Los hombres invisibles. (Invisible Men)
Reviewed by Catherine Rendón, Savannah, GA -- Críticas, 4/1/2008
Mendoza, Mario.
Colombia: Planeta. 2007. 303p. ISBN: 978-958-42-1650-2. pap. $19.95. FICTION
An important new voice, Mendoza (b. Colombia, 1964) has won numerous awards, including Seix Barral’s Premio Biblioteca Breve in 2002. Mendoza has generally written about the grittiness of urban settings, particularly of his native Bogotá, but for this novel he goes into Colombia’s hinterlands. Here, Gerardo Montenegro is an unsuccessful actor who suffers a mental breakdown after being dumped by his wife. He reconnects with his mother, but she suddenly dies at a mental institution after a long battle with depression. Through his mother’s fellow inmate, a retired anthropologist named Jesús María Castelblanco, Montenegro learns about the so-called invisible men, a lost tribe in the Colombian Amazon, and becomes obsessed with them. Inspired by the values of this nomadic group, vaguely based on the Nukak Maku, a real tribe that avoids the outside world as much as possible, the protagonist explores a simpler life beyond the parameters of modern life. Mendoza looks at how several characters—Montenegro’s miserly father, the kindly archaeologist, and Montenegro himself—attempt to break away from convention to achieve a new sort of freedom in their lives and how each does so with varying degrees of success. Mendoza adds a cutting edge to his story, incorporating the real concerns of modern Colombian life, such as kidnappings, and the ambivalence and paradoxes of guerrilla organizations, which despite their romantic self-perception as outlaws lead a life that is out of sync with both nature and mainstream society. Recommended for all libraries and bookstores.
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