ABCD Reads "Things We Lost in the Fire" by Mariana Enríquez

ABCD Reads "Things We Lost in the Fire" by Mariana Enríquez.

[RESULTS of the poll for this event]

:: ABOUT THE BOOK ::
"The girls and women in Enriquez’s stories worry about their friendships, their figures, their spacious apartments in dangerous neighborhoods, their waning attraction to their boyfriends and husbands, only to confront the horror that courses underneath it all: noises only they can hear, children only they can see, neighbors with grisly secrets [...] I will be haunted for some time by the indelible images in this book: a woman disfigured by burns, her neck “a maroon mask crisscrossed by spider webs”; bodies buried in cement. The most frightening atrocities are those that touch on Argentina’s actual present and past, as if to remind us that the true source of evil is not supernatural but man-made." (from The New York Times)

"In these wildly imaginative, devilishly daring tales of the macabre, internationally bestselling author Mariana Enriquez brings contemporary Argentina to vibrant life as a place where shocking inequality, violence, and corruption are the law of the land, while military dictatorship and legions of desaparecidos loom large in the collective memory. In these stories, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson and Julio Cortázar, three young friends distract themselves with drugs and pain in the midst a government-enforced blackout; a girl with nothing to lose steps into an abandoned house and never comes back out; to protest a viral form of domestic violence, a group of women set themselves on fire." (from Goodreads)

:: ABOUT THE EVENT ::
You are welcome to arrive 30 minutes before the event and stay 30 minutes or longer afterward to connect with other attendees outside the book talk.

Please ensure you have read the book before attending (though finishing any book is not a barrier to participating, as long as you don't mind spoilers).

First-time attendees can join for free. If the event is full, we maintain an unofficial waitlist. Please send Michael a direct message for more information, in either case.

We request a $3 contribution from regular attendees to help cover our monthly meetup costs.

:: ABOUT OUR NEXT BOOK ::
At the end of each event, we will ask for nominees for our next book. If you have a good one in mind, please ensure it is between 200-400 pages long, available from the Toronto Public Library, and counts as contemporary literary fiction (though these are not hard and fast rules). When enough nominees are collected, Michael will send the members a direct message with a link where you can vote.