Enriquez does not cease to amaze me with her powerful imagery, metaphors, and prose (although this is mainly thanks to her translator). Like her previous collections, this also anatomizes the sociopolitical situation in Buenos Aires by exploring the gothic character and paranormal strangeness of the city and the people that populate it.

To paraphrase Wyatt Bray, “the new face (voice for our purposes) of fear”, Mariana Enriquez returns with another bag of spooky tales from the shores of Argentina. A Sunny Place for Shady People is at once the perfect description for L.A., but initially I thought it was a cheesy title without context. The stories deliver a blend of apparitions and body horror told in voices that somehow simultaneously come off as innocent and cynical. There is an ambiguity to many of the tales too, with often no concrete conclusion arrived at, which does sometimes have the effect of making me question if I haven’t fully understood a story, which given I am not a South American female may be the case or simply overthinking on my part.

Highlights of the collection come from the stories laden in unusual and haunting imagery. Julie involves some gagging for it ghosts, Face of Disgrace with its found and lost again kitten, Different Colors Made of Tears bedecked in vintage dresses hiding the ire of the previous owner and The Refrigerator Cemetery, which speaks for itself.

I’m not sure if this isn’t as inventive as The Dangers of Smoking in Bed or if it’s simply that you can’t catch lightning in a bottle as a reader repeatedly, but it didn’t live up to the memory of her previous collection.

Yet another banging collection of short stories of dread and horror from Enriquez, a true master of the genre, especially in the short story form, where her writing packs a particularly excellent punch. A little kaleidoscope of horrors and ill-ease.

Book Review: A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez

Mariana Enriquez's A Sunny Place for Shady People is a collection of short stories that leans more towards the unsettling than the terrifying.

Some stories worked better for me than others, but overall, it was a solid read.

The last three stories are where Enriquez shines, saving the best for last. In particular, the story about the local artist was freaky!

This was overall a good collection of short stories. I found each story to be engaging and inventive, with a genuine horror twist. Though, none will keep you awake at night scared they will make you think. On the downside, each story blended into one another because most of them lacked individual voice and ended up sounding the same. In first-person narration of short stories, they need to be obviously different. The stories ended abruptly and open-ended, I would have liked a conclusion, but then I'm not the biggest fan of short stories.

I very rarely read body horror and this is not a genre I normally think I'll enjoy but these short stories were real little gems, with the horror creeping in slowly in the most normal environments. We follow several characters - in Argentina - and meet evil children, a woman whose face starts to blur, a woman who doesn't know what to do with her uterus after a hysterectomy, a blogger investigating paranormal events... I found them easy to get into and hard to forget.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.

DNF'd at around 40%

Mariana Enriquez has been on my TBR list for a hot minute. In anticipation of the release of ‘A Sunny Place for Shady People’, I finally got around to reading ‘The Dangers of Smoking in Bed’ last month. I found a number of issues with it, including the use of the T slur, an inappropriate reference to enslavement, and a whole lot of fatphobia. Since I hadn’t seen many other mentions of this, I put it down to a one-off or a potential translation issue and continued to eagerly anticipate ‘A Sunny Place…’.

I was so hyped to receive an e-ARC of ‘A Sunny Place…’ through NetGalley because I’d already heard such great things. My reading experience started off well – I enjoyed the first story, found the next few okay but forgettable, and then BAM – the fourth story, ‘Julie’, was absolutely rife with fatphobia, not to mention sanism and ableism. I was fortunate to be buddy reading with a very insightful and value-aligned friend, so I had the chance to discuss this with a like-minded reader before ultimately making the decision to DNF.

I’ve also seen other reviewers mention how exploitative the use of Elisa Lam’s case was in the titular story. In hindsight, although I wasn’t very familiar with the case when reading, I have to agree.

I cannot recommend this one and would much rather spend my time reading and recommending short story collections that align with my values.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

I've enjoyed Mariana Enriquez's previous short stories, but this collection unfortunately didn't work for me. They are horror stories, so designed to distburb, but something about the way they landed didn't work for me, and I didn't feel enough pay off for the stories. The voice felt very similar thorought too, with not much differentiating the main character of the stories.

This was interesting for the most part, and also incredibly weird and disturbing at the same time. I can't quite be sure if I love Mariana Enriquez's writing style, but her narrative storytelling is definitely one that hooks you in. I loved some stories, and felt perturbed by some, and I believe that 's pretty much Enriquez's signature -- so that's on brand at least. Will I recommend this to a friend? Probably. But it's definitely not for the squeamish, that's for sure.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me early access to this e-ARC.

3.5/5

4.5 ⭐️

Mariana Enriquez could write a grocery list and I would love (love!!) reading it. A Sunny Place For Shady People was a spooky joy to read. I can’t get enough of Enriquez’s writing — it’s such a delight.
The bonus of reading a collection of her short stories is that we get to experience different narrators and styles of storytelling. In this book all stories are spooky but a couple are straight up bonkers. Delightfully so. Mariana Enriquez is stupidly talented and I get all the warm and fuzzy and unsettling feelings when I read her books. I highly recommend A Sunny Place For Shady People as an eerie summer read.


❗️TW: It’s important to note that quite a few of the stories deal with cancer — directly or in passing — mentioning symptoms and treatment. And one story centres around a hysterectomy. If cancer is a sensitive subject for you (as it is for me), take extra care of yourself. ❤️

Similarly to Enriquez's last short story collection, I found some of the stories really captivating and clever, and others a bit flat. But overall, this collection is weird and wonderful and creepy and unsettling, Exactly what you would expect from this author.

