Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Recommended for fans of Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías. I absolutely loved It Would Be Night in Caracas, and expected to love this, but unfortunately it didn't do it for me. I know this book has its audience; it seems to be a "love it or hate it" kind of novel. I wish I had loved it, but after the protagonist buried her children (which happens very early on - I had actually expected this book to end with that), I found myself losing interest in her and any of the characters. The beginning was very captivating, though, and I loved the premise - very topical after COVID.

Well-written and important. The author examines the very real migrant and climate crisis through a devastating narrative of a displaced mother searching for a place to bury her dead infants with dignity. Interesting character development and dialogue keep you holding on despite the dark and disturbing premise.

Thank you HarperVia for my free copy of No Place to Bury the Dead by Karina Sainz Borgo — available now!

» READ IF YOU «
🏋️‍♀️ love translated lit with strong women
🥲 are a sucker for the horrors of grief
✨ enjoy a sprinkling of speculation/dystopia

Translated from language by Elizabeth Bryer 🇪🇸

» SYNOPSIS «
Angustias is fleeing her home, which is overrun by a terrible new plague. Her babies, however, won’t survive the journey, and she’ll find herself stuck in a limbo state of grief and purposelessness — until she starts working with Visitación at the Third Country. But it’s not easy to be helpful in a desperate town, and the women will have to fight for what they believe is right.

» REVIEW «
This was such an interesting story, though not quite what I expected. Look elsewhere if you’re seeking traditional horror — for me, this was more literary fiction than anything else, with a sprinkling of dystopian/apocalyptic vibes. Angustias is excellently rendered, and her despair palpable at times. I absolutely loved the ending! Overall though, not quite the story I was promised.

There are so many important themes covered in this short novel, including (but not limited to) migration, prejudice, grief, motherhood, mental illness, corruption, and violence against women and minorities. Please check trigger warnings before you dive in!

This is a character study of a messed up town during a messed up plague.
Themes of extortion, immigration, cartels, organized crime, and border towns are explored and I absolutely loved it.

This was a beautiful book, I'll say. The raw pain and emotion of having to leave for X reasons, not knowing what the future holds and where you're going to bury the people you love. The struggles of poverty and so many other things. This was a great read. I might try it in Spanish next.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperVia for an ARC of this book! No Place to Bury the Dead
by Karina Sainz Borgo is a new release as it has just been translated to English. This book follows Angustias Romero as she flees her home state with her husband and two babies, only to lose all three to various degrees.

Right away, I could tell that this book would be better in its native language of Spanish. The translator did a fantastic job, I could just tell some of the nuance was left behind by translating, which happens. This book is told primarily from Angustias POV, but at times it switches to someone else’s point of view and it felt a little disjointed at times. I occasionally had to re-read a chapter because I had read it from the incorrect perspective. Maybe this is just a me issue. To add to this, I would get mixed up with the mayor and the landowner, Aurelio and Abundo.

Overall, I did enjoy this story. Angustias and Visitacion are strong women who don’t bend to the demands of others more “powerful”. What they offer to the dead, and the surviving loved ones, is more important and powerful than what those in charge can do. When it feels like all hope should be lost, there are still things we can do within our communities to help and offer care.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperVia for this ARC for review. This is a fantastic book from a Latin author that I read translated into English. It is about grief and fighting for yourself and your children. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and picked it solely after reading the synopsis and knowing nothing about the author or their previous work. I will definitely read more by this author in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for allowing me to read this book and share my thoughts!
I assumed that this would be a horror, but it's more of a thriller to me. It is a fictional story, but I think the horror is based on the real experiences that most immigrants & refugees face seeking a better life. The guerrilla, traffickers, violence, grief, and losses are only a few factors that make it difficult. It was intense, and the diverse characters kept my attention. I loved the strength that the women in the story showed, especially Visitacion! She was such a relentless woman and didn't give a damn what anyone thought. She stood up for herself & those she loved, even the dead. In the world they live in, they all have to do what they have to do and face whatever is to come.
Overall, I enjoyed this one!

