Eloy Urroz

Short translated novels can either pass right by you or hit you like a ton of bricks. The trajectory this one was on, straight for my midsection, was clear from the moment I saw it on a display on the second floor of the Longmont library. It has a simple, elegant design, and a structure that is clear and yet intricate. It follows two men: Luis Salerno, a contemporary man living in New York, self-exiled from Mexico, as he sorts through his memories and ideologies; and poet Luis Cernuda, who has fled Spain in 1938. Both men are ensnared by the romantic loves in their presents and pasts; Luis Salerno also lives in a network of family ties that are sometimes tight, sometimes cut. The narratives of both men center around fatherhood born of mourning. It is unclear whether redemption is available to both men, but in the end, it is offered to Salerno, and this feels to a reader like compensation enough.… (meer)