Layla Martínez

This debut horror novel features generations of women, trapped in their house of ghosts. They can try to leave, but can’t really. The women can’t leave, but the men disappear. Are they witches? Trapped by the curses of others?

This is an interesting and creepy look at family, class, dreams, jealousy, envy, and revenge. But who is that revenge truly punishing?

The endpapers of this edition (possibly from the original edition?) are beautiful and fascinating. Those drawings and the imagery of show more the text made me think of both Patrick DeWitt’s Under Major Domo Minor and Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan—even though they are totally different, both also feature interesting and creepy interior spaces and the people who live in them. show less

2.5

Generations of angry women stuck in a house filled with their hatred of the men whose bones it’s built on.
There’s themes of income inequality, feeling trapped & domestic abuse. It was a bit “fever-dreamy” for me and I didn’t care about any of the characters in it.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

The writing and prose in this was beautiful. I had a little trouble at first keeping up with the perspective shifts, but it was really well written and paced.

Todas las casas guardan la historia de quienes las han habitado. Las paredes de esta casa perdida en el páramo hablan de voces que surgen de debajo de las camas, de santas que se aparecen en el techo de la cocina, de desapariciones que nunca se resuelven. Los vecinos reniegan de sus dos habitantes a la luz del día, pero todos acuden a ellas cuando nadie los ve. La abuela se pasa los días hablando con las sombras que viven tras las paredes y dentro de los armarios. La nieta vuelve a la show more casa tras un incidente con la familia más rica del pueblo. Ahora, desenredando la historia de la casa, se han empezado a dar cuenta de que las sombras que la habitan estuvieron siempre de su lado. show less