A review by leifq
Ornamental by Juan Cárdenas

4.0

I got the chance to read this book early through a relationship at Coffee House Press (and to help with the translation which was an unqualified thrill) and I've been eagerly waiting for it to finally be available to the public. Unfortunately, I didn't take notes throughout my read (I rarely, if ever do) and my memories of it are over a year old but a few impressions are still strong enough to share here. First, Cardenas' style is very typical of the Latin American style and rhythm - staccato without losing propulsive connectivity, loosely told through a voice that holds together the narrative with the confidence in the having of a good story to tell, and finally, that friendly feel of a campfire story voiced by an animated, participatory narrator (such a contrast to the cold, slick, impersonal MFA novels of the US - written all, as if spit from a bot without thought or care for a reader's personal humanity). Cardenas is a skillful writer and I am struck first when remembering this book by his terrific use of metaphor. It can feel like - when reading writers whom are particularly good at this - a reader is reading two narratives at once: the surface level and the subversive level (for what is great literature if not inherently rebellious). Cardenas handles this with rarely matched skill. The story of the doctor, his wife, and 4 is compelling, but the underlying commentary he's making is the real treat
*A note on the translation: Ms. Davis' artistic musicality cannot be praised highly enough. Cardenas' novel jolts and flows, coils and expands, it simply sings with authority under her talented hand
If you are a lover of Latin American literature and the collaborative beauty that is often created between author and translator, you will love "Ornamental"

The Paris Review recently put up a terrific essay on the book written by the translator, Lizzie Davis - I encourage you to check it out:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/07/16/the-city-has-no-name/