Dangers of Smoking in Bed Summary
Mariana Enriquez

Dangers of Smoking in Bed Overview

Mariana Enriquez's The Dangers of Smoking in Bed is a collection of 12 short stories. The works collected herein straddle the boundaries between the real and the surreal, the magical and the horrific. In one tale, a young woman's deceased great aunt comes back in the form of a decomposing baby. In another, a homeless man's abandoned cart puts a curse on a neighborhood that fails to help him. In yet another, two young girls' obsession with a pop icon turns dark when they decide to exhume his body after he commits suicide. No matter the parameters of these narrative worlds, Enriquez is sure to thrill, intrigue, and horrify her reader at once. Her distinct and unnerving stories explore complex themes including innocence and obsession, fear and death, and desire and fetish.