I think that I did a disservice to this novel by reading it so closely to another soon to be published novel about a fictional plague. I wonder if I’d not have done that, would I have found this one to be better.

Overall I found it quite boring. I do think that there are a few people who may love this one in my inner circle, so I’ll be sure to recommend it to them.

No Place to Bury the Dead centers around two women, Angustias Romero and Visitacion Salaza, fighting to protect a cemetery in a town called Mezquitte. This is set in a dystopian-like world where Angustias and her family are fleeing from a plague that affects memory. Her twin sons tragically die along the journey and the grieving mother must now look for a burial ground. In her search, she meets Visitacion, a cemetery caretaker.

Karina Sainz Borgo’s portrayal of this world is brutal, bleak, and grim. Violent gangs, corrupt politicians, and shady businessmen control most of the power. I liked the parallels she drew between this world and the real migration crisis in Latin America. In this hopeless setting, the characters have been hardened to a lot of suffering and misery. I won’t forget the vivid images of the Third Country and how Sainz Borgo contrasted the harsh lives of these people with the tenderness and care the dead are treated. The themes of life and death are beautifully written. Visitacion gives peace and dignity to those who have passed.

Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the setting and the insight into migrants in desperation, it was a challenging read because of the slow pace. It didn’t seem to pick up until the final third of the novel, and I especially struggled in the middle part of the story. Visitacion was compelling, but the other characters weren’t that memorable. The villains were bad and the good guys were good. They didn’t have the complexity and depth that would I have liked to see.

Thank you Netgallery and HarperVia for providing an advanced copy to review. All opinions are my own.

This book had a lot going on but it started very slow. And it was confusing about the virus that was mentioned but didn't seem to effect anyone we interacted with directly, it could've been removed entirely if it wasn't kind of the reason our main character left her home.
I really did enjoy the last 2/3rds of the book but getting to it was a struggle.

First of all, I'm glad that this book was translated into English so it can reach a wider audience. I think the translation was mostly well done and I enjoyed the author's writing style. However, I couldn't get behind this story.

At first, I was hooked. This "re-imagining of the border as a purgatory," to borrow words from the book's description, was gripping at first. I was instantly gripped by Angustias and her search for a place to bury her twin sons.

Once that was done and other elements were introduced, though, the interest went downhill for me. I was confused by a lot of what was happening and the story stopped holding my attention. Once I have to go back and reread lines or paragraphs several times because my mind is wandering, I know it's over.

I tried to push further than I was comfortable with because, being Venezuelan and reading a Venezuelan author I felt I had to force myself to be engaged and liked this. That didn't work, this was a DNF at 44%.

I see a lot of people liking it and I hope people pick this up, it just didn't work for me.

I want to enjoy this book. The premise and the blurb sounded so good. Sadly this never came to pass. I honestly have no idea what happened for most of the book. It just didn’t stick.

I’m willing to bet though that it was because it was translated from Spanish to English. I think something got lost in translation. It just feels like it’s missing it’s heart.

“Everything had been taken from me, everything but my rage. If I could not pay for a grave, I was prepared to die for the sake of one.”

This was a brutal book about the desperation of refugees and the men in power who prey on them. It was really well written and difficult to read, with moments of casual violence that were jarring even when expected. There’s a sense of impending doom waiting around each corner, and the whole last half of the book felt like we were tumbling towards something horrible.

Winner of the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize!

A familiar story of climate migration based in a time not far from now. No Place To Bury The Dead takes a microscope to the migrant crisis in Latin America that has expanded due to a mysterious epidemic that causes memory loss and death. Angustias (Anguish) Romero flees with her family to the North. When both of her children perish she is forced to consider what can be done next. Can she leave them behind? Where can they be buried?

Stuck in the purgatory that immigrants fleeing terror and hunger experience, Angustiat deals with violence, gangs and political corruption in a small town called Mezquite. A fever dream, a surreal nightmare, a perfect metaphor for the immigration crisis (Crisis for the immigrants, that is !) #noplacetoburythedead #harperbvia #karinasainzborgo #Elizabethbryertranslator

A virus that wipes out people's memories before killing them. Angustias is a refugee who, along with her husband and two young children, is trying to outrun the virus. Another woman, Visitación, has made it her life's purpose to bury the dead with dignity. Their paths collide, and Angustias decides to stay with Visitación (and her children) in the unnamed town.

The structure of the story was not what I am used to, but the translator explained the shorter sentences and why it was written the way it was, and that made sense to me. Even though this is speculative fiction, many parts of it read as true to life - towns with an influx of immigrants that they struggle to help, human trafficking, abuse, and a lack of basic resources. The trauma and fear was palpable in "No Place to Bury the Dead," which made it immensely readable.

Thank you to Karina Sainz Borgo, HarperVia, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this upcoming book!

This was a necessary read, very telling of our current migrant crisis. And it was also horrific. But not for the reasons youd think. The horror rests within humanity and the dark corners we often avoid.

A dystopian novel about people fleeing an unknown plague from the east to the west. Angustias Romero and her family set out on the journey but sadly her two sickly premature infants succumb on the trip and are buried in the THIRD COUNTRY CEMETERY governed by Visitacion Salazar.
The ordeals encountered in the novel bring to mind the writings of Cormac McCarthy-a favorite author of mine. IMO the book could serve as a metaphor for the current world wide immigration crisis and the ordeal of immigrants everywhere. A good read-but not for the faint of heart.

Karina Sainz Borgo’s *No Place to Bury the Dead* is a gripping and poignant novel set in a dystopian Venezuela. Through Adelaida Falcón’s eyes, we experience the harsh reality of a nation in collapse, marked by violence and despair. Sainz Borgo's raw and vivid writing captures the brutality and resilience of life under extreme circumstances.

The novel draws parallels with Venezuela’s real-life crisis, highlighting political corruption and social injustice. It's a powerful commentary on authoritarian regimes and a testament to human perseverance. While the book is emotionally intense, its portrayal of struggle and hope makes it a crucial read that lingers long after the last page.

I would give this a solid 3.5 stars.

Angustias Romero, her husband, and her infant sons flee their home in an attempt to escape a plague. Sadly, her children do not survive the journey. She buries them at the Third Country Cemetery. This place is lovingly tended by Visitacion Salazar. Unable to leave her babies behind, Angustias decides to stay at Third Country helping Visitacion to defend the land against Alcides Abundio, a sadistic landowner intent on claiming the cemetery.

The book is an emotionally demanding read. It covers themes of migration, survival in impossible circumstances, and how extreme situations can bring out the best or worst in humans.

It's a bit Cormac McCarthy: bleak, disorienting, and stark, but without the meandering prose. Sainz Borgo weaves a fever dream that will stay with you long after you finish the book. The dystopian world she creates is without mercy but not without hope.

The characters are simple in the sense that they are clearly good and evil, yet they are wonderfully rich and developed. Some of the secondary characters were a little forgettable, but I was actively pulling for Visitacion and Angustias the entire time.

The pacing is a little uneven. It starts pretty strong, drags in the middle, then really picks up speed in the last third. It did throw off my sense of time passing over the course of the book which may have been intentional, but I found it distracting. I think the short chapters and shifting perspectives added to the confusion, especially early on in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

A plague, two women, one a mother separated from her children, the other a cemetery worker trying to keep her place in the world. Karina Sainz Borgo has written an eerie, fraught story of the politics of our times. Set in an unnamed Latin American country in the near future, No Place to Bury the Dead is atmospheric and thought-provoking. I felt the setting was better laid out than the characters but this was a read that will stay with me.

Loved this. Read it on the heels of PINK SLIME, both offering a fascinating look at a post-apocalyptic world, and both highlighting the strong and interesting fiction coming out of LA. I hope this book blows up; it feels major.

Thanks to the publisher for the egalley.

