Review: Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Lerda. Translated by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanches

Rating:4.25/5

Synopsis: Reservoir bitches is a series of short stories about women in Mexico. Some of the stories occasionally interconnect. It offers a poignant outlook on the opportunities available and the risks presented to women in this part of the world.

Review: Reservoir Bitches

This was another book club book, and was listed in the International Booker Prize 2025 longlist, though it did not make the short list. I'm not overly disappointed about it not making the shortlist, though I have let to read any of the others to judge if they are better.

I'm not really sure which story the front cover relates to

It is very well written, and I think the author and translators do an amazing job of making each POV feel unique and different, using Mexican slang that I often had to look up, and phrases to create characters that felt real and different from each other. The characters are the main reason to read this, each story is more like a character study that an actual piece of narrative. Like I said, each character feels fleshed out which I think is crucial in a piece of work like this.

While the character study is great, I feel like if you come into this book expecting a great narrative experience you will be disappointed. There are two threads of a story that carry on throughout the book, with some stories that are not connected at all (At least as far as I can see). These stories are rather simplistic and don't offer much that interested me greatly. Most of the stories are realistic and cantered in the real world, but then one or two suddenly go of centre and go into the realm of the supernatural. And while I thought it was interesting to read about Mexican folklore, I felt it distracted from the themes and messages the author was trying to convey? But others may disagree there.

The stories are, I feel, tied together by something closer to an essay disguised as a story at the end, which truly sinks home what life can be like for women in Mexico, and many other places in the world. I think this last chapter really brings the book together and is by far the most emotional and raw parts of the book. It could be worth reading the book just for the last chapter.