Sretna sam

Opendoor (Edicije Božičević), traducida por Matija Janeš, en las mejores librerías de Zagreb, Croacia.

Glavna junakinja, mlada zaposlenica veterinarske klinike u Buenos Airesu, dobiva zadatak da u malom mjestu Open Door pregleda bolesna konja. Po povratku u grad biva svjedokom samoubojstva skokom s mosta, a njezina partnerica netragom nestaje. Put je vodi nazad u Open Door, mjesto koje nosi ime po klinici za psihičke bolesnike otvorena tipa i čiju povijest junakinja malo-pomalo otkriva. Život s vlasnikom konja, susret sa zavodljivom tinejdžerkom, odlasci u gradsku mrtvačnicu na identifikaciju tijela od kojih nijedno nije ono njezine nestale partnerice, predavanje užicima i otkrivanje života u ruralnoj sredini čine svakodnevicu ove antijunakinje koja svakom stranicom postaje sve začudnija. Majstorskim stilom, osjećajem za detalj, rečenicom nabijenom mirisima, zvukovima, okusima, čime se Havilio u svome prvijencu pokazuje kao vrstan pripovjedač, suptilno se brišu granice između sela i grada, tradicije i modernosti, zdravog i bolesnog, privatnog i javnog, stapajući se u jedinstvenu priču o potrazi za vlastitim mjestom pod suncem.    

Opendoor nije višeglasni roman, već niz samotnih pjesama u intimnu tonu. Priča za razmišljanje koju nećete brzo zaboraviti.                                                 El País 

Ljepotom detalja i sablasnom atmosferom Iosi Havilio daje očaravajući doprinos književnosti samotnjaka.                                                                                              Chloe Aridjis, autorica Knjige oblaka  

Opendoor je zbunjujuća, potresna i nadasve uzbudljiva knjiga. Hvalospjev potrazi za samoćom, kao i besmislenosti te potrage.                                                eleutherophobia.wordpress.com   

Dvosmislena priča koja graniči s crnom komedijom... Vješto i suptilno, roman upozorava na obmanu slobode na koju je nasjeo gotovo cijeli svijet.         

Apocalypse Now

The Independent

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Paradises by Iosi Havilio, trans. by Beth Fowler - book review: 

'Haunting tale set in the aftermath of an apocalypse'

by AMANDA HOPKINSON 

Iosi Havilio has caused a literary storm in Argentina, and attracted recommendations from authors as distinct as Rodolfo Fogwill and Beatriz Sarlo. This third volume of a trilogy which began in 2006 with Open Door is related in the voice of an unnamed single mother forced off land on the city outskirts by developers, who moves into downtown Buenos Aires, first into a hostel then a squat, to work double shifts as a carer and a zookeeper.

Change is prompted by loss: of a brutal older husband, Jaime, father of a toddler, Simon; of homes, jobs, close companions, a stolen pet iguana. Her journey proves as labyrinthine as the reptile house inhabited by the curvaceous snakes that infect the "paradises" of the title. Paradises also refers to the little square near El Bulti, the squatted tower block, a graveyard as well as a playground.

The cast of human characters in El Bulti include Tosca, who has a grossly outsized body and a giant malignant tumour, and her encephalitic son. Herbert, Simon's older friend, is also his torturer. A gang of youths do brisk business in drugs and violence in an environment where crime and punishment are indistinguishable. Yessica and Canetti, her fellow zoo-keepers, echo the alternately laconic and aggressively predatory behaviour of their charges. And Eloisa, who first appeared in the prequel to Paradises, maintains her mission of seduction and corruption of the narrator.

She, however, has altered little since her previous appearances. In a mirror image of the earlier novels she returns from countryside to city, becoming attached to a good woman (Iris, a similarly displaced – Roumanian – character, who helps care for Simon) rather than a brutish man. Her story is related in a continuous present tense without reference to either past or future.

Life on the margins is illustrated by a game of dominos ending in two interrogation marks. The book is related in a questioning monotone, never either querulous or monotonous. "I carry on, to everyone else's rhythm: this is seemingly what I have to do." Such passivity entails high risks, but the alternative – decision, then action – appears even less attractive.

This slice of life offers no conclusive resolution. Havilio's creation is of an inverted "paradise", urban squalor a pole apart from the gardens of Paradise. It well reflects the inequalities and iniquities left by Argentina's financial collapse at the turn of this century. This is the aftermath of an apocalypse
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Enigmas

Open Door 

Comentario de Nicholas Greco en su blog + link a descarga gratis del e-book. 

I've just finished reading Open Door. I'm not sure why I started reading it, though I suspect the description of the book caught my eye. I like to think of myself as a bit of a Romantic, and irrational (in a good way), but I'm not sure that this book was worth my time. I should say, though, that I kept reading it, which points to something; the book was able to hold my attention, doing what few books seem to be able to do. There is a scene that seems to stick with me, though: the protagonist goes to the local library in order to find historical information regarding the local insane asylum. She spies, then, the librarian crying in the bathroom with cuts on her ears. The scene ends with no explanation, nor is any given throughout the book.

I'm all for powerful and fantastical images, but I would have liked a bit more context to moments like this. The book carried me on, and encouraged me to turn the page, but perhaps it was only my desire for resolution of the enigmas presented therein. This is not necessarily a bad thing. 

In any case, if anyone is interested in reading the book, it is freely available in electronic format from Noisetrade.