This book had the romantic essence and feel of the movie version of Interview with a Vampire, in the way of elegance and living amongst the living seamlessly. I loved how the character that calls herself many names was essentially an undead human, with some vampiric abilities/faults. This book went from modern day in the prologue, was from her point of view for the first half and then tied back into modern day. It was an easy, wonderful connection that the author did with ease. It had a wonderful fluidity when it came to love and attraction as our main character cared not about gender, embracing her sexuality. I fell in love with this book and its main undead character, I just wish the story continue further than it did.

The first part of this story felt like a throwback to Dracula and the atmosphere of the classic tale. However, the plot quickly moves to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Here, the story reminded me much more of Frankenstein because you have a monster who barely knows herself trying to survive in a world where she will never be accepted. Seeing her try to find her way and take advantage of colonialism, sexism, and classism was compelling but also made me uncomfortable, which I think was the point. Our vampire preys on women who have lost their status in society, on men who no one will miss, but there is a reason all those people make for the perfect victims.

Our main character is not a "good person," she's not a person at all, but she is compelling and exciting.

However, there is a point in which the story transitions to a modern setting, and we start following a human woman grappling with her mother's fast-deteriorating health. For a significant chunk of that section, there is no vampire, and it is unclear how the story will connect to our vampire. That was frustrating. However, the connection is finally made, and the story is again compelling. If you can make it through that section, then the book will be very much worth it. On the other hand, if you have recently been through the death of a loved one, especially if it was a slow death due to illness, I think that section will feel much too real and difficult to read.

Actual rating 3.5

The writing in this story was gripping in places, but in others it left me a bit flat. The descriptions of the savagery in the first half were intense and unlike what I might have expected, but it all fit the story and kept things moving along. The second half wasn't quite as engaging, and for a long time I wondered why it was part of the book. It was a good story on its own, don't get me wrong, but it just didn't seem to fit. The stories do marry closer to the end, but I didn't love it as much as the ending felt unrealistic for both main characters. Beyond that, Yuszczuk is an excellent writer, and I'd be interested to see if more of her work gets translated.

My thanks to Penguin Group/Dutton, the author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thirst is a sprawling epic that will call to mind Anne Rice and Italo Calvino, though this is not a combination I'd thought likely. Part one follows a woman cursed as a vampire, describing in first person how she has witnessed first hand the cruelty of trying to exist as an (immortal) woman in the patriarchal, hyper religious landscape of medieval Europe and later 1800s Buenos Aires. There is beautiful, painstaking attention to environmental and architectural details throughout. Part two introduces a new main character living in modern times who writes with a more confessional voice, using the format of a diary. Her lush descriptions sometimes extended longer than I wished; as I was piqued with curiosity about how her story would intersect with that of the first MC. Thirst takes an intimate look at just a few examples of what it means to be alive.

I really loved the way that Mariana Yuszczuk was able to portray the loss and grief of two female characters with wildly different lives. Time was truly the villain in this story and the way these women were able to come together in the end, accepting their fates, was the most wonderful piece of literature as of late!

This sexy, grim novel follows two women, Maria a bloodlorn(is that a word?) pansexual vampire and Alma, a single mom grappling with coparenting and the decline of her terminally ill mother. Their stories intertwine during part 2 after we hear the richly described history of Maria's life in Europe and Buenos Aires. I found it poignant, despite the sex and violence throughout both characters' stories, as both women sought companionship and fulfilment.

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk is a queer, feminist, and gothic work set in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This story follows two women in two different times. The first being a vampire who will do whatever necessary to quench her thirst. I haven’t read many vampire novels but I have never read one where the vampire is so unapologetically their self. Quenching her thirst leaves a trace and we see the consequences of this in the first part. In the second part we follow a mother who is fascinated by the cemetery, a place she visits often. Her mother is terminally ill so she is learning to live with the knowledge and grief that her mother does not have long to live. In this novel we explore two perspectives of death and grief, one from our vampire who is immortal and one from a mother who is seeing this all unfold slowly, day to day. We see how these two women are connected and how they both have learned to live with two inevitabilities and the choices they make. This novel was interesting and different and I appreciated that. 3⭐️

The first half of this was MY JAM. I could not get over how much I loved it... Unfortunately, I kind of wish the first part had never ended. The second half was not terrible by any means, but it just felt lackluster following the first part. And unfortunately, the ending felt rushed to me. AND YET... I still can't imagine giving it anything less than a 4/5. So clearly, I am still feeling a little conflicted haha I would definitely still recommend!

Torn on this one. Such an intriguing little book that offered a lot of complicated and cool ideas up for the reader to grapple with. Something about it just never reeled me in though.

