A review by annoyedhumanoid
The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela

challenging reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

i can't tell if the main character was purposely insufferable—this reads like autofiction—but he was insufferable nonetheless. with his public health background and anti-capitalist anti-colonialist anti-imperialist enlightenment, you would think—and so does he—that he has all the answers for why life is harder for some. but when it comes to actual people in his life (namely his childhood friend Simone and his brother Henry), Andrés fails to apply those principles to lend any compassion. as someone with mental illness, i feel like Andrés is my nemesis: someone who by all accounts should be a mental health advocate but remains ignorant and fearful under a facade of politeness, perpetuating stigmas that kill. i don't know what all a public health education entails in regards to mental health, but how about as a crash course the stats that each year 1 in 5 adults in the US experiences mental illness (HHS), mental health conditions are increasing worldwide (WHO), and people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violent crime than the perpetrators (NIH). if that doesn't place it under the purview of "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health", i don't know what does. this isn't itself a criticism of the book; in fact, Andrés is seen reckoning with his errant beliefs as part of his character development. but it did get annoying to have the book narrated by him, especially because he's also just very self-righteous and kind of annoying. i'm usually down for unlikable characters, but they're usually not thickheaded towards people with mental illness but rather themselves experiencing mental illness (i love sad girl literature).

as for non-Andrés-related criticisms, the writing was tbh pretentious, though i think the list motif grew on me, and the pacing was wonky. it took a while to get interesting—i feared my lack of motivation to continue but stubborn unwillingness to DNF would mean a reading slump stalemate—and there were other times in the middle it similarly dragged. i liked how Andrés and Jeremy's past was gradually unraveled—it reminded me of Beloved's non-linear storytelling. i found Paul's story line unsatisfying because
i wanted some form of justice. like, sure Andrés confronts him about it, but that's really all he did. i think this stems from me currently trying to get justice for myself, as inspired by another book i read recently, Hurricane Girl. i love psychoanalyzing myself through literature!


also, wild that the audiobook for this novel chock-full of anti-capitalist sentiments is exclusive to audible… i got a free trial so amazon didn't get any money from me but still. Sally Rooney would never do this. also pissed that it's 299 pages so it counts towards the <300 pages category in storygraph stats. one more paragraph break somewhere and we would have been fine 😐
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