"Our Share of the Night" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

A few questions to get us started:


1. What did you think of the world?
2. What did you think of the characters?
3. What worked or didn't for you?
4. Overall thoughts?

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

Finished last night. Loved it, for the most part. I’ll do my best to gather my thoughts:

1. What did you think of the world?
The world was pretty brutal. We’d have these descriptions of this wealthy family’s estates with horses and gardens and balconies juxtaposed with the dungeons/cells beneath these estates. Or Juan and Gaspar living in this huge mansion style house with all these empty rooms and barely any furniture- it made for an interesting dichotomy. Or these kids would be traveling around the world partying while lurking in the margins there would be references to this war/revolution happening.

I did like the supernatural aspects of the book. I love anything with liminal spaces, so opening up a door and having it go elsewhere is really eerie to me. Although brutal I thought the descriptions of the Ceremonials were unnerving as well.

2. What did you think of the characters?
It’s complicated. lol. I think as characters they were brilliantly written. I really enjoyed Juan’s perspective in part one although he could be cruel, but then it became difficult to read about him in part 3 (I think) when he was constantly at odds with Gaspar. I think it’s implied there’s a reason he is the way he is but I think there could have been a few more tender moments to humanize him.

Then young Gaspar for parts 1 and 3 I enjoyed and part 6 when he becomes more like his dad it was tough to read. I thought the supporting cast was great, Vicky, Pablo, Luis… their friendships and positivity/love was desperately needed in a book so dark.

3. What worked or didn't for you?
There were no chapters. This never works for me. I don’t understand why authors and publishers do this to readers. It’s not a stylistic choice to me at all, it’s just annoying. I don’t know hardly anyone who has time to read 150 pages in one go. So I just don’t get what the point is.

What worked for me was the horror aspect and the characters. Although difficult to read at times, I found them compelling. I liked the way the various aspects of the cult unraveled slowly, with information being trickled down to us. Juan hinting at something and then Gaspar or one of his friends witnessing something they didn’t understand, and then Rosario’s section revealing more.

4. Overall thoughts?
I really liked it. I thought it was thought provoking. I was mostly unaware of Juan Peron and the disappeared and the Dirty War prior to this. I read a few articles last night when I finished, so obviously I’m not an expert but it’s definitely harrowing. I think the metaphor was apt, although i don’t know if it was/will be too on the nose for some readers.

It’s something I could see myself re-reading some day to see what I may have missed or glazed over the first time.

[Ellen]

This is certainly a "horror" story.
I finished it but it was a struggle. I think it was too long.
There was also a bit too much dismemberment and child abuse for my taste. It did have some good suspenseful build ups though.

[Megan]

This was such a horrific read. I'm still gathering all my thoughts, but I was really struck by this book, and especially by the kids; I really liked all the parts about Gaspar and his friends, and the lives they were trying to build around the weirdness of Gaspar's life and the care they were taking with each other. There were cruelties upon cruelties inflicted and depicted in this book, and one of those cruelties was Gaspar blaming himself for what happened to Adela!

[Julie]

4.5/5
I loved this book! I wanted to reread this book immediately, and I keep thinking about it, it’s definitely one of my top books of January.

Things I loved: the writing, the story of the order and the uniqueness of it, the setting in different locations in Argentina and London, and the strong characters, especially Juan and Gaspar. I especially liked the interweaving of political events in Argentina and people disappearing. I appreciated the questions the author left at the center of the book; what is done to Rosario to keep her from Juan is never described. I think it reflects the horrible uncertainty of never knowing what happened to disappeared people in political disappearances.

The best parts of the book to me were the first and third sections that are told from Juan and then Gaspar’s point of view. The book really slows down in the last 3 sections, and although I see the need for and enjoyed the section told from Rosario’s point of view, it really slowed down the narrative flow and I might have enjoyed it more if it was interlaced with the Gaspar section and not told separately.

One thing that puzzled me was why Juan went along with having a child with Rosario when he knew that the Order would try to use him and he would need protected. Did part of him want to use him as a tool to destroy the order? This motive seems to be a conflict with the idea of only wanting to protect Gaspar.

The last section was my least favorite; instead of returning to a gripping narrative, the time was drawn out into years of nothing really happening. Even the action at the very end felt less tense than most of the earlier action. I was sad about Gaspar’s permanent withdrawal from people that could love him.

Overall I really enjoyed this pick, and as it was a longer, heavier book, I appreciated the choice because I’ve had it for over a year and hadn’t picked it up because of its length, thanks for forcing me to!

[Bonnie]

I'm not quite done yet. I can imagine the book ending after Olga the reporter's chapter, The Zañartu Pit 1993. She couldn't find or get to Luis and Gaspar's house, so maybe that means Juan's spells worked and no one could find Gaspar to use him.

That would be nice (even though leaving questions). Personally though, i doubt there is going to be a happy ending.

[P.E.N.]

I really like this prompt because it’s less about genre and more about rupture.

Stories that begin in an ordinary, recognizable world and then fracture reality tend to reveal more about the characters than the setting itself.

When that shift feels psychological as well as external, that’s usually when it works best for me.

It’ll be interesting to see how far “wild” this one actually goes.

[Bonnie]

The Horror parts were certainly horrible.
I liked that it was vivid and immersive, and that some parts connected with others, or echoed... like girl with missing arm and her mother Betty.
The longer Gaspar parts with frirnds and schoolm were easier for me to read, just because they weren't horrible.

I expected a bad ending , which then seemed like it was "happy" but it's not?! I'm not happy! and left with some questions.
What happened to Aunt Tali? I never quite trusted her or Esteban.

I guess it was true, that Rosario's death was actually a car accident (not an "assassination") but then Mercedes et al moved to take advantage of it?
Even if Gaspar killed off a hundred of them including Leadership, not everyone is dead so the Order could still make a return?

[Bonnie]

Julie wrote: "One thing that puzzled me was why Juan went along with having a child with Rosario when he knew that the Order would try to use him and he would need protected. Did part of him want to use him as a tool to destroy the order? This motive seems to be a conflict with the idea of only wanting to protect Gaspar."

I constantly said to myself, WHY did you have children, knowing the risk they would be forced into a life of pain amd servitude to this monstrous Order *and* not only to the people but also an actual evil monster. (Not fictional in this book.)

But it sounded like Rosario *wanted* to have that for her child.

I had seen the interpretation of this story to the bad years of Argentina and disappeared people -- in Olga's section though, with her reporting, and also the last section, that connection was overt.

I don't know what to rate it! 🤷‍♀️