I've been wanting to read Mariana Enríquez for a while now, so I was very excited to receive an e-ARC of this in exchange for my review.
This is a creepy short story collection, each story is so unique and packs a punch. The last story in particular gave me literal chills. As with any short story collection, there will be some that appeal to each person more than others, and a couple of these stories were good but not outstanding. However the majority were fantastic and I really can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review. This was a nice collection of short stories. Some I did definitely like more than others. I liked the way Enriquez included the horror elements and I do feel like they create a lovely setting in each story. I do wish the horror was more developed in some cases, though I do understand that most of these stories featured realistic horror rather than fantasy-esque style horror. Still I would recommend this book and would read more by this author.

I like horror that is laced with meaning, which Mariana Enriquez excels at. Throughout these - sometimes beautiful, often gruesome, always unsettling - 12 short stories, the author expertly weaves horror with social commentary, exploring themes of sexism, classism, generational trauma, among others.

The stories are very varied and unique and the same goes for the characters, which are all expertly crafted. The characters throughout the book are completely distinct from one another, complex and richly drawn out. This makes it so the book never gets tiring or repetitive, as with each story you are plunged into a completely different scenario. Right from the first story I was struck by how real and palpable the characters felt. Even the paranormal characters are developed in such a way that you find yourself feeling and thinking that “of course ghosts exists, it’s just natural.” In contrast, at the same time, some stories manage to make you rethink things you’ve always thought of as natural.

What some of these stories were able to achieve for me reminded me of a personal anecdote: I’m from a catholic country - born and raised - and there is a wall in my grandmother’s house with a large collection of crucified Christ figurines (most of them bloody, as is often usual). My 6 year old nephew - who is not from a catholic country and had never been confronted with catholic imagery - started crying when he saw them. My aunts laughed and said “Don’t be stilly, it’s just Christ, there is nothing to be afraid of”. However, in that moment, I was able to look at it from his point of view and I said “No, he is right, it is super macabre, we think it’s normal because it’s what we grew up with, but it’s not normal at all, it’s quite morbid”. It took a 6 year old to make me realize that at the age of 36. This was exactly the effect that some of these stories had on me: they bring to the forefront the horrors of the mundane, which are so blended into the background of everyday life, we are often unable to recognise or acknowledge them.

Most, if not all, of the stories are open ended. This may be frustrating for people who do not enjoy open and unexplained endings. Often I found myself reaching the end of a story only to realise I had not fully understood what had happened or what it was about. For me though, that’s where the fun lies: trying to peel back the layers of each story to find the hidden meaning. This makes the stories malleable giving them a life of their own: in your search for their meaning you may end up assigning a meaning to them that is not what the author intended. In the process, you make these stories your own, which allows you to use them as a way of dealing with your own demons. In this sense, the monsters in some stories are quite scary because they have become embodiments of your own fears. For example, as someone that suffers from health anxiety, the ghost in The Suffering Woman, as a spectre of the looming possibility of disease hanging over you, was horrifyingly accurate and relatable.

As with every short story collection, some I absolutely loved, some I liked, and some I wasn’t keen on. One may say this makes for an uneven short story collection, but it also means it will appeal to a wider variety of readers, with different tastes.

There are not many scary books I enjoy, specially because I get spooked easily, but this one...wow. I couldn't stop reading and every time a story was finished, I just wanted to know more of the background, the lore, what happened to the characters. Being Spanish my first language I was amazed about how much I liked this book in English, and how close I felt Mariana's writing.

A really spooky book, intertwined with important social topics, culture and the feeling that someone is looking at you constantly from the other side of the room.

I loved this book! Thank you to NetGalley, publisher and author for an ARC of this title.

I really enjoy reading Mariana Enriquez’s work. I read The Dangers of Smoking in Bed in 2022 and the stories stayed with me

This set of stories is spooky, smart and creepy on the right ways. Each story really had me hooked. Would highly recommend as we enter spooky season

I discovered Mariana Enriquez in a Horror Anthology and was instantly hooked and therefore very looking forward to read everything she's published. While I didn't love every single story (naturally), I'm still a big fan of the way Enriquez writes suspense and interwebs horror with the mundane as well as political and cultural issues.

A collection of stories that blend the mundane with the macabre, drawing me into a world where the ordinary often masks the sinister. I appreciated her vivid prose and the way she captures the essence of life in contemporary Argentina, making the settings feel alive and palpable. The characters are richly drawn, often flawed yet relatable, which kept me invested in their fates.
However, I found that some stories felt a bit disjointed, leaving me wanting more cohesion in the overarching themes. While the eerie atmosphere is compelling, a few narratives seemed to lack the depth I was hoping for, making them feel more like sketches than fully realized tales.
Overall, Enriquez's ability to evoke emotion and tension is commendable, but the unevenness in storytelling left me with mixed feelings.

A compelling collection of short stories that pull you into a world where darkness lurks just beneath the surface. Fans of subtle horror should enjoy this, but I wish the stories packed more of a punch in the creepiness department. I particularly enjoyed A Local Artist and Black Eyes. Nonetheless, Enriquez does an excellent job of weaving unsettling atmospheres and complex characters into each tale, and showcases her talent for exploring the eerie corners of human nature.

What an excellent short story collection. These had the perfect balance of creepiness and social commentary that I look for in horror. It has a wide range of settings and situations, combined with at times dark humour, and an ever-present folk tale vibe.

The majority of these were big hits for me, and there wasn't a single story I didn't like. I was absolutely hooked to every one and some are genuinely so spooky.

Absolutely a recommendation from me.

My criticisms: The majority of these stories had open or vague endings, and for me some were just a bit too open, or finished a few sentences too early. Two stories also had what felt like fatphobia to me, with "obesity"/largeness used almost as body horror which left a bad taste in my mouth.