A translated gothic vampire novel?! Gimme it!
I foolishly used to think I didn’t like vampire stories. But over the last few years, there have been some wonderful examples; Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste, The Hacienda by Isabela Canas, recent TV adaptations of Interview with the Vampire and Dracula, and THAT episode of UK anthology show, Inside No. 9.
And now, we can add Marina Yuszczuk’s novel Thirst to the list (translated by Heather Cleary). Thirst is split in half; the first section of the novel is told from the perspective of a female vampire, recently arrived in 19th century Buenos Aires. Essentially homeless, she finds ways to survive and feed, as a pandemic strikes the city.
In the second half, we’re still in Buenos Aires, but our modern-day narrator struggles with divorce, parenthood, and the decline of her aging mother. When our narrator learns a strange crypt is part of her inheritance, the two stories intertwine beautifully.
If you don’t want to overthink the inevitability of death, I suggest you avoid this novel. I love how the narrator’s battle to survive in the first half of the book is totally at odds with the narrator’s mother losing all the joy from her existence in the latter half. The problems of the two narrators are so completely different, but the constant struggles that come with being a woman remain.
I raced through this novel so quickly. Yuszczuk’s uncomplicated style propelled the story forward, but nothing was sacrificed. I loved both narrators; I would happily have read hundreds more pages on either of them. And, it’s a vampire novel, so there is obviously sex and violence, but neither are gratuitous.
I really hope Thirst is embraced, and we see more work in English from Marina Yuszczuk.
Thirst is out right now!
California Reading 