I very much appreciate being gifted this copy of Thirst, and the opportunity to read & review it. Thanks so much to the publisher.

i really liked this story. it was a unique take on the vampire story and i really liked the two main characters as a whole: i think they had good character development throughout but i think the romance between them could have been developed a bit more. overall i really enjoyed this book a lot.

An awesome, bloody take on vampires. I loved this fresh spin on the subgenre. Add in the feminist, latinx twist and you get a thrilling story!

Thirst is a book following two women living in different time periods. One woman is a vampire who finds herself in Buenos Aires. Immortal, she watches the city transform as time goes on while struggling with her vampirism and how to ensure her safety among humans. While she is a predator, she also knows the danger of humans finding out about what she is. The other woman lives in present day Buenos Aires. This woman is dealing with the grief of slowly losing her mother to a terminal illness. Set in two parts, Thirst is about how these women's lives slowly entangle.

This novel is unique compared to other vampire novels I have read since you read from both a vampire and human perspective. While their stories seem to be unrelated at first, you slowly see how each woman is dealing with death, grief, desire and feelings of isolation.

This novel is less fantasy and more literary fiction with horror and gothic elements. In some ways I feel like this novel shouldn't work as well as it does. It covers such a wide period of time and as I mentioned before, the two parts seem so unrelated, but I loved the way they slowly came together. I was engrossed for much of this read even though I would say it's slow moving. I always love reading translated literature and I would love to read more by Marina Yuszczuk in the future.

This book is a captivating read that effortlessly draws you in from the first page. The story flows smoothly, with intriguing characters and an unpredictable plot that keeps you hooked. It's the kind of book that makes it hard to put down, with just the right balance of depth and entertainment. A thoroughly enjoyable experience that will keep you engaged until the very end.

A Bloody, Beating Heart: A Review of Marina Yuszczuk's "Thirst"

Marina Yuszczuk's "Thirst" is not your typical vampire novel. Forget sparkly immortals and brooding romance. This book plunges you headfirst into a visceral, queer, and utterly punk-rock take on the vampire mythos, dripping with blood, beer, and a raw, pulsating energy that leaves you breathless.

Set against the backdrop of a crumbling Buenos Aires, ravaged by a mysterious plague and steeped in political unrest, "Thirst" follows a group of young, queer vampires navigating a world on the brink. They grapple with survival, addiction, and the ever-present threat of both the plague and a fascist government hunting them down. Yuszczuk's prose is sharp and evocative, painting a vivid portrait of a city simmering with decay and rebellion. The atmosphere is thick with a sense of desperation, but also with a fierce, defiant will to live.

The heart of the novel lies in the complex relationships between the vampires, particularly the bond between the fiery, impulsive Clara and the more reserved, thoughtful Fran. Their love is messy, passionate, and ultimately deeply human, despite their monstrous nature. Yuszczuk expertly portrays the fluidity of identity and desire within this found family, challenging traditional notions of love, sexuality, and belonging.

Interwoven with the vampires' story is the tale of Eva, a woman grappling with her own personal tragedies in 19th-century Argentina. Initially, the connection between these two narratives seems tenuous, but Yuszczuk masterfully weaves them together, revealing parallels and echoes that deepen the novel's exploration of female rage, societal constraints, and the eternal struggle for liberation.

"Thirst" is not a book for the faint of heart. It is graphic, brutal, and unflinching in its depiction of violence and desire. Yet, amidst the bloodshed and despair, there is a profound beauty to be found. Yuszczuk celebrates the power of female friendship, the resilience of the marginalized, and the intoxicating allure of living life on one's own terms, even in the face of oblivion.

What makes this book stand out:

A refreshing take on the vampire genre: Yuszczuk dismantles traditional vampire tropes, creating a world that is gritty, realistic, and deeply political.
Queer and feminist representation: The novel centers queer characters and explores feminist themes with nuance and sensitivity.
Powerful prose: Yuszczuk's writing is evocative and captivating, immersing the reader in the sights, sounds, and smells of her vividly realized world.
A compelling narrative: The intertwining stories of the vampires and Eva are both engaging and thought-provoking.
Potential drawbacks:

The graphic violence may be too intense for some readers.
The dual narrative structure may require some patience to fully appreciate its intricacies.
Overall:

"Thirst" is a stunning debut novel that is both thrilling and profound. It is a bloody, beating testament to the power of love, resistance, and the enduring allure of the vampire. If you're looking for a vampire story that will sink its teeth into you and refuse to let go, this is it. Prepare to be consumed.

Highly recommended for fans of: Carmen Maria Machado, Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" (with a distinctly punk edge), and anyone looking for a queer, feminist, and utterly unforgettable horror novel.

Thirst was more highbrow than your typical vampire novel and I really loved the direction this book took! It was very interesting and kept me guessing. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

3.5 stars

Very enjoyable! I think it needed a bit more… something though. I was missing something by the end of the book. Queer vampires always has me at the start- but I just needed something more.

I wanted to adore this book as much as I expected to, but I felt like the two halves were too disjointed and there wasn’t something catching to keep everything in line. It was a fun read, but missing anything deeper.

