daisyvb 's review for:

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

4.0

informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I'm going to riff off of a compliment delivered on the cover of my copy that uses a media comparison I don't have a frame of reference for, and instead say that this book is like an "Aztec The Thick of It," or an "Aztec Death of Stalin." This is a very high compliment as that show and film rank highly in my personal curriculum, and I do believe it to be an accurate parallel to draw. This book is an episodic farce that enjoys flitting between the different narrative threads in order to hold them up to the roaring sun so we may better snicker and also marvel at the clownish antics of the invaders versus the stoned facade of the empire they foolishly seek to ruin. Enrigue and his translator Natasha Wimmer do a wonderful job at creating a humid atmosphere, thick with the scent of flowers, mushrooms and salt; the magically real city and palace exist both within the scope of imagination and realm of what has been uncovered today, meaning we may wander around with our literary eyes alongside the soldiers and servants. I think this is the key to making this land, as if we were not truly able to immerse ourselves within the physical labyrinth of false walls and bathing pools, we would not be able to parse meaning from the spiritual maze of psychedelics and gods; and metaphorical tangle of politics and succession. You have to allow the language to wash over you, and flow with it, to best go with the story, but I think this book will suit revisiting again and again, and I enjoyed the prospect. Its only a shame we didn't get to spend longer within the world, but also, I think it was for the best. Good things in small doses, and besides, the longer we are there, the longer the colonisers are.