Scan barcode
A review by cnyreader
Larva: A Midsummer Night's Babel by Julián Ríos
2.0
Some books are written to tell an amazing story. Some books are written to paint amazing pictures with their prose. Some books are written to show off with word play and make the reader's brain work hard. This last group is my least favorite kind, and Larva is a perfect example. I should have taken it as a warning that one of the critics said it was inspired by Finnegan's Wake.
The story (and I use that term loosely) is about a masquerade party in an abandoned mansion in London. A Don Juan character is chasing a masked Sleeping Beauty. We are introduced to character after character and there is an overt sexuality to the whole text (because of Don Juan? perhaps).
Now, the reason I stuck with it and why I can appreciate it (to a point) is because the language and word play is incredibly inventive. Rios regularly blends words together- "serpententrations", "savoraciously" and changes the spelling ("fournication") to convey double meaning. It's clever and witty and funny... and exhausting. Instead of immersing myself in a story, my brain was always working on overdrive. I had to read in small doses and by the end, I just wanted it to be over.
I can imagine the translation of this book took an extraordinary amount of work. I tip my hat to the author and translators.
Food: an all-night pub crawl with everyone speaking at least two languages. It takes some effort even from the beginning, but by the end, it's all a blur.
The story (and I use that term loosely) is about a masquerade party in an abandoned mansion in London. A Don Juan character is chasing a masked Sleeping Beauty. We are introduced to character after character and there is an overt sexuality to the whole text (because of Don Juan? perhaps).
Now, the reason I stuck with it and why I can appreciate it (to a point) is because the language and word play is incredibly inventive. Rios regularly blends words together- "serpententrations", "savoraciously" and changes the spelling ("fournication") to convey double meaning. It's clever and witty and funny... and exhausting. Instead of immersing myself in a story, my brain was always working on overdrive. I had to read in small doses and by the end, I just wanted it to be over.
I can imagine the translation of this book took an extraordinary amount of work. I tip my hat to the author and translators.
Food: an all-night pub crawl with everyone speaking at least two languages. It takes some effort even from the beginning, but by the end, it's all a blur.