The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
Ratings75
Average rating3.8
‘The dangers of smoking in bed' is among the least conventional collections of short stories I have read in a long time: its macabre setting and horror-like plot always ends up being linked to sociopolitical external agents that characterise society. It is a book that openly blames power and politics for its apocalyptic scenarios and has every reason to do so.
A fantastic short story collection with incredible highs. The lows here are just middling, or slow in an unfun way but not enough to drag this down any further, really just prevents a 5.0.
Mariana Enríquez me tiene embrujada completamente en cada uno de sus relatos de Los peligros de fumar en la cama. Ligeras narraciones que, con tan solo pocas páginas, te embriagan en una atmósfera donde la sangre, los espíritus y lo sobrenatural se hacen más reales de lo que la imaginación puede llegar a imaginar. Buenos Aires como área principal de su desarrollo, desde que tomo mate y escucho a Fito Páez soy cada día un poquito más feliz (y con unas ganas tremendas de recorrer las calles de Corrientes).
Angelita Unearthed 3/5
Our Lady of the Quarry 4/5
The Cart 3/5 (what was the meat??)
The Well 4/5
Rambla Triste 4/5
The Lookout 3/5 (loved the feel of this, kind of gothic, kind of Shirley Jackson)
Where Are You, Dear Heart? 5/5 FAVORITE
3.5 ⭐️ I feel like the synopsis gave the vibes of a very different book than we got. It gave big spooky ooky macabre in Argentina. What the book really covers is childhood and sociopolitical issues within Argentina using magic realism (most of which is focused around macabre events but I don't feel like that part was fully explored and remained rather mild in the grand scheme, as if trying to not lose sight of the realism hiding behind the magic. If the spookiness was pushed a little more I don't think the realism would've been lost and I think there could've been a greater depth of content). Once I got the behind the scenes, my understanding/appreciation of the book changed, encouraging me to connect the plots of the story to the real world. As I said, personally it didn't feel as dark and macabre as the synopsis leads one to believe, but also maybe I've just read a lot of weird/dark books so it didn't hit as hard as it may for others! Still overall an interesting book and format of covering tough social topics.
Uses horror to talk about wider societal issues. Manages to make gore poetic and strangely beautiful. Centers women's perspectives.
This book has taken the spot from ‘Bunny' by Mona Awad as my most disturbing and disorienting read of the year. It's everything that I did ‘not' expect and nothing that I did. The storytelling is engaging, however, and the only reason why I managed to finish it.
For readers who plan on reading this, I'd advise you to first, read the blurb, understand this is a collection of short stories (and don't end up confused like me in the initial few chapters), check the trigger/content warnings (I wish I had), and finally, expect a lot of your worst nightmares (or a reality that meshes so smoothly into the unnatural, taking turns that you may not have anticipated or expected.)
Notes I made while I was reading:
Buenos Aires. Like a slow motion car crash you can't look away from. Meat. Flesh. Surrealism. Lust. Revenge. The horror of teenage girls. Heat. Hunger.
I absolutely adored this collection. If you're a fan of Poppy Z. Brite, you'll love it too.
Not particularly scary or grotesque stories like I expected, but they were short and entertaining. My favourite was ‘Where Are You, Dear Heart?' I found it incredibly interesting and something I have never seen or heard of before.
The only complaint I'd have is the extremely descriptive sexual moments that weren't needed and were really weird, especially the description of girls “aged 6 to 12” in No Birthdays or Baptisms, I know that the story called for it but it made me incredibly uncomfortable and I didn't like reading it.
some creepy stories... all really weird which i like. there are a few that fall flat especially in comparison with the better stories here but thats ok
What a read! Not for the faint hearted, for sure. Please don't read if you are in a dark space mentally, trigger warning.
4,5
Las chicas habían abierto el féretro para alimentarse de los restos de Espina con devoción y asco. [...] «Dejaron los huesos limpios.»
Mis favoritos fueron:
• El aljibe
• Dónde estás corazón
• Carne
Es una lástima, tenía muchas ganas de leer este libro porque parecía que los cuentos eran realmente buenos. Sin embargo me desilusionó. No es que la autora escriba mal, al contrario tiene una narrativa muy buena, y atrapa, tanto, que yo empezaba a leer el siguiente cuento, esperando que ese fuera el bueno, sin embargo al llegar al final, en todos los casos, resultaban finales sumamente desangelados, anti climáticos. Pareciera que cada ciento lo tenía que cerrar a la fuerza, que quería contar más, pero que se obligaba a dejarlo a medias.
