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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
The most accessible of the three novels by Herrera which have ben translated to date. Kind of a Tough Guy/Noir tale, with a deady epidemic thrown in. He likes "end of the world" scenarios. Twist at the end, but kind of hard to believe that The Redeemer (as the main character is called), with all his inside info on everyone and everything, did not know this.
Again, fantastic translation by Lisa Dillman (Emory U). Some real work to keep up with Herrera's language. The one that threw me was "dieresis" - another word for umlaut, and used by Herrera to describe a woman's nipples.
Like his other two novels, more of a novella - a quick, fun read. Listed at 112 pp, with all the additional info at the back of the book by the publisher, And Other Stories, probably closer to 100 pp. I am looking forward to him attempting something a bit longer.
Again, fantastic translation by Lisa Dillman (Emory U). Some real work to keep up with Herrera's language. The one that threw me was "dieresis" - another word for umlaut, and used by Herrera to describe a woman's nipples.
Like his other two novels, more of a novella - a quick, fun read. Listed at 112 pp, with all the additional info at the back of the book by the publisher, And Other Stories, probably closer to 100 pp. I am looking forward to him attempting something a bit longer.
It's almost funny how much this reads like a rewrite of a pretty disappointing future distopic thriller Shovelman, but good.
To be honest, the storyline is kind of a mess-- there's a tough guy hardboiled type, trying to resolve a conflict between two feuding families. Most of the characters have names like that tough guy protagonist-- the Unruly, the Redeemer, the Dolphin, or Three Times Blonde. And did I mention there's some weird virus that's maybe killing everyone, but which is also an awful lot like zika. There's some rhapsodic descriptions of sex, some comedy, some seedy business at a bordello that is really six differently themed bordellos in one.
But really, the thing this book is is a collection of really interesting, bent sentences. There's a lot of slang here, a lot of nouns used as verbs that then get conjugated in really unusual ways. This is in translation, which makes me think someone worked really hard at this! But it's a fun, creative read, as long as you don't pay too much attention to the actions and situations that the pretty words and phrases are describing. Because that's not what they are there for, and you shouldn't be, either.
To be honest, the storyline is kind of a mess-- there's a tough guy hardboiled type, trying to resolve a conflict between two feuding families. Most of the characters have names like that tough guy protagonist-- the Unruly, the Redeemer, the Dolphin, or Three Times Blonde. And did I mention there's some weird virus that's maybe killing everyone, but which is also an awful lot like zika. There's some rhapsodic descriptions of sex, some comedy, some seedy business at a bordello that is really six differently themed bordellos in one.
But really, the thing this book is is a collection of really interesting, bent sentences. There's a lot of slang here, a lot of nouns used as verbs that then get conjugated in really unusual ways. This is in translation, which makes me think someone worked really hard at this! But it's a fun, creative read, as long as you don't pay too much attention to the actions and situations that the pretty words and phrases are describing. Because that's not what they are there for, and you shouldn't be, either.
challenging
A strange, slender wisp of a read centered around the Redeemer during a time of mysterious plague/pandemic. He's sort of an anti-hero and the book feels almost split equally in half between him trying to fix a feud between two families in conflict (each wrongly believing the other has killed one of their family members but rightly knowing said deceased's bodies are in the possession of the other family) and get laid. He's a "fixer" who represents a remnant of civility amidst an atmosphere of uncertainty and violence. A rather disjointed read laced with a dark magnetism.
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed this book and reading about The Redeemer’s experience navigating death, grief, community, pride, sickness and more
Despite what I’ve read on the internet to the contrary, this novella was written before [b:Signs Preceding the End of the World|21535546|Signs Preceding the End of the World|Yuri Herrera|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398195367l/21535546._SY75_.jpg|15089950] but translated into English after the latter. It’s not the work of genius [b:Signs Preceding the End of the World|21535546|Signs Preceding the End of the World|Yuri Herrera|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398195367l/21535546._SY75_.jpg|15089950] is, but it’s still exceptional, carrying us into a gritty ‘underworld’ with interesting language in the matter of only 100 pages. Its trappings are noir but, for me, that’s not the appeal.
Metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls, is what the title evokes, but bodies—living then dead—are what migrate from one dark corner of the unnamed town to another. The Castro-Fonseca feud (a la Capulet-Montague) is one the fathers have forced upon their children, who only pretend to be a part of it. The younger generation is the hope, as always; but is it, as always, too late?
The respect given to dead bodies seems of a higher order than what is given to those bodies when alive. The daughter of one family tells the father of the other that his daughter wants her name, not her nickname, which is a diminishing one. Except in one instance, everyone else is also called by a nickname, or an appellation.
The city is on lockdown due to a plague (a plague a’ both your houses!) thought to be transmitted by mosquitoes. Everyone should be wearing a mask (another reference to Romeo and Juliet?) but they are in short supply. The streets are mostly deserted and the protagonist wonders why everyone has so meekly accepted “enclosure” (within their homes) when the government has no clue as to what should be done, which I took to be a reference to the response to Mexico’s drug wars.
Dark humor abounds, with live bodies being connected to both sex and death: the protagonist has slapped a mosquito biting his neck, yet searches for a condom to fulfill his need for another's body; a stripper wearing only a mask thrills a group of men as she teases taking it off. And then there’s the writing: not just interesting but some of it beautiful, especially a passage about silence and absence due to death. Once again I’ve found in a Herrera novella much more than you might think could be accomplished with such sparseness.
Metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls, is what the title evokes, but bodies—living then dead—are what migrate from one dark corner of the unnamed town to another. The Castro-Fonseca feud (a la Capulet-Montague) is one the fathers have forced upon their children, who only pretend to be a part of it. The younger generation is the hope, as always; but is it, as always, too late?
The respect given to dead bodies seems of a higher order than what is given to those bodies when alive. The daughter of one family tells the father of the other that his daughter wants her name, not her nickname, which is a diminishing one. Except in one instance, everyone else is also called by a nickname, or an appellation.
The city is on lockdown due to a plague (a plague a’ both your houses!) thought to be transmitted by mosquitoes. Everyone should be wearing a mask (another reference to Romeo and Juliet?) but they are in short supply. The streets are mostly deserted and the protagonist wonders why everyone has so meekly accepted “enclosure” (within their homes) when the government has no clue as to what should be done, which I took to be a reference to the response to Mexico’s drug wars.
Dark humor abounds, with live bodies being connected to both sex and death: the protagonist has slapped a mosquito biting his neck, yet searches for a condom to fulfill his need for another's body; a stripper wearing only a mask thrills a group of men as she teases taking it off. And then there’s the writing: not just interesting but some of it beautiful, especially a passage about silence and absence due to death. Once again I’ve found in a Herrera novella much more than you might think could be accomplished with such sparseness.
This was too short. One of the better translations, the sentences weren't overly awkward.
