A Sunny Place for Shady People
by Mariana Enriquez
translated by Megan McDowell
2024

This is not at all my usual genre, but I really enjoyed it and was impressed by it. I noticed only after reading it that while I got it from the New Releases section of my local public library, it is marked as ultimately intended for the Horror section. I probably wouldn’t have given it a chance if I’d noticed that before, but the title, the cover, and the blurb about a fantastical and hypnotic view of Argentina drew me in. The twelve short stories are horror, but more significant to me is the way they lean in to the magical realism of living in a world where the supernatural is right around the corner. There’s a dream-like quality to all the stories with no clear line between reality and hallucination. And a decided implication of: maybe all the hallucinations are real.

While I often read stories in anthologies out of order, I read this book from front to back, in order, and it was absolutely the right choice. The stories feel like steps down into deep water, creating a path that doesn’t dunk the reader too quickly and also gives a good exit. The first story, “My Sad Dead”, is nearly soft in its portrayal of death, and the trauma for both the dead and surviving. And the second story, the titular “A Sunny Place for Shady People” is a love letter to the people who enjoy delving into the macabre. The sexual violence that comes in the third story “Face of Disgrace” is merely a prelude to the body horror. By the eleventh story, “A Local Artist”, I was reminded of Hieronymus Bosch paintings of demons and temptations. But the twelfth story, “Black Eyes”, felt like a happy ending: they got through, they got out. None of the stories are directly related to one another, they all have different characters and different scenarios, but together they create a version of Argentina that is filled with people trying their best to live their lives even when violence and trauma has left long lasting wounds.

On the one hand, this book kind of needs all the content warnings — body horror, medical horror, psychological horror — but on the other hand, none of it felt gratuitous, and it was really well done. Those warnings would have put me off reading this, so I’m glad I didn’t get them. I also consider these stories an example of the noir genre, which is another genre that I don’t particularly care for, presenting a deeply cynical perspective on humanity. But that the perspective of every person being deeply flawed and just doing what they can to survive, feels like a kindness rather than a condemnation in these stories.

I really enjoyed these stories, even though I had to read them one by one, taking a break between each one. They’re extremely well done and well worth reading and I want to highly recommend them, while also giving the caveat of: take care of yourself.