Quizá una novela de esta autora sea interesante leer, dándole tiempo de trabajar más a personajes e historias. Por lo pronto me quedó mucho a deber.
Si bien me gustó algo más que Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego, sigo sin poder comprender el hype generalizado que está produciendo Enríquez. Evidentemente, hay algo en su estilo que no me llega.
Los cuentos de Los peligros de fumar en la cama no son malos, pero salvo algunas pocas excepciones, lejos estuvieron de causarme horror o pesadillas. Los veo como demasiado explícitos y directos: Enríquez aplica un estilo muy contemporáneo (basado en el mantra “show, don't tell”) al terrror, lo cual en mi opinión modera muchísimo su efecto sobre el lector. Valoro igualmente su incursión en un género inexplorado por la literatura argentina mainstream.
‘'Or she'd hear a rooster crow in the middle of the night and remember - but who had told her? that at that hour of the night a rooster's crow was a sign that someone was going to die.''
Mariana Enriquez's stories are merciless. They are brutal, raw, savage. They haunt you, they violate your mind and your soul. They are full of terrors, despair, obsession. Ghosts are desperate. Humans are cruel. Teenage dreams are burnt, children are threatened, women and men find themselves in limbo. This is the marriage of the macabre, the lyrical, the violent. This is a cry and a howl. A dance of demons staring into our souls. And it is magnificent.
Angelita Unearthed: When a young girl discovers a few small bones in her grandma's backyard, she has no idea that a very persistent baby ghost has been unearthed. A very creepy, yet tender story.
Our Lady of the Quarry: A story of obsession, deadly jealousy and witchcraft. Eerie, visceral, sad.
The Cart: When a homeless man is horribly mistreated by the residents of a small neighbourhood, a terrible curse falls on their heads.
The Well: A girl destroys her life through her obsession with curses, spells and omens. A tragic story, rich in South American Folklore. Brilliant!
Rambla Triste: I don't want to comment on this story. It painted Barcelona and its tourists in terrible colours and the children's ghosts subplot didn't really work for me.
The Lookout: The Lady Upstairs resides in an old hotel in a seaside town that is a magnet for tourists. The Lady Upstairs doesn't care about them. The Lady Upstairs has been searching for the One and Elina, haunted by a nightmarish past, seems the perfect candidate. You will remember this story for a long time...
Where Are You, Dear Heart?:A young woman falls desperately in love with the beating of hearts. A terrifying combination of pleasure and pain, a story that is raw, sensual and lyrical.
Meat: A rock star's suicide drives two dedicated fans to commit heinous actions in order to ‘'keep'' him with them forever. Αn extraordinary story of devotion, obsession and sheer madness.
No Birthdays or Baptisms: A strange film-maker records videos requested by people whose motives range from shady to downright criminal. When a mother asks him to record her daughter who is plagued by a dark presence, he will need to reconsider his ‘'vocation''. I don't know how to describe this story. It was extremely bleak, violent even but it is one that has stuck in my mind ever since.
Kids Who Come Back: A young woman who works in the social services responsible for the cases of missing children becomes personally involved in the case of a teenage girl and the strange circumstances of her disappearance. And then, missing children start coming back as if time had frozen for them.
The Dangers of Smoking In Bed: The sad thoughts of a lonely woman prompted by a sudden death and a nocturnal butterfly.
Back When We Talked to the Dead: The silly game with an Ouija board goes horribly wrong for a girl who desperately searches for her missing parents.
If Mariana Enriquez doesn't win the International Booker Prize (which will probably happen since everything is about promotions and politics these days...), I shall be mad to the High Heavens...
‘'Yes, desperate people stayed at the hotel. Yes, she'd heard them mutter death wishes and she'd bestowed on them dreams of terrible childhoods and forgotten pain. But none had been ready. And it was a lie that time didn't pass for being like her. She was tired. She longed for each summer to be the last, and she spent more and more time in the lookout tower, where she could barely hear the whisper of the living, which she knew how to imitate so weill, but could not comprehend.''
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