On the whole I found this collection of short stories unsatisfying. They seemed pretty pointless and there was no sense of anything being resolved by the end of each one. As vignettes they are well-written and evocative, but I failed to engage with the characters, although some of the scenarios were unsettling, admittedly. Ultimately I simply felt indifferent and struggled to keep reading.

Seemingly ordinary lives poised over hidden fractures
—
In a thematically linked collection of short stories, Nettel explores seemingly ordinary lives poised over hidden fractures, needing only one little push to fall into catastrophe. As in the best short stories, a single turn of the plot is what makes these work, and Nettel manages to place these unsettling moments in different points of each story, not just as a denouement at the end.

It’s hard to review short story collections without zooming in on one or another of the stories which can be to the detriment of others, but what I can say is that Nettel, with translator Harvey, has a style that paints the ordinary over the other, that renders the most unusual setting and characters into living environments and people; when the rug is pulled away from these narrators, we are left in the same disbelieving stasis, like Wile E Coyote on a cliff’s edge, scrabbling for survival. As I’ve said before, short stories are not my medium, but I can fully appreciate the hard work and creativity in this collection. I am now fully in Nettel’s orbit.

Three and a half stars

An intriguing collection of short stories. Family relationships, isolation, lockdown and more. Kept my attention and I liked that it was a short quick read.

A slim volume of dynamite emotions, decisions veered from expectations, and the changes we thrust upon ourselves.

Usually with short story collections, there are some stories that are stronger than others, or connect with me more. However, with The Accidentals, I enjoyed all eight quite evenly.

Throughout these stories, there is an unsettling, uncomfortable feeling, yet you just want to continue reading due to how compelling they are. At points I felt claustrophobic, which I mean as the highest compliment. All entries are so impactful and compelling, you really feel like you are experiencing it along with the characters.

The only reason I have not rated this 5 stars is just because I am still quite new to delving into short-story collections so do not gravitate towards them as much.

I love Guadalupe Nettel's work very much and I think it's mostly because her characters feel real and sympathetic to me. The style is unpretentious and straightforward but almost every page there is a description that is spot on.

The first story has everything a short story needs: tension, an ominous feeling, not a word too many and then just half a sentence that puts everything upside down - it was chilling.

There are a couple more gems but also one or two that were not as well executed as that perfect first one.

Overall it is a slight work with just 8 stories, but well worth giving a try - it made me want to go back to reading more short stories.

Wonderful and intriguing short stories. I didn't read all of them, but really enjoyed the ones I've read.

The Accidentals by Guadalupe Nettel is a brilliantly written collection of short stories, brimming with quiet suspense, subtle unease, and sharp societal insight. With short story collections, it’s not uncommon to find a few standouts alongside others that feel forgettable - but that’s not the case here. Every story in this collection is compelling, thought-provoking, and beautifully crafted. I found myself fully absorbed in each one. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

This is a collection of 8 short stories dealing with familial relationships in some way. I really enjoyed the "the pink door" - where a bored husband visits a mysterious house with a pink door and is given something that changes his life in subtle ways, "the accidentals" - about two childhood friends, Uruguayans escaping persecution and living in Mexico with their families, this story studies how their life diverges in interesting ways and their connection to homeland/ where they consider as their homeland. The last story was "The torpor" - which is set in a world post COVID-19 pandemic, except here there was a second wave leaving people living in insolation with their families. This was very thought provoking, especially the conversation on what people will accept due to fear and for convenience. I would highly recommend this particular story. Overall, an interesting collection with some excellent stories while others were just okay.

Disclaimer: I received this ebook ARC from NetGalley and Fitzcarraldo Editions in exchange for a free and honest review

The Accidentals by Guadalupe Nettel (trans. by Rosalind Harvey, thanks to @fitzcarraldoeditions via @netgalley for the review copy) reminded me a lot of a previous short story collection of hers I had read before, Natural Histories, in the way the complexities of relationships between family and loved ones are explored. The opening story, ‘Imprinting’, is about a young woman who reconnects with an estranged uncle who is terminally ill. It brought to the fore the deep-seated tensions that can occur within families and although Nettel never explicitly uncovers why the uncle has been estranged, there is an unsettling feeling about the relationship that has been struck up between him and his niece.

Unsettling is how I would describe quite a few (if not all) of the stories in this collection, and Nettel does this so well through her precise observations and the way some stories - such as ‘The Pink Door’ - verge on the fantastical almost fable-like. There are also stories that touch on dystopian elements, exploring what would happen to a society that never came out of lockdown; a difficult and unflinching look at authoritarianism. The title story, ‘The Accidentals’ - the name given to when an albatross strays too far from its home becoming an unmoored wanderer - returns to a more realist style, about two childhood friends who stay in touch despite their separation across continents has a feeling of displacement and exile that can never be overcome.

The stories in this collection lingered with me long after finishing, as did the ones in Natural Histories, and although none had the same emotional pull as Still Born (one of my all time favourite books) I thoroughly enjoyed every story.

The Accidentals by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars
Publication date: 10th April 2025

Thanks to Fitzcarraldo Editions and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When an albatross strays too far from its home, or loses its bearings, it becomes an ‘accidental’, an unmoored wanderer. The protagonists of these eight stories each find the ordinary courses of their lives disrupted by an unexpected event and are pushed into unfamiliar terrain.