I felt like this book was having a little bit of an identity crisis. The dual POV's were both well written and interesting in their own right, but felt underdeveloped and at odds with each other. The characters lives don't truly cross over until about the 80% mark, and I wish that had happened a lot earlier because it really ramped up once they did. I just overall think this should have been a much longer and more fleshed out book.

The writing was really stunning though, and I think the way the vampire is addressed here, with complete carnality yet stark vulnerability, is really compelling. I would probably read from this author again, but this didn't really land for me. (I also feel like this cover is just really at odds with the vibe of the book?? It's what mostly drew me in, so just a personal let down.)

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for an e-ARC.

This female Vampire Gothic tale was very good and it kept me entertained and reading. I loved that it had more of a Gothic horror vibe to it than the teen bop vibe. This was good and I enjoyed it very much!
I just reviewed Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk. #Thirst #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

At face value, Thirst is a vampire story. Gothic, claustrophobic, and merciless, it feasts upon your fear and feeds your darkest desires. It is, however, so much more.... a sapphic love story wrought with unquenchable desire, a story of mothers and daughters, a story of grief watching someone you love to die a slow and agonizing death, a story of fear for the same fate you will likely meet and the emotional hardship your child will one day face, and a story of alternative choices one makes when tested to their limits. The book, in my opinion, is really about moral dilemmas. Sometimes making the right decision feels so wrong, and the wrong decision feels so right. It is not a feel-good book. There are no happy endings... and sometimes no endings at all.

I highly recommend this translated book by Argentine author Marina Yuszczuk. Buenos Aires and its transformation over the years is a breathtaking backdrop to this heartbreaking tale.

4.5 stars rounded up for its mesmerizing atmosphere.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thirst is a deeply haunting speculative fiction gothic told from the perspective of two women across time. One woman, a vampire forced into her life and left to deal with the horrifying inevitability of the forever-future, details her arrival in Buenos Aires—a strange new world, a dangerous new playground. It is there that she finds herself in a seductive dance with her more animalistic nature, locked in a battle of hungry existence in a world moving faster than her thirst can be quenched. The other story, told centuries later in Buenos Aires, follows a woman in the midst of immense grief; her mother is dying, her son is growing up, and she can't help but feel precariously balanced on the precipice of life and death. When she is burdened with a key to an unknown crypt, she finds herself tumbling over the edge, down into the bloody embrace of the unknown.

This was a deeply poignant read. On line level alone, the prose was obscenely powerful. Marina Yuszczuk is so wildly adept at this level of storytelling—wierd, obsessive, dire, sensual, and brutal. Heather Cleary does such a spectacular job at translating it for an english-speaking audience. Thirst is so honest in its narrative. It reads like diary entries—letters to the future or whoever comes next to possess the key—a pained warning, a whispered invitation. The perspectives in this book felt distinct and powerful, both women stumbling towards death the only way they know how: shouts and whispers and the clawing of their souls to grasp the fear hidden there. Buenos Aires feels almost like a third character here. The descriptions of the city, its plazas, its intricate graveyards spanning centuries felt lush. There's a distinct atmosphere about this book that's hard to describe without having read it. It's like feeling empty lungs and needing one long gasp of air, but you can't seem to find the power. You know that if you only breathe in, it'll be there. It's heavy, enthralling, and addictive. It is all at once the violence of an open artery and the tongue that soothes the wound.

Thirst is paced exactly as it needs to be, and though it's told over hundreds of years, you'll find you only need a small chunk of time to read it. If you like macbre narratives, the slow violence of existence, sapphic vampires, and feel compelled to wander the intricate maze of the statue-laden graveyard for a short while, this is for you.

A literary queer. sapphic, vampire book?! Obviously that is just calling to me!!

This novel is split into two parts. The first follows an unnamed vampire who dates back hundreds of years from her creation to the time she travels to Buenos Aires, Argentina in the early 1800s. The Yellow Fever pandemic breaks out and we follow her through her journey of existing in the city undercover and undetected.

The second half of the book takes place during the modern times. We follow a young mom navigating single parenting and being present for her mother, who's health and function is rapidly declining. When a key to a family crypt is passed on (with minimal instructions) to her, the intertwining of these characters unfolds.

I felt completely engrossed in this story, especially the first half. Our vampire MC is just so animalistic and instinct-driven, while basically just being biologically created to completely enthrall humans. I also appreciated the way these two stories were intertwined, and enjoyed seeing the connection between the two unfold.

It's gory, it's sensual, it's unhinged with beautiful (and nauseating) prose. Fantastic! 5 Stars.

"The cemetery was a field sown with corpses; the whole world is, though we rarely see it that way."

