Book Review: Fresh Dirt from the Grave

Title: Fresh Dirt from the Grave 

Author: Giovanna Rivero

Genre: Horror 

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

So, I read this book a couple of months ago for a lecture and I knew I wanted this to be my first review for so many reasons, I've even been putting off doing a bookstagram acc because I want to do it until I get my hands on a physical copy of this for my first post, mainly because, as any good horror book should, it haunted me.

Fresh Dirt from the Grave is a collection of six short stories that feature a cast of characters, all of them immigrants, who feel out of place in their setting and reject their roots in some way. 

It starts with a story titled Blessed are the Meek, in which a Mennonite community fails to protect its children from predatory members, and I think the mere choice to open up with this is an intentional statement and sets the tone for the entire anthology, you can’t look away from it, you can't choose, you have to be exposed to this horror because it’s real that's the whole reason I loved this book. 

However despite the apparent brutality and aggressiveness of this decision and how real and raw her stories are, I think she has an impressive tact and sensitivity. I don't find any of these stories gory or shocking just because and I think she treats her characters with justice and dignity all the time.

Blessed are the Meek is followed up by Fish, Turtle, Vulture the account of a ship captain's last moments. It Looks Human When it Rains where a Japanese origami teacher tries to keep her melancholic garden alive. Painful, mysterious and creepy family stories and secrets resurface in Socorro as well as in Donkey Skin where a woman about to undergo surgery recounts her life since the moment she and her brother arrived in a Canadian town to live with their alcoholic aunt, and Kindred Deer where a married couple is trying to finance the final their education by participating in a medical trial.

I saw someone describe her style as quiet horror and I can understand why. The themes talked about in these book are horrifying. I felt the tension in every inch of my body when I was reading and I even bawled my eyes out at two of these stories because of how deeply they resonated with me. It exposes the most terrible, terrifying and painful things that one can experience but it is not a scandal, it is not a show, it’s just there.

I simply think Giovanna Rivero is like nothing I’ve ever read before. Her range is impressive, all the stories are very different from each other, from the most real and material terror, others grazing on magical realism and their nuances and symbolisms could have you analyzing them for hours.

Fresh Dirt from the Grave will test your nerves, will make you question yourself and everything that is wrong with the world. It will put the dread in front of you and make you confront it, but it is ultimately a beautiful collection that I just can’t stop recommending. 

To those who made it here: have you read it? if not, do you want to? 

Thank you for stepping into this space with me! Please don’t be too harsh on me it’s just my first review 🤍

Sam :3