In No Place to Bury the Dead, Karina Sainz Borgo creates an imaginary borderland purgatory that is made up of the brutal nihilism of Cormac McCarthy and the earthy surrealism of Roberto Bolaño. The main characters are two women, Visitación and Angustias. Visitación is the self-appointed grave digger, spiritual consort, and funeral director at a cemetery named “The Third Country.” Visitación and Angustias meet because while Angustias and her husband, Salveiro, are migrating to avoid a plague of amnesia that is sweeping their homeland, their newborn twin sons die. Sainz Borgo describes the family’s migration in almost journalistic terms, seamlessly blending the surreal with something that feels like reading a newspaper article about the “crisis at the border.” Angustias serves as narrator and says, “We left the capital with our sons tied to our backs.” The family traverses five hundred miles, “half by bus and the other half on foot,” joining the other plague refugees. Their indigence is emphasized by the few items they have: some coins, three mandarins, and some powdered milk. All of the characters' names hold some meaning that is akin to a Greek tragedy, which No Place to Bury the Dead may as well be. Sainz Borgo only alludes to this with Angustias, as she says, “My mother baptized me Angustias. Instead of a name, she chose a blow. Anguish.” Angustias’s sons are named Higinio and Salustio. Higinio translates to he who has good health and Sallust, the not always accurate Roman historian who was entrenched in war and violence —not unlike the two sons, born prematurely and who lived a brief, depressing life ending buried in a shoebox.

In her translator’s note, Elizabeth Bryer mentions trying to “reflect raised stakes in rhythmically impactful, often short sentences.” Bryer succeeds in this throughout the novel, as most conversations between characters are terse and blunt. The novel also succeeds in showcasing its brutalistic purgatory the most when the speculative is grounded in reality. Moans and cries from the real suffering of people are attributed to ghosts and spirits, the afterlife ruling on earth. Starvation, guerillas, traffickers, and conniving politicians in the land dispute at the center of No Place to Bury the Dead are just a part of the way of life in the borderland amalgamation. There are tender moments in the novel, especially when Visitación and Angustias are tending to the dead they bury in The Third Country. The amount of destitution and violence in this imaginary purgatory in an unnamed Latin American country felt like a compounding of the very real atrocities in our world, making No Place to Bury the Dead an urgent and challenging read.

I think I found both my new favorite book and author. This book takes place while a serious plague is happening, not only does it follow a mother but it follows her quest to find her kids who were lost admist the chaos. That alone in the premise is perfect. But, then as you learn more about this world, the unnamed country in Latin America, and the stakes beyond the current stakes—you will be hooked.

This story is broken up into short scenes which seems very effective for introducing us to the politics, culture, and overall feeling of the setting.

It feels less effective when it comes to the characters. They are introduced and we are shown many things about the main players through these kind of vignette-ish chapters, but I had a hard time connecting emotionally with any of them, mainly because they are so hardened to the bleakness they are experiencing.

It's possible this was intentional, because after reading this book, I felt like one of the many background characters hearing the story as gossip.

I may have to check out the author's other work in the future.

(This review contains spoilers)

No Place to Bury the Dead by Karina Sainz Borgo tells the stories of two women each fighting for something they believe in as their journeys slowly weave them closer to one another. In one narrative, mother Angustias Romero flees her home in an unnamed Latin American country with her family, two infants and her partner, to escape a plague. This story follows her and her family's journey north which sadly becomes a search for a burial ground for her two children. In the parallel story, cemetery caretaker, Visitación Salazar, fights for her life and the final resting place of so many souls whose family had no where else to turn. When Angustias is whispered the name of Visitación Salazar as a potential resting place for her two children, their paths finally converge.

No Place to Bury the Dead was a moving book about grief, the lengths we will go for love, and the sprawling crisis at the US/Mexico border. Of the many books about the crisis that I read, this was one of the most gut-wrenching and will stick with me for a long time.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world after a virus has wiped out memories, Augustias brings forth into the world a set of twins. But after they unexpectedly die, she wants to be able to bury them in honor. In a place where violent gangs rule the people. A Latin American thriller that will have you flipping pages in order to hope for the best for her travels in hopes to bury her children. A first read for this author and definitely won’t be my last.

I think I went in expecting the speculative element of the story to be more prominent, which impacted my reading. The pacing in the beginning wasn't great, but I think it got better over the course of the book, and I really loved how everything came together in the end.