The Dangers of Smoking in Bed / Mariana Enriquez, trans. Megan McDowell / 2021

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed / Mariana Enriquez, trans. Megan McDowell / 2021

While generally well written, these short stories don’t have the same grip and vision as her novel does. It’s harder, it seems, to reach beyond a mere feeling of eeriness into something darker and more human in shorter work. Stories like “Angelita Unearthed” and “The Well” struggled to deliver a meaningful blow in my opinion. Enriquez’s racial dynamics are still complicated in ways that unsettle the reader. Still, I find some of those complicated portions the most interesting, as in “The Cart,” where a racialized and obnoxious vagrant is scared away from the neighborhood and leaves behind a curse. Other favorites include “Kids who come back,” “Where Are You, Dear Heart,” and “Meat,” each of which is just so fucking twisted and eery it’ll have you wiggling out of your seat. 3.5/5