Review: It Would be Night in Caracas

~My Thoughts~

If I had to quantify my review of this book into stars, I would say it was a 3. For me, that means the book was good, but not quite great or exceptional. I came to this number by combining my thoughts on the story with my thoughts on the writing.

The writing was truly great. I loved the tones and pace, but the style was really remarkable. The images Karina Sainz Borgo was able to evoke with simple phrases was stunning while remaining stark and realistic. This is an absolutely talented writer who is simply finding her feet in fiction.

The story, however, was a but of a struggle for me. If felt at times like this wasn’t so much a novel about anything other than what it’s like living in Venezuela right now, but told through the eyes of a fictional character. I almost longed for this to be a memoir. In that context, the lack of a cohesive story wouldn’t have been a detriment but a purpose.
I didn’t find myself very emotionally attached to the characters, beyond what I would feel about any human having to live through this type of violence and danger. It was a gripping reminder of the advantages I live with as an American and how different life can be in other countries.

I found the book itself to be remarkably timely. With the release of the second season of Jack Ryan, I think the American audience will find Venezuela much more understandable and accessible. I know I did.

About It Would Be Night in Caracas
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperVia (October 15, 2019)

Told with gripping intensity, It Would be Night in Caracas chronicles one woman’s desperate battle to survive amid the dangerous, sometimes deadly, turbulence of modern Venezuela and the lengths she must go to secure her future.

In Caracas, Venezuela, Adelaida Falcón stands over an open grave. Alone, she buries her mother—the only family she has ever known—and worries that when night falls thieves will rob the grave. Even the dead cannot find peace here.

Adelaida had a stable childhood in a prosperous Venezuela that accepted immigrants in search of a better life, where she lived with her single-mother in a humble apartment. But now? Every day she lines up for bread that will inevitably be sold out by the time she reaches the registers. Every night she tapes her windows to shut out the tear gas raining down on protesters. When looters masquerading as revolutionaries take over her apartment, Adelaida must make a series of gruesome choices in order to survive in a country disintegrating into anarchy, where citizens are increasingly pitted against each other. But just how far is she willing to go?

A bold new voice from Latin America, Karina Sainz Borgo’s touching, thrilling debut is an ode to the Venezuelan people and a chilling reminder of how quickly the world we know can crumble.

Purchase Links
HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Karina Sainz Borgo was born and raised in Caracas. She began her career in Venezuela as a journalist for El Nacional. Since immigrating to Spain ten years ago, she has written for Vozpópuli and collaborates with the literary magazine Zenda. She is the author of two nonfiction books, Tráfico y Guaire (2008) and Caracas Hip-Hop (2008). It Would Be Night in Caracas is her first work of fiction.

Follow her on Twitter.

*Special thanks to Karina Sainz Borgo, TLC Book Tours, and HarperVia for providing a copy of It Would Be Night in Caracas in exchange for an honest review.