It is always kind of fun when all in the same day you hear about, buy (ebook), start to read, and finish a book.
A slight thing - 41 chapters for 170 pp, lots of white space on the page.
Having been a "field rep" for most of 30 years (in what we called "Library-Land" - I was not selling spockets!), this book, which is set around a father who is a travelling saleman, and his very young daughter, who accompanies him for a time, interested me when I heard about it. And I enjoyed as much as I expected to as well.
Narrated by a 7 year old girl for most of the book, and set in Pinochet's Chile. Yet it did not have a particular feel as being "Chile" - that is, other than the right wing, citizen led death squads.
Quirky and fun with some unique characters, and yet (obviously) serious as well.
I read an interview with Ferrada the same day as well, in which she railed a bit about the "Neoliberals" allowing the demise of the small family owned stores in little towns. So, the Walmart-ization of America was not just happening here, it was happening in South America, and elsewhere too I am sure, as well. Yet I never viewed the mega-chain stores that took over the street's marketplace as being "Neoliberal" (look at what they pay, and their lack of benefits). Was there some way this political "group" was supposed to be able to stop the changing economy?
While I understand that the novel concludes with an end to her childhood, and an acceptance of the end of a near fantasy world, I still have some issues with the now 15 year old narrator choosing never to see her failing father again. He prefers to attempt to make it appear that his old, now disappeared, world still exists - and she can not live in that fantasy any longer. But, at a time when he could use his daughter the most, she leaves him for good.
The novel's translation - well, when reading the book is effortless enough that you forget it is a translation, it usually means they have done a good, a very good, job. Elizabeth Bryer has. Enough that I went to take a look at what else she has translated (she has recently published her own first novel as well). She seems to have a penchant for female authors who set their novels in war torn, revolutionary, or violent settings.
Enjoy the read, I did!
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