depending on what you‘ve got going on in your own life! The standout here is the novella, Breath From the Depths.

I just love her writing. Some stories are trippy but in a good way.

I really expected to like these stories from the description. However, I just couldn‘t get into them.
@Andrew65 #20in4

I wanted to like this quirky book of short stories, but it was inconsistent. Quick and unique characters, but not my favorite of the short story collections I‘ve recently read.

I wasn‘t a fan of Fever Dream, so I approached this collection with some trepidation, but I really enjoyed it. The themes of mental health and major life events are present in most of the stories and I found them riveting.

I read these two short story collections back to back and really enjoyed them both. Bizarre, funny, unsettling in equal measure, I appreciated the ability of both writers to entertain and unnerve me at the same time. Two very strong collections start to finish.

These stories explore emptiness and connection and how they tug and pull in families. In my favorite story, a girl‘s sister drinks bleach on her birthday, and she meets a man who may be sinister or may be nice in the hospital waiting room. I love that she left space for me to consider his motives. In the novella, she writes about a woman suspicious of the teens in her neighborhood and how it has heartbreaking consequences. Fantastic collection!!

Thank you so much @RiverheadBooks for sending me this #gifted copy of Seven Empty Houses, which has just been longlisted for the National Book Award for literature in translation! I think this is up next!