Goosebumps in Literature

Aura, the creepy Gothic tale told in Carlos Fuentes’s novel, challenges the modern reader to think outside the box in several ways.
Aura is told in second-person singular, which most of us haven’t seen since the days of Goosebumps-like horror novels. However, lost in the English translation is the imperative clause—i.e. not just “You do,” but “you must do”—further integrating you into the character, Felipe Montero. The fact that Fuentes tells us very little else about Montero besides his profession and his current lack of funds makes it even easier for the reader to become Montero. Then, as Montero later becomes the General, the reader deeply feels his sudden identity crisis.
The story itself falls within the genre of magical realism, which is unfamiliar in itself. The reader goes from this story that begins normally enough, to something very odd, very surreal, and very disturbing. From the General writing about how he finds the Senora torturing and killing a cat erotic and sexually stimulating, to Aura being created from poisonous herbs, this novel requires that the reader suspend their disbelief in such things in order for the telling of the story to happen.