Los amantes de Todos los Santos. (The Lovers of All Saints’ Day)
Reviewed by Bruce Jensen, South Texas Coll. Lib., McAllen, TX -- Críticas, 8/15/2008 8:56:00 AM
Vásquez, Juan Gabriel.
Spain: Alfaguara: Santillana. 2008. 215p. ISBN 978-958-704-738-7. pap. $24.95. STORIES
With the addition of two stories to Alfaguara Colombia’s 2001 edition of the same title, this nuanced collection by the young native Colombian author and translator maintains the integrity of tone, themes, and settings that distinguished the earlier volume. These seven stories all take place in France and Belgium, many in the Ardennes region; Vásquez lived there for a year after studying at the Sorbonne. Each achingly well-crafted story involves difficult man-woman relationships in moments of tension, most from the perspective of the male character—with some intriguing exceptions. One is “El regreso” (“The Return”), whichtraces the lifelong anguish of an aged French spinster who cares more deeply for her family’s house than for any person. After killing her sister’s fiancé because of his designs on the estate, she spends decades looking forward to a return {of whom?? too vague??] that ultimately breaks her heart. Several stories incorporate the rituals of hunting in the Ardennes. For instance, the title piece chronicles the back-and-forth of a dissolving marriage, with an aborted search for a wounded bird serving as a powerfully revealing motif illustrating the couple’s tensions. In “El inquilino” (“The Lodger”), a love triangle spanning decades culminates in a deadly, dubious hunting accident whose aftermath the author sketches with delicate restraint. The two added stories fit comfortably. The triangle of “La soledad del mago” (“The Loneliness of the Magician”) involves a hunter, his pregnant wife, and a young sleight-of-hand artist whose ultimate trick is profoundly life-changing. “Lugares para esconderse” (“Hiding Places”) deftly weaves a trout-fishing scene into a portrait of a complex couple. Recommended for libraries and bookstores.
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