by Marina Yuszczuk
March 5, 2024
Publisher: Dutton
ASIN: B0C773SH3T
ISBN: 9780593472064
It is the twilight of Europe’s bloody bacchanals, of murder and feasting without end. In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives from Europe to the coast of Buenos Aires and, for the second time in her life, watches as villages transform into a cosmopolitan city, one that will soon be ravaged by yellow fever. She must adapt, intermingle with humans, and be discreet.
In present-day Buenos Aires, a woman finds herself at an impasse as she grapples with her mother's terminal illness and her own relationship with motherhood. When she first encounters the vampire in a cemetery, something ignites within the two women—and they cross a threshold from which there’s no turning back.
With echoes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and written in the vein of feminist Gothic writers like Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, and Carmen Maria Machado, Thirst plays with the boundaries of genre while exploring the limits of female agency, the consuming power of desire, and the fragile vitality of even the most immortal of creatures.
Thirst is about a female vampire told in first person. How she was sold by her mother to a vampire nobleman, who fed off her and eventually he turned her when she became a young woman, her and other women who she began thinking of as her sisters. When the Master vamp is killed many years later, she and her sisters escape, living wild in the forests, feeding off humans. As the years progress and they learn to cloth themselves and seduce victims for their food, her sisters are destroyed and eventually the vampire gets aboard a ship that heads to the new world, arriving in Buenos Aires.
The novel has touches reminding me of classic horror like Dracula and Frankenstein, with whispers of writing not unlike Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, and other gothic writers.
A blood-soaked novel of unending blood thirst, death, immortality, and desire that pulls you in with its haunting prose, bringing vampires that are not like those in Twilight, but back to the dark, scary ones.
I gave Thirst 4 sheep.
Reviewed by Pamela K. Kinney
Marina Yuszczuk was born in Argentina in 1978. She is a writer and founding editor of Rosa Iceberg, a press focused on publishing writing by women. She is the author of multiple books of poetry, short-story collections, and novels. She has a PhD in literature from Universidad Nacional de la Plata and is a film critic for one of Argentina’s top newspapers. Thirst is her first book to be published in the United States.
"Thirst" is a gripping exploration of female agency and desire, weaving together elements of Gothic literature with modern themes. The dynamic between the protagonist and the vampire is captivating, offering a fresh perspective on the complexities of relationships and identity. With nods to literary giants like Mary Shelley and contemporary voices like Carmen Maria Machado, this novel pushes the boundaries of genre while delivering a compelling narrative that lingers in the mind long after the final page. A must-read for those seeking a thought-provoking and hauntingly beautiful tale.
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