Two years ago, I read "Paradais" by Mexican author Fernanda Melchor and I really liked it. So I was more than happy when the English translation of "Hurricane Season" was published. Again with thanks to publishing company Fitzcarraldo for investing in the translation of great non-English literature.
Somewhere in a Mexican town, the dead body of the Witch is found in a ditch. The novel gives us the various perspectives of all the main characters in the context of this event, in a wonderful and lyrical kaleidoscope of views and experiences.
The novel starts with a long 'monologue intérieur' by a kind of non-participating observer, whose long and ranting sentences betray a strong moral judgment and emotional connection to the murdered Witch. Because of its impersonal approach, this introduction may be somewhat off-putting, but then the story opens up gradually, by adding the direct experiences of the characters who orbit around the Witch: Yesenia, her cousion and good-for nothing Luismi, who left the Witch's home the morning her body was found together with his stepfather Munra; his friend Brando, tormented by secret lust; and Lusimi's lover, Norma, a 13-year-old runaway carrying her stepfather’s baby.
Life in the village is one of extreme poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, sexual abuse, theft and total disrespect for other people. It is a life of survival and other people only exist for the characters' personal gratification and utility. The story was actually based on true events, and the intention was to write a non-fiction investigation of the murder, but Melchor soon realised that her presence to dig up the details of the murder could be highly dangerous, thus resorting a more fictitious approach of the event.
Despite the squalour of life in the village, Melchor manages to create a lot of empathy even for the vilest of the people in her narrative. They are the victims of a situation for which they are not responsible: they are poor, uneducated, ignorant and they often make the wrong decisions, choosing immediate gratification over longer term solutions. Everyone is evil and nobody is. And her writing style is so direct and colloquial that it drives the action forward as if you were part of it all. You can also appreciate the work of the translator to keep language like this one close to its original:
"Got to keep your wits about you in this world, she pontificated. You-drop your guard for a second and they'll crush you, Clarita, so you better just tell that fuckwit out there to buy you some clothes. Don't you be anyone's fool, that's what men are like: a bunch of lazy spongers who you have to keep rounding up to squeeze any use out of them, and that kid's no different; either you tell the little shit what's what or he'll spend all the money on drugs, and before you know it you're the cunt providing for him, Clarita. I'm telling you because I know the little prick, I know him and his tricks alright... I pushed him out! So don't you go losing your head on me, you hear? You've gotta tell him, you tell him to buy you clothes, give you spending money and take you out in Villa, you've gotta keep men like that on a tight leash, keep them busy to stop them coming out with all their shit. Norma nodded, but she had to raise a hand to her mouth to hide her smile when Chabela stopped talking for a second and the pair of them heard thundering snores coming from the man sleeping in the living room. Fucking Clarita, I see you pissing yourself laughing, you silly bitch, Chabela said, although she was also smiling, baring her big yellow teeth." (p.109)
There is beauty in this. That Melchor's magic.
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