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A review by inspiredbygrass
Fish Soup by Margarita García Robayo
4.0
I read this as part of the #invisiblecities 2020 project where we read translated fiction from around the world.
The book comprises two novellas and a clutch of short stories , all of which explore the lives of individuals whose options are limited by poverty , illness and powerlessness. All are hardened by their experiences in some way and the tone is often disinterested and fatalistic . If you're looking for happy endings, tortured self reflections and pat narrative arcs you'll be disappointed , here we are drop in on a series of episodes where the action itself describes the interior lives and we understand characters by their impulses and appetites.
The writing is good , especially in the last novella, Sexual Education, where the inventive vulgarity of the teenage girls hemmed in by a hypocritical Catholic education is simply wonderful .
The book comprises two novellas and a clutch of short stories , all of which explore the lives of individuals whose options are limited by poverty , illness and powerlessness. All are hardened by their experiences in some way and the tone is often disinterested and fatalistic . If you're looking for happy endings, tortured self reflections and pat narrative arcs you'll be disappointed , here we are drop in on a series of episodes where the action itself describes the interior lives and we understand characters by their impulses and appetites.
The writing is good , especially in the last novella, Sexual Education, where the inventive vulgarity of the teenage girls hemmed in by a hypocritical Catholic education is simply wonderful .