This is my first book by Guadalupe Nettel, and it certainly won't be the last. I so enjoyed the writing, and I was really pleasantly surprised by the speculative, sometimes borderline dystopian, nature of some of the stories. They are about relationships, loneliness, the impact of society and the environment. There was an element of uneasiness in some of the stories - in some cases, downright dissatisfaction and a need for change, with all the consequences this might bring.
I particularly enjoyed Playing With Fire, which was quite a stressful story of fraught family relationships, while The Pink Door was the epitome of “be careful what you wish for.”
But my favourite story was Life Elsewhere; it is very mundane at first - a tale of envy and unfulfilled dreams - and then it turns odd, and unsettling and obsessive.
I have Still Born by this author on my TBR trolley, and now I really want to get to it sooner rather than later.

I forgot that this was a short story collection and I wish the first story was the whole book.
Nettel’s writing is really good and leaves some details to the reader’s imagination, particularly in the first short story. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any of the others as intriguing as the first.

A striking, unsettling collection from Mexican writer Guadalupe Nettel first published in 2023 as Los Divagantes (The Wanderers). Keenly observed, admirably restrained, these are piercing, powerful yet elegant pieces. There’s an emphasis on family relationships, on fragile intimacies, the known and the unknowable. Often elliptical and enigmatic, these range from realist like “Imprinting” to the fantastical in “The Pink Door” and the dystopian in “The Torpor.”

It’s difficult to single out specific entries, these are uniformly strong, but I was particularly impressed by the subtle “Imprinting” which revolves around schoolgirl Antonia’s chance encounter with a dying uncle. Frank has been all but written out of her family’s history, for reasons that remain shrouded in mystery. It’s a carefully-crafted exploration of family secrets, Nettel never reveals the true nature of Frank’s transgressions but his behaviour hints at something dangerous and predatory. The slightly surreal, fable-like “The Pink Door” - a marvellous variation on a careful-what-you-wish-for narrative - highlights the dangers of nostalgia, the unintended consequences of the choices we make. The title story is an unusual take on domestic upheaval, exile, and political instability presented through the experiences of two childhood friends; while “The Torpor” imagines a society in which lockdown never ends, opening up issues around creeping authoritarianism and troubling responses to climate change. Set in Barcelona “Life Elsewhere” plays with ideas around envy, obsession, and doubling – a subject Nettel clearly finds fascinating.

There’s an all-pervasive air of claustrophobic melancholy, of loss and disorientation, which partly reflects the collection’s origins in the pandemic years, its mirroring of Nettel’s thoughts and feelings during this time: her experience of lockdowns, confinement, and sense of a world bizarrely altered. Overall, gripping and memorable. Translated by Rosalind Harvey.

When an albatross strays too far from its home, or loses its bearings, it becomes an ‘accidental’, an unmoored wanderer.

The protagonists of these eight stories each find the ordinary courses of their lives disrupted by an unexpected event and are pushed into unfamiliar a girl encounters her uncle in hospital, who was cast out of the family for reasons unknown; a menacing force hovers over a fracturing family on a rural holiday; a couple and their children inhabit a stifling world where it is better to be asleep than awake; a man’s desire for a solution to his marital dissatisfaction has unforeseen consequences.

Deft and disquieting, oscillating between the real and the fantastical, The Accidentals is the brilliant new book from International Booker-shortlisted duo Guadalupe Nettel and Rosalind Harvey.

Unsurprisingly, THE ACCIDENTALS is another smashing short story collection from Mexican writer Guadalupe Nettel (translated by Rosalind Harvey who also translated Still Born).

The stories, though standalone, somehow fit perfectly together but it’s tricky to say what exactly binds them. There are individuals dealing with transition and the consequences of their relationships leading to isolation, estrangement and longing and lapses in communication. There are no easy answers to the moments of disruption and unease.

See?! It’s a hard collection to describe!

What is easy to see though is Nettel’s famous clear, crisp prose that still manages to pack an emotional punch when you least expect it. Her ability to reach the emotional depth and range she does within the confines of a short story that, by its nature, often only really skims the surface, is so impressive.

There is a really gentle, yet profound, hum to these stories and I didn’t find any particular one more or less moving or affecting than another - which speaks to how strong I found them as a collection and how skilled the translation is again this time around

It is so rare to come across a short story collection where every story just hits! This was an absolute masterpiece. I haven't read anything by this author before but this will be changing immediately. The stories had such an emotional range for such a short piece of writing. Some were dystopian, some nature focused, others exploring complex familial relationships. The key takehome for me was that the writing was so crisp and yet also emotional. All of them had a visceral impact on me despite having taken some time to ruminate. Highly recommend. 5 stars.

The Accidentals by Guadalupe Nettel is an engaging read that offers a unique blend of emotional depth and beautiful storytelling. The author's skillful use of language draws the reader into the lives of the characters. Nettel's talent shines through, showcasing her ability to weave complex themes with subtlety and grace. Her writing is thought-provoking, leaving you wanting to explore more of her work. The stories are short but impactful read but each of them has the potential to evolve into a full-sized novel, delving even deeper into its characters' journeys. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Reviewing for the next print issue of Mslexia (106), "What's New in Short Stories" column. Thank you for the arc!

This is what great short story collections are made of. A cohesive theme but a broad range of equally rich and succinct narratives. Several of which have left a lasting impression on me since I finished it at the start of the month. Recommend for fans of Carmen Maria Machado.

What a fantastic book of short stories! This is exactly the kind of collection I would expect from Fitzcarraldo and it did not disappoint. I am not quite sure how it is possible to communicate the calibre of the original stories via translation into English but there was no doubt. The translator has preserved the flavour and character of the original language and created a compelling voice in English.

Inevitably in any short story collection there will be favourites but after finishing the collection I am struck by how each story has taken up residence in my head.

These stories are satisfying to read and live on after they have been enjoyed. I was impressed by how deftly the writer sketched out scenarios and characters.; reading each of these stories satisfies a desire for story telling and characterisation. I wholeheartedly recommend them.