Margins
Human Sacrifices book cover
Human Sacrifices
2021
First Published
4.07
Average Rating
140
Number of Pages

A groundbreaking voice in contemporary Latin American literature, María Fernanda Ampuero's writing is "raw and savage" as she confronts machismo, inequity, and violence in this acclaimed short story collection (Vistazo). An undocumented woman answers a job posting only to find herself held hostage, a group of outcasts obsess over boys drowned while surfing, and an unhappy couple finds themselves trapped in a terrifying maze. With scalpel-like precision, Ampuero considers the price paid by those on the margins so that the elite might lounge comfortably, considering themselves safe in their homes. Simultaneously terrifying and exquisite, Human Sacrifices is "tropical gothic" at its finest—decay and oppression underlie our humid and hostile world, where working-class women and children are consistently the weakest links in a capitalist economy. Against this backdrop of corrosion and rot, these twelves stories contemplate the nature of exploitation and abuse, illuminating the realities of those society consumes for its own pitiless ends.

Avg Rating
4.07
Number of Ratings
4,906
5 STARS
35%
4 STARS
43%
3 STARS
17%
2 STARS
4%
1 STARS
1%
goodreads

Author

María Fernanda Ampuero
María Fernanda Ampuero
Author · 6 books
María Fernanda Ampuero is a writer and journalist, born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1976. She has published articles in newspapers and magazines around the world, as well as two nonfiction books: Lo que aprendí en la peluquería y Permiso de residencia. Cockfight is her first short story collection, and her first book to be translated into English.
548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved