An impressive and very funny collection of stories by Teresa Solana but the fun is very dark indeed. The oddest things happen. Statues decompose and stink out galleries, two old grandmothers are vengeful killers, a prehistoric detective on the verge of becoming the first religious charlatan trails a triple murder that is threatening cave life as the early innocents knew it. The collection also includes a sparkling web of Barcelona stories--connected by two criminal acts--that allows Solana to explore the darker side of different parts of the city and their seedier inhabitants.
This is such a unique collection of short stories! I enjoyed I'm a Vampire and Happy Families the most out of this collection, but found each of the stories to be refreshingly creative. Each short story is a quick read and span a wide array of dark topics: from the perspective of ghosts to that of a kind-of-reformed vampire to modern "art."
I struggled quite a bit with the writing style, the short and at times abrupt sentences distracted me from the narrative; however, I think that may be a result of the translation itself as it is consistent. Since I can read Spanish, I would be interested to read one of these stories in the original language. The voice of each narrator was eerily similar in "tone" despite each story being completely different, and I am not sure if that is the translator's choice, the author's, or a combination of the two.
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing me with an electronic ARC in exchange for my honest review!