I wasn't able to finish reading No Place to Bury the Dead. I made it through the rape of the field hand, but couldn't keep reading when children were tormenting the iguana. As I've gotten older, I've just become unable to read books involving animal abuse. I think I've had enough experience in my 60+ years that I experience a kind of realism when I read such passages—and I can't keep going. The abuse here seemed designed to further the context of the novel, and I think others could have read it that way, but not me.

Karina Sainz Borgo is a favorite writer, so I'm sorry things turned out this way with No Place to Bury the Dead. I'm not suggesting that books shouldn't have passages like this, just that I can't read them. I hope this title is successful, that Sainz Borgo produces more work and that I have the opportunity to read it. I'm giving this title 4 stars because that's where it was in my head when I stopped reading.

Very engaging, well-written, good character development and engrossing plot. I enjoyed this book and will recommend it to others.

The story centers on a mom who escapes a plague in her country but her children die along the way to freedom and her husband abandons her. She goes to bury her children in the cemetery and finds herself fighting alongside the grave-keeper in order to survive.

No Place to Bury the Dead wasn’t quite what I expected. There was a good bit of grief, which I love to read about for whatever reason, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t connect to this one or really even wrap my mind around all that was going on. It was definitely a story of trials and hardships, good versus evil, grievance and moving forward and fighting for what’s right, but it was very, very slow. The setting was a bit confusing for me, and some of the plot lines seemed a bit all over but I think some of this may have just got lost in translation or its quite possible I missed something important. Having said all that, it’s harrowing, hopeless, it’s just so very depressing, which all of these things I like in a book. And while it was incredibly slow for me, I would still try another novel from this author so don’t let my confusion dissuade you. Thanks to HarperVia for my eARC. No Place to Bury the Dead is available today.

I have been challenging myself to read more translated works, and I love the atmospheric vibe that is inherent in much of South American fiction. Both the writing style and translation I found to be very good. I liked the buildup of the story, but found the conclusion to be somewhat dissatisfactory. Overall, enjoyable if you are interested in perseverance and stories about the power of women.

Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

An epidemic sweeps an unnamed Latin American country that leaves the infected with an amnesia like state. Fleeing to save her newborn twins, a mother ultimately experiences the most tragic loss a parent can. As she and her husband search for a place to lay their sons to rest, they meet a woman who runs an illegal cemetery called "Third Country" run by Visitación Salazar. As her life crumbles around her, Angustias decides to stay and help bury the dead with as much dignity as can be found in these times. They are up against a corrupt government looking to steal the land Third Country is on, and everyday becomes a matter of life and death.

No Place to Bury the Dead is a book that touches on many themes, but doesn't seem to explore any of them to a depth that feels satisfying. Displacement, corruption, poverty, death, power imbalance. and classism are all packed into this little book. The chapters are very short which doesn't allow one to fully settle in, as it feels like we're headed to commercial breaks in a telenovela every 2 minutes.

I'm not sure if the pitfalls come in the translation or the book just suffers from a lack of real depth and development. There was a lot of promise in the topics mentioned but ultimately it was not fleshed out very well in my option. I wanted more character growth and build up. The book is also billed as a horror and I believe that is misleading and will lead to some unhappy readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for the e-ARC!

No Place to Bury the Dead by Karina Sainz Borgo is a story centered on two women, Angustias Romero and Visitacion Salazar who are fighting to protect a cemetary in a town called Mezquitte. The book details a bleak and brutal existance in a bleak and brutal world created by the author. The desperation of Angustias to find a burial place, and then to protect that cemetary is palpable. The cemetary is valuable to men who have other uses for it and for politicians to leverage to gain more money and power. The extreme poverty and depravation of the migrants in this story fleeing a plague that affects memory is tragic . . . hopeless. The politicians, are not well defined characters, just one dimensional bad guys doing what bad politicians do. The writing is at times beautiful. The chapters are short, which usually helps with the pacing, but in this case it is quite slow. It starts slow, it gets slower, and then it speeds up towards the end. The two women are well defined and good characters, but the remaining characters get short shrift and are one dimensional. Good or bad. I give this book 3 stars. Thank you to #netgalley and Harper Via for my e-arc. This book comes out tomorrow, Tuesday, December 10, 2024.

