This is my contribution to Small Press September, hosted by Bibliosa. Do head over to her blog to read all about it and join in! The novels are also two more stops on my Around the World in 80 Books Reading Challenge, hosted by Hard Book Habit.
Firstly, Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos (tr.Rosalind Harvey, 2011), which I picked up after reading Shoshi’s excellent review. It is published by And Other Stories, a not-for-private-profit company which concentrates mainly on translated fiction. That sentence makes me feel better about the world 🙂
Back to the novel: Tochtli (rabbit in Nahuatl, an indigenous language of Mexico), tells us about his love of samurai films, hats, learning new words, and his life as the young son of a drug baron, Yolcaut (rattlesnake).
“I think we have a very good gang. I have proof. Gangs are all about solidarity. So solidarity means that because I like hats, Yolcaut buys me hats, lots of hats, so many that I have a collection from all over the world and all periods of the world. Although now more than new hats what I want is Liberian pygmy hippopotamus. I’ve already written it down on the list of things I want and given it to Miztli. That’s how we always do it, because I don’t go out much, so Miztli buys me all the things I want on orders from Yolcaut.”
The isolation is a necessary part of his father’s business, whose paranoia is an occupational hazard that is no doubt keeping them all alive. The tragic effect that this is having on young Tochtli becomes increasingly apparent as the story progresses. Tochtli accepts his life, knowing no different, but to the adult reader he displays worrying signs of severe anxiety: wanting his head shaved because he doesn’t want ‘dead’ hair on him, compulsively wearing hats, constant severe stomach pains, and later, after he sees something his father tried to keep hidden, selective mutism. He also takes violence pretty much in his stride:
“One of the things I’ve learnt from Yolcaut is that sometimes people don’t turn into corpses with just one bullet. Sometimes they need three or even fourteen bullets. It all depends where you aim them. If you put two bullets in their brains they’ll die for sure. But you can put up to 1,000 bullets in their hair and nothing will happen, though it might be fun to watch.”
Although dealing with extremely serious subject matter, there is humour is the novel, such as Tochtli’s description of the preparation for a drug run to Liberia which he also goes on in order to get one of his beloved pygmy hippos:
“By the way, Franklin Gomez started being Franklin Gomez yesterday in the airport. That’s what his passport from the country of Honduras says: Franklin Gomez. There were problems because Franklin Gomez didn’t want to be Franklin Gomez. Until Winston Lopez convinced him.”
In such a short tale (70 pages in my edition)Villalobos effectively widens the narrative of drug trade away from the usual barons/dealers/ users paradigm to show how the fallout from the industry can reach far and wide, including devastating those too young to have a choice about their own involvement. It is a truly moving story, not about drugs (you can read an article by the author where he refutes the term narcoliteratura here), but about children trying to cope with the messy, corrupt world adults create around them: sadly, pretty much a universal theme.
Image from here
Secondly, The Notebook by Agota Kristof (1986, tr. Alan Sheridan, 1989) published by CB editions, a publishing house which focuses on short fiction, poetry and translations. Kristof was Hungarian but was exiled to French-speaking Switzerland in 1956, and wrote this, her first novel, in French.
Like Down the Rabbit Hole, The Notebook is told from a child’s point of view, in this instance twin boys – we never know their individual names and they always use the first-person plural – who are evacuated to live with their maternal grandmother in the countryside of an unnamed nation, but which is generally thought to be Hungary.
“We call her Grandmother. People call her the Witch. She calls us ‘sons of a bitch’…Grandmother never washes. She wipes her mouth with the corner of her shawl when she has finished eating and drinking. She doesn’t wear knickers. When she wants to urinate, she just stops wherever she happens to be, spreads her legs and pisses on the ground under her skirt.”
This woman shows them no love or affection (although as the novel progresses we learn to recognise the small signs that she does care for them) and life is tough. They work on her smallholding and undertake various psychological ‘exercises’ to try and adjust to their straightened circumstances.
“ ‘My darlings! My loves! My joy! My adorable little babies!’ When we remember these words, our eyes fill with tears. We must forget these words because, now, nobody says such words to us and because our memory of them is too heavy a burden to bear. So we begin our exercise again in a different way…By repeating them we make these words gradually lose their meaning and the pain that they carry in them is reduced.”
The tone of the narration is astonishing. As the boys become more and more detached in an effort to preserve themselves from the horrors they witness, the reader is faced with filling in the gaps regarding what is happening. The delivery is so matter-of-fact that more the once I found myself stopping, thinking ‘Wait a minute, what the…’, going back and finding that something devastating had been described and I’d nearly missed it.
