Her writing is intentionally opaque and allows readers to draw a number of different interpretations it is this intriguing, elusive quality that has perhaps led to her enduring popularity in Mexico.” Dávila has said in interviews that one of her favorite subjects is the mysterious, the unknown, that which is not within our grasp.

“Like a dream, Dávila’s fictional realm is filled with signs and symbols, with hybrid creatures who appear to defy the laws of nature, and with characters who do not act according to logic or reason. The world Dávila imagines weighs on the brain like some sort of delirium.” “Filled with nightmarish imagery and creeping dread, Dávila’s stories plunge into the nature of fear: Terrifying.” “Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, Franz Kafka, and Edgar Allen Poe, Davila tests the limits of fiction.” It is this silent scream which permeates The Houseguest.”

For a very long time, women have sought comfort in the darkness when their own lives were full of quiet despair. Dávila radiates an interesting sense of unease and calamity. “Dávila is a marvel, and this book casts a delightful and disconcerting spell.” “For the first time, we finally have a collection of her stories translated into English and they’re as good as, as uncanny and mesmerizing as, some of the best work by Kafka or Poe.”

“ The Houseguest will make you paranoid you will second guess every shadow and slight movement that catches your eye. Amparo Dávila's prose, her psychological awareness, and the beauty of her characters' misery is encompassing. I cannot believe that this is the first that I am experiencing Dávila in English.”

The houseguest by amparo davila