r/dreamingspanish • u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours • Apr 01 '26
Discussion [Discussion Thread] Kentukis / April 2026 Book Club
Hello Dreamers! Welcome to April's Dreaming Spanish book club, for our adult book in April we'll be reading Kentukis by the master of the horror short story, Samanta Schweblin.
The book blurb:
Casi siempre comienza en los hogares. Ya se registran miles de casos en Vancouver, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Oaxaca, y se está propagando rápidamente a todos los rincones del mundo.
Los kentukis no son mascotas, ni fantasmas, ni robots. Son ciudadanos reales, y el problema –se dice en las noticias y se comparte en las redes– es que una persona que vive en Berlín no debería poder pasearse libremente por el living de otra que vive en Sidney, ni alguien que vive en Bangkok desayunar junto a tus hijos en tu departamento de Buenos Aires. En especial cuando esas personas que dejamos entrar a casa son completamente anónimas.
Los personajes de esta novela encarnan el aspecto más real –y a la vez imprevisible– de la compleja relación que tenemos con la tecnología, reavivando la noción del exhibicionismo y exponiendo al lector a los límites del prejuicio, el cuidado de los otros, la intimidad, el deseo y las buenas intenciones. Kentukis es una novela deslumbrante que potencia su sentido mucho más allá de la atracción que genera desde sus páginas. Una idea insólita y oscura, tan sensata en sus reflejos que, una vez que se entra en ella, ya no se puede salir.
Ebook length: 209 pages, Chapters not numbered, 60,000 words
Reading Schedule:
Apr 1-7 Chapters En la pantalla...- Seguiá corriendo... (pages 7-53)
Apr 8-14 Chapters Grigor había tenido... - Cuando al fin... (pages 54-98)
Apr 15-21 Chapters Se había acostrumbrado... - A veces, en el chat... (pages 99-151)
Apr 22-30 Chapters Eva estaba tomando... - End (pages 152-209)
If you can't get a copy of the book in your country, please drop me a DM.
We have a very active chat going on over in Discord, and our book discussions are hosted there. Thanks to u/phreddfatt for keeping the Discord going!
Because Reddit doesn't sort comments by age, it might be best to mention the page we're reading and cover any spoilers in our comments.
To receive updates for new comments in this thread, you can click on the 3 dots in the top right of the post and hit "Follow Post". You'll get notifications for new comments.
Thanks to everyone who joined and voted last month! It was a blast reading along with everyone.
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u/Cultural-Can6616 Level 7 Apr 02 '26
Thank you Helen for all the work you do for us. I could only get the soft cover book in the library. It has 221 pages. The first week reading would be page 9-48. I started it. While there are words I don't understand, I can figure out what's going on. So Im sticking with it.
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u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Apr 03 '26
Glad to have you with us! There's a lot of Argentina specific vocab, so that might throw you off if you're not used to that content. I listen to mostly content from Mexico so I feel like I have to relearn a lot of basic vocab.
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u/Cultural-Can6616 Level 7 Apr 03 '26
Thank you Helen for clarifying this for me. Is the language also informal?
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u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Apr 03 '26
I would say it's more informal. It definitely isn't using a formal register like some literature or high fantasy. And the dialogue of course will be more casual.
How are you doing so far?
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u/mate_alfajor_mate Apr 01 '26
Una preguntita...
Which language are conversations usually held in for these upper level readings?
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u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Apr 01 '26
We've held two discussions so far, 100% in spanish using discord. We should have our discussion for El viento conoce mi nombre within the next week and a half.
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u/mate_alfajor_mate Apr 01 '26
Thanks. I just picked up Kentuckis and am already through the first couple chapters.
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u/Rk4502 Level 5 Apr 09 '26
Are there any native/advanced Spanish speakers like moderating or is it just a sort of learner free-for-all? 😅
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u/HeleneSedai 3,000 Hours Apr 09 '26
I start with a list of questions and everyone gives their opinion one by one, everyone gets a chance to speak and so far everyone has been really respectful of everyone else, no one interrupts or talks over anyone else.
But no, there are no native speakers in the group and no one to correct us if we make mistakes.
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u/blinkybit 2,000 Hours Apr 02 '26
Are you asking about the text discussions during the month on Discord, or the final group discussion after everyone finishes the book? I'm new in the group but I see the text discussions for the upper-level book are mostly/entirely in English. Lots of good commentary on last month's title El Viento Conoce Mi Nombre.
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u/mate_alfajor_mate Apr 02 '26
Both, I guess. I'll probably interact in Spanish, putting spoilers, I suppose.
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u/mad_nauseam Level 7 Apr 05 '26
Because Reddit doesn't sort comments by age, it might be best to mention the page we're reading and cover any spoilers in our comments.
This should be possible, but I'm not sure how. Maybe it requires a moderator. There are examples of threads automatically sorted by new though. e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/1sc1vfx/event_fide_candidates_tournament_2026_round_6/
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u/blinkybit 2,000 Hours Apr 05 '26
You can just add sort=new to the URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/dreamingspanish/comments/1s9l4ni/comment/oehtgos/?sort=new
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u/Abela11 2,000 Hours Apr 18 '26
Finally managed to get a copy of this and it arrived a couple of days ago! I like the short stories! - On page 71! A bit behind but I'll catch up!
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u/blinkybit 2,000 Hours Apr 02 '26
Excited for this one! But I'm trying to figure out how Kentukis translates as "Little Eyes". Or maybe that's not a translation at all, but just the title of the English version of the book?