“Words that define feelings are very vague; it is better to avoid using them and to stick to description of objects, human beings and oneself; that is to say, to the faithful description of facts.”
The Notebook is a shattering work, and a challenging read. Human relationships are warped under the pressures of war. More than once, these pretty, golden twins get drawn into adult sex games. A young girl who is named after her birth anomaly – Harelip is apparently her given name – engages in some truly upsetting sexual acts. A neighbour behaves with horrific cruelty toward a group of starving people (presumably Jewish prisoners) and the boys wreak a terrible revenge (which they never admit in the text but you know what has happened and why). It is a difficult read but a powerful one, which does not shy away from the damage done when the acts of nations cause individuals to lose sight of their humanity. It is a political book, but not a polemical one: the twins’ equanimity leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions.
“Later, we have our own army and government again, but our army and government are controlled by our Liberators. Their flag flies over all the public buildings. The photograph of their leader is displayed everywhere. They teach us their songs and their dances; they show us their films in our cinemas. In the schools, the language of our liberators is compulsory; other foreign languages are forbidden.”
Highly recommended, but go in prepared – brilliantly written and completely brutal.
The Notebook was adapted into a film in 2013, which completely passed me by. From this trailer it looks excellent, and thankfully laws protecting children and animals means certain scenes are guaranteed to have not been filmed, surely?
Small presses are great! I’ve been considering reading The Notebook but I do worry it will be too emotionally gruelling…
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Small presses *are* great! Its reassuring that in an industry that seems increasingly big money and commercial, they are doing interesting things.
The Notebook is gruelling but also brilliant – have a golden age mystery on standby for afterwards, to aid recovery!
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These both appeal to me.
I recently watched two films about children isolated by their families: The Wolfpack (doco) and Dogtooth, a wonderfully strange Greek film.
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They are both excellent – I hope you like them. I’ve not heard of those films, I’ll look out for them – thanks!
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And then there’s Room. Have you read that? I thought it was excellent.
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Yes, I thought Room was brilliant. I’ve not seen the film though.
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Neither have I but I’d like to.
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A great post featuring two very interesting choices. I like the idea of this initiative – anything that draws attention to small/independent presses has got to be good thing. 🙂
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Thanks Jacqui 🙂 I totally agree, it’s a great initiative by Bibliosa. Small presses are definitely worthy of the attention!
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This is awesome!! Thanks for making us all aware of these two reads, they both sound fantastic, and I will most definitely be adding them to the list. Books in translation make me happy to, and that is one thing that I’m noticing many indie presses are excelling at. I’d heard of And Other Stories, but CB Editions, is new to me, and I will most definitely be checking them out. Thanks for the contribution 🙂
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So glad you enjoyed the post! I really hope you like the books when you get to them.
I think you’re right, small presses do seem to be focusing on translated literature, which is great. CB Editions have a really interesting catalogue – its taking all my willpower not to spend money (a battle I’ll lose!)
Thanks so much for organising Small Press September, its great and it has reminded me to seek out those small press editions 🙂
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Both of these books sound brilliant but challenging. Having a golden age detective novel on hand for post traumatic first aid sounds like wise advice. I love the idea of seeking out great small press reads, so thanks for the heads up! 🙂
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Brilliant but challenging is right – I certainly had a book hangover! Small Press September has encouraged me to seek out more independent publishers too – I’ll be doing more of it 🙂
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They both sound intriguing, but the second one sounds way too brutal for me – thanks for the warning! 🙂
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You’re welcome – I had no idea what was getting into & it was a bit of a shock! It’s so well written but very disturbing.
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Great review. Both of them sound interesting. I like how you mentioned that the boys get detached in Notebook inorder to adjust to their situation. It is a realistic approach
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Yes, its very clear to an adult reader that this is what is happening and its cleverly reflected in the writing style. It felt very real and this is what made it so powerful.
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You’re seriously killing the Round the World challenge, aren’t you?!
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Whilst hastily drawing a veil over my lack of progress on my Le Monde reading challenge 😉
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Well, and I thought my grandmother was embarrassing all those times she got us thrown out of cafes as she’d buy tea but refused to pay for their sandwiches, so often smuggled in her own. Now I realise how lucky I am she bathed and wore knickers.
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It does help put family embarrassments in perspective!
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