No Place to Bury the Dead by Karina Sainz Borgo is a harrowing tale of displacement and survival. Set in an unnamed Latin American country grappling with an epidemic of amnesia, the story follows Angustias Romero, a mother fleeing her hometown with her husband and two children. Their journey quickly turns tragic when both children die, forcing Angustias to carry their bodies while searching for a place to bury them. Along the way, she and her husband face a cascade of hardships: robbery, the theft of their documents, and the brutal realities of life on the road alongside thousands of other refugees.

Eventually, in a small border town, Angustias encounters Visitación Salazar, a local woman who helps her bury her children. Together, the two women begin aiding refugees while contending with the corruption, exploitation, and gang intimidation that plague the region.

It’s clear that Sainz Borgo seeks to shine a light on the ongoing refugee crisis, drawing stark parallels between the fictional amnesia epidemic and the very real struggles faced by migrants fleeing to the U.S.-Mexico border. The novel offers moments of insight into the hardships of displacement, the resilience of those who endure it, and the systemic forces that keep them marginalized.

However, while the book’s premise is poignant and timely, it ultimately fell short for me. The narrative’s complexity felt undermined by the simplicity of its characters and moral framework. The people inhabiting this world often came across as either wholly good or wholly bad, leaving little room for the nuanced morality that can make a story truly gripping. Additionally, while the amnesia epidemic is an intriguing concept, it functions more as a plot device than a fully developed element of the story, which left me feeling slightly disappointed.

While I admire the book’s ambition and its attempt to give voice to the displaced and disenfranchised, I found the execution lacking the emotional depth and nuance I was hoping for. That said, for readers drawn to stories of survival and migration, this novel offers a powerful reminder of the challenges refugees face and the humanity that persists even in the face of unimaginable loss.

Thank you to Harper Via and Netgalley for the e-arc!! This is my second book read by the author. I thought the beginning was great. I loved the world-building and the characters but unfortunately about halfway through the story, I got a bit lost. I still finished the book because I really wanted to know what happened. There was also an animal abuse scene that is really bad. I’m used to dark books but this scene was really extreme.

3.5 stars. This story felt very timeless, I often had to remind myself that it takes place in 2019 since I feel the way it was written it could've taken place anytime. Following a woman as she fleas plague, grieves the loss of her family, and finds purpose is an inspiring premise. I don't think this story ended up inspiring, but it was an interesting saga of organized crime and the people who will go against them to care for the community.

This was so creepy but great. I love translated fiction so much and felt that the translation on this was extremely well done. Also the cover is amazing tbh.

An incredibly powerful novel that follows Angustias Romero as she, along with her husband and newborn twins, escape from their country, which has succumbed to a plague sweeping much of the world. As they migrate north, her twins die with nowhere for her to bury her children. Angustias keeps her twins close to her and is finally able to bury her sons in Mezquite at a cemetery known as The Third Country run by Visitación Salazar. Angustias' husband cannot understand her grief, and the two separate. Angustias begs to stay in the Third Country and assists Salazar in her mission to bury all who need it.

No Place to Bury the Dead was captivating - all of the characters within the novel feel so tangible, and all the while bringing in parallels to current crises in Latin America around migration and especially government corruption. The perspectives across the novel include Angustias, along with many of the other characters, leading to a full world that absolutely engrosses you.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for the advanced copy.

I was on the fence about getting this arc, since the cover gave off horror vibes and it has been tagged as horror on Goodreads, and I'm not usually a horror fan. I'm glad I did read this one though. I am not sure how anyone would shelve this book in horror, really. This novel sits comfortably in literary fiction, with a mysterious plague, clearly a fiction version of Covid, that combines with drought, flooding, and marauding bands of violent criminals to make a steady supply of internal refugees, including a woman and her husband and their two young sons. When their sons die and they are faced with mass unmarked body disposal as the only state sanctioned end for their boys, the woman sets off to find somewhere to bury her sons with dignity. When she finds someone willing to bury the boys illegally, she lands herself in a complicated tangle that will change the pattern of her life in unexpected ways.
I really enjoyed this book and will definitely recommend it. I do wish though that it had a cover that fit the aesthetics of the story a bit better.