Marina Yuszczuk’s Thirst is an unusual vampire story, following two women (one human, one decidedly not) in Buenos Aires. The first section of the novel follows the vampire as she flees Europe for the new world and tries to survive, undiscovered. The second half details the life of a young woman raising her son and dealing with her mother’s terminal illness. Thirst was billed as a “feminist Gothic” and lives up to the title, with lush, opulent descriptions of tombs, blood, and sex. I enjoyed reading it but didn’t love it, though I would gladly read another novel by Yuszczuk. (And shout out to the translator for such an excellent, readable translation.) I was interested to note that several readers found the vampire tale more interesting than the second half. I was the opposite--I really enjoyed the young mother’s life and struggles, whereas I kept waiting for the payoff in the vampire portion.

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for a copy of the book.

4.5/5 stars! A compelling, sexy, dark, tragic, controversial little novel that I really enjoyed! I found the two different points of view equally compelling, and I was surprised by how much it made me cry!

The title is what 100% drew me into requesting this work. Excellent writing done by Marina Yuszczuk. I will be on the lookout for more of her work for sure.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Team for this Advanced Digital Readers Copy, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

A slow burn of a novel, but the compelling and rich characters and the short length made it...devour-able. I think it is for the queer readers who love a slightly different spin on the vampire story.

This book was quite a trip. I love the first 50% of it. The first part follows a woman from her creation all the way to her darker days. You get a timeline description of the events that happen to her life that lead to her finding hope and love in the new world that she is living in. The second half follows a woman as she struggles with her mother's life ending disease and the effects it has on her family but mainly on her daughter. The writing style was pretty easy to follow and to be engage with the story. I found myself sitting down for long periods at a time to get the most of it. A quick read If the style and vampire is your stuff.

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk, translated by Heather Cleary, will appeal to those who enjoy historical, literary, and queer fiction. Yuszczuk is an Argentinian film critic who has published novels, short stories, and poetry collections. This is her first book published in the United States.

Thirst is an idea novel exploring death, aging, grief, and longing through the interiority of its two central characters.

The first protagonist is a woman who had been turned into a vampire long ago in Eastern Europe. She eventually makes her way to the New World and lands on the shores of Buenos Aires when it is little more than a jumble of buildings on a muddy shoreline. She watches it evolve into a cosmopolitan city as she learns how to feed herself discreetly. As the population increases, a cemetery is needed, and the vampire, who “had conquered death, but never my thirst,” entombs herself in a mausoleum. She thinks about the cemetery,

“Bodies rest below; the most important thing about the cemetery, its entire reason for being, is that it directs the gaze upward.
The cemetery opens and closes, like an oyster on the ocean floor, to reveal its contents and offer this promise to all who aspire to rest in its embrace: You are no grain of sand; you are a pearl” (ch. 8).

One day, weary and bored, the vampire is instantly intrigued by a woman she sees in the cemetery. This modern woman has sorrows and thirsts of her own, some that she is just coming to terms with. Sitting on a bench in the cemetery during a work assignment (photo for a magazine cover), she finds peace in the quiet.

“I felt something in me soften, despite my earlier worries that I might find the place depressing. But sitting there under that perfect blue sky, even if I couldn’t help thinking how all that beauty was only there to keep the corpses out of sight and out of mind, I noticed that I felt more at home than I had for a long time and that my mind was clearer, or something like that” (Part Two).

She becomes intrigued by the vampire. It all happened rather fast, and I felt I had missed something.

Thirst is written in the first person, which I sometimes found tiring, but that may be the point—to make the reader feel the characters’ feelings and situations more strongly. Whereas The Gathering and So Thirsty had some humor, Thirst is more philosophical and sensuous. I was not prepared for it. It is one of those novels that I felt the need to re-read immediately upon finishing.

[part of a joint review, link below]

A dual timeline is also going to reel me in! I wouldn't say I love vampires, but I was wholly enamored with this one. The past timeline was quite atmospheric, engaging and fast-paced. The violent, savage characteristics of the unnamed character really drew me in and had me enthralled. The second, present day time line was much slower paced and focused a lot on loss and filling that empty space. I wish the character in the second timeline was as captivating as the unnamed character. I think that would have made the second half more entertaining for me. But still had a good time with these queer vampires in Buenos Aires.

This novel covers two points of view from different time periods. The first woman recounts her tale of being given over to keep a monster at bay who turns her into a vampire. She tells of her travel to Argentina and eventually burying herself away for all eternity. In the present time, we meet another woman who is listless, who left an unhappy marriage, trying to come to grips with her mother's deteriorating illness. They meet and a connection is formed when a family secret is revealed.

Excellent translation. I enjoyed that this was a novel about choices and going for what they wanted. No one, no man held them back.

This book explored intriguing themes! However, I had a hard time connecting with the story and that is obviously on me and not the book. I recognize that it has great potential to appeal to other thriller readers and I encourage others to try it out! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

Genuinely just not for me, this is an excellent book with excellent structure and content. I just personally happened to not like it. 10/10 recommend to people who enjoy split narrative time-weaving and historical elements in sapphic fiction.