Our Share of Night is a novel by Mariana Enriquez, originally published in the author's native language, Spanish, in 2019. In October 2022, an English translation was published to spirited acclaim with tentative reservations. The reservations mainly had to do with length. Even the most positive rave reviews inevitably speak of this elephant in the room. Meaning the elephantine size of the novel which in its original English language edition comes in at a hefty 736 pages. That figure is precise rather rounded off because it shows up in so many reviews and articles about the book.
One of the review blurbs that is most often cited in advertisements is the Publisher Weekly's determination that the novel is "a masterpiece of literary horror." The key word in this summation is "literary" rather than "horror." Although it has since been commonly referred to as a horror story, its only similarity to the horror of Stephen King is page length. While it does feature the living and dead in communion with each other, demons, occult rituals, and a cult of darkness called the Order, these horror elements are presented through the lens of serious literary prose that may challenge traditional horror fans. Most of those 736 pages feature thick, densely written paragraphs, even the ones with dialogue. This is why the novel has been met with some reservations even by those touting it loudest.
Fortunately for the author, those touting the book the loudest are those with recognizable names and influential platforms. Acclaim has been conferred upon the book from the New York Times to Oprah Quarterly. Facilitating this reaction is the quality of the English translation by award-winner Megan McDowell. The great irony of Our Share of Night is that author Mariana Enriquez was previously best known to English-language readers for two collections of short stories. Both those collections combined have fewer pages than this big sweeping single story of corrupted ancestral lineage being confronted and battled by the forces of good against the forces of darkness.
