63000

The two halves of this book felt entirely separate.
The first follows a vampire recounting her life first as a sort of bride of Dracula, then, as times change in Europe, a hunted animal, before fleeing to Buenos Aires where she watches the city change through the 19th century. She is a creature of impulse, driven by her thirst and her lust with regard for little else, even as she is forced to adapt to a developing, urbanized landscape that is increasingly hostile to her kind and her way of life. At times she is a fascinating character to view the history of Buenos Aires through, though there are points where her simple nature makes the narrative a bit repetitive.
In the second half, Alma, a woman in modern-day Buenos Aires, grapples with grief and a fixation on death as she tries to balance caring for her young son and making peace with her terminally ill mother’s slow decline. Her story was more grounded and human before its intersection with the vampire plot line and this was quite well written.
While I was intrigued by both halves, they weren’t brought together as well as I hoped and the conclusion was fairly lackluster. The choices the protagonists made at the end felt incongruous with their characterization and priorities up to that point, particularly for Alma whose perspective we follow at the end. ( )

"No one knows what it means to be as I am. No one can imagine. Humans have invented countless stories in which those of my kind have no life of our own; if I might be permitted a moment of lyricism, we exist only to populate their nightmares. They could never understand this insatiable thirst."

This is a story in two parts. In part 1, we follow a nameless woman as she is turned into a vampire. She at first is brought into a group of vampires, but they're all killed except for her. She is forced to fend for herself in the shadows and flees from Europe to Argentina.

Part 2 follows a mortal woman named Alma who is distantly connected to our vampire. She is related to a cemetery worker who befriended and protected our vampire. Alma's mother is slowly and painfully dying. Before she does pass, her mother gives Alma a key... A key that opens our vampire's coffin.

This is gothic and very lyrical.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you Penguin Group Dutton for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Review of Uncorrected eBook File

In the nineteenth century, a woman becomes a vampire and travels to a new home, only to discover the area is in the throes of a pandemic. She realizes that no one understands what it is like to be what she is, even though people have invented a variety of stories to explain her kind. As Buenos Aires grows, so does the woman, finding ways to fit in, to keep herself undiscovered.

In the present day, Alma, a woman struggling with her mother’s terminal illness, meets the vampire woman in a cemetery.

What lies ahead for the two women?

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The story, told in the first person, follows the lives of two women, the vampire and Alma. Both grab the reader’s attention; their situations are well-explained. The portion of the story dealing with the outbreak of yellow fever is particularly strong; throughout the telling of the tale, an eerie feeling underscores the unfolding narrative.

The narrative is atmospheric and melancholy, less a tale of vampires than it is an introspective contemplation of loneliness, grief, and survival. Though the narrative is dark, the emotion-filled prose is lush but the denouement may not be what the reader expects [or desires].

I received a free copy of this book from PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, Dutton and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
#Thirst #NetGalley ( )