READ THIS FOR: sapphic characters, vampires, obsession with death + other macabre themes, elements of historical fiction

Taking place predominantly in both past and present-day Argentina, Thirst follows the lives of a woman named Alma and an unnamed vampire who arrived in Buenos Aires about 200 years before her. Both women bear witness to death: for the vampire, it's the Yellow Fever that swept through Argentina in the late 1800s; for Alma, it's the slow, devastating march of her mother's illness.

This is the second book l've read from an Argentinian author in the past couple of weeks! It was a faster read than I was expecting, but I didn't feel like the pacing was particularly rushed. The two perspectives were written with fairly distinct narrative styles, and I found myself gravitating more towards the sections in Alma's voice, which are essentially the prologue and the second half of the book. In contrast, details seemed richer from the vampire's perspective, which I LOVED, and which helped establish a lush atmosphere for the rest of the book. It reminded me a bit of The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova, but that might just be the 18th/ 19th century vampires talking.

Thank you to @duttonbooks for the opportunity to read and review!

First this cover is amazing. Second love translated dark/ horror books. This was gothic and moody. I was immediately enthralled in the story. Specifically the first part. The second part fell a bit short. But overall i enjoyed it and would love to read anything from this author.
Thanks #Netgalley for the arc

Thirst is a speculative novel told from the points of view of two women, born centuries apart, but who both end up in Buenos Aires. One was born in modern times and is slowly learning how to deal with the concept of death as her beloved mother suffers from a debilitating disease that will eventually kill her. The other was born in Europe and sold at a young age to a terrifying master. This master was a vampire and eventually turned her into one as well. But as Europes puritanical craze grows, she must flee and finds herself in Argentina.

This story isn’t your typical vampire story; it shows vampirism as a brutal, violent existence, acknowledging that these beings are more beast than human and are not trying to preserve what’s left of their humanity.

Each narrator has a different perspective of death, grief, and survival. The writing was intensely poignant and the prose was beautiful. It really made me question what humanity means and look at death in a new perspective.

However, I’d say this book was definitely more character driven than plot driven. The writing was very visceral and emotional, but lacked pace and the ability to keep my interest consistently. Overall it was a unique story that fans of character driven books and poetic prose will enjoy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Always looking for more weird Latin American books. They have this sort of...vibe. Hard to explain. It's like things are so normal and trite while also being genuinely off putting and sometimes magical. Yet that magic is mundane. I don't know, I love it.

This was such a mixed read for me. The writing was well done and the I was hooked instantly. I did find my interest waning throughout the first half and especially the second.

This book explored some interesting topics involving power, grief and motherhood. I did find that I felt removed from the characters, so it was hard to get invested in their stories.

Most things felt explained rather than experienced. I really wanted to be more immersed in this but found it hard to.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Marina Yuszczuk's first book released in English, translated by Heather Cleary, is a really interesting gothic tale that is told in two different stages. The first half follows a vampire as she makes her way over to Buenos Aires in the 19th century. She is animalistic in a compelling way that I haven't seen in a lot of modern vampire stories. She has a base level of thirst that will never be sated and her main goal is to hunt. I really liked the way she was portrayed and thought the historical tidbits and landmarks were really interesting. The atmosphere was amazing and it really was just a gothic dream.

The second half takes place in modern day Buenos Aires as we follow a woman who is dealing with the grief of her mother's terminal illness and taking care of her young son. The juxtaposition of life and death along with the symbolism of the vampire was really well done in this one and I did find myself to be more compelled to read this part, even though I preferred the vibes of the first half. It really does feel like you're reading two different books and that can be a bit jarring. I think both parts have their strengths and weaknesses, but - even though the connection was there - I do wish there was a bit more mixing between the parts because it did feel very jarring to switch time periods. The interweaving of these stories was done in an interesting way, I just wish there were more pages to explore the connection. Nonetheless, this was a really interesting book with a heavy focus on life and death and grief. It's a really interesting read and I can't wait to see what other works of hers get translated.

3.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book before its release.

From the beginning, I was so entranced by our nameless vampire. The entire first half follows her life as she flees Europe’s growing superstition for the promising beginnings of Buenos Aires. The stories told in the first 8 chapters are rich with detail, fascinating and indulgent. I couldn’t put this down.

The second half is very different, following an adult woman whose mother is slowly dying from a degenerative disease. The exploration of what it’s like to anticipate grief is beautiful- the period of waiting that takes place when death is approaching but hasn’t quite arrived.

The way the two halves come together does leave something to be desired, I wish there was more, but overall this was incredible. I went and picked up a physical copy on release day because I enjoyed it so much. Lovely! Sensual! Has inspired a great desire to visit Buenos Aires! A wonderful novel that I would highly recommend.