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A review by pinxsol
The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate
5.0
I kind of managed to forget that Dracula lived in Romania, a slavic country, silly me. So, this book. coughs into fist This book. Is a gift to slavic queers. It really is. Jokes aside, though, it is for the people who live in a world where being queer is a crime. The author of this novella obviously was well acquainted with that one (as do many queer people), and it's really resonant throughout the novella.
The story follows a captain of the ship who was to deliver Dracula to Britain. The first two chapters of the story deserve their own standing applause. It's just longing of a gay captain. And it's amazing. It's sexual, intimate, shameless in a way you can't allow yourself to be (to think, sometimes) when you're queer.
I also see it as a social commentary. Not only of the slavic society but the author's own. The reading experience felt deeply personal to me. It touched something in me that I didn't even know had been neglected.
The story follows a captain of the ship who was to deliver Dracula to Britain. The first two chapters of the story deserve their own standing applause. It's just longing of a gay captain. And it's amazing. It's sexual, intimate, shameless in a way you can't allow yourself to be (to think, sometimes) when you're queer.
I also see it as a social commentary. Not only of the slavic society but the author's own. The reading experience felt deeply personal to me. It touched something in me that I didn't even know had been neglected.