Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor | International Booker Prize 2020 Review
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- čas přidán 25. 04. 2020
- Hi Guys, it's Kamil here and today I'm coming to you with my ninth review of the International Booker Prize longlisted book.
This time we will talk about the audience's favorite, probably the most widely appreciated and read book on the list, Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor translated by Sophie Hughs
This video is part of the project of reading and reviewing all International Booker Prize 2020 longlisted books, the next one coming up is The Little Eyes.
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Goodreads:
Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (Goodreads Author), Sophie Hughes (Translator)
/ hurricane-season
Reviews Links and Posting Schedule
Sunday, 15th of March:
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar
Review: • The Enlightenment of t...
Goodreads: / 35708940
Wednesday, 18th of March
The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Review: • The Adventures of Chin...
Goodreads: / the-adventures-of-chin...
Sunday 22nd, of March
The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, Michele Hutchison (Goodreads Author) (Translator)
Review: • The Discomfort of Even...
Goodreads: / the-discomfort-of-evening
Sunday 29th of March
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, Stephen Snyder (Translator)
Review: • The Memory Police by Y...
Goodreads: / the-memory-police
Sunday 5th of April
The Eighth Life: for Brilka by Nino Haratischwili, Charlotte Collins (Translator),
Review: • The Eighth Life by Nin...
Goodreads: / the-eighth-life
Thursday the 9th of April
Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann
Review: • Tyll by Daniel Kehlman...
Goodreads: / tyll
Monday 13th of April
Mac and His Problem by Enrique Vila-Matas, Margaret Jull Costa (Translator), Sophie Hughes (Translator)
Review: • Mac and His Problem by...
Goodreads: / mac-and-his-problem
Saturday 25th of April
Red Dog by Willem Anker
Review: • Red Dog by Willem Anke...
Goodreads: / red-dog
Sunday 26th of April
Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
/ temporada-de-huracanes
Sunday 30th of April
Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin
/ little-eyes
3rd of May
The Other Name: Septology I-II (Septologien #1-2) by Jon Fosse,
/ the-other-name
10th of May
Faces on the Tip of My Tongue by Emmanuelle Pagano, Jennifer Higgins (Translator), Sophie Lewis (Translator)
/ faces-on-the-tip-of-my...
17th of May
Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq
/ serotonin
#internationalbooker2020 #finestfiction #translatedfiction
Incredible review! I’m so pleased that you like it as well. I wrote this in my review, but the Guardian called it “fiction with the brakes cut off” and that’s what I refer to this book as now. It’s in your face and it doesn’t shy away from anything. I love the long, suffocating sentences and the fantastical vs the chisme. So good.
Thank you Brooke, I love that comment from Guardian. Absolutely agree. I'm now in the team "Melchor for the Booker win" ;-)
Sounds like my type of writing 😊
Dzięki za recenzję!
Dagmara
My sense is that Memory Police is more widely read than any other book on the list but that’s not based on any actual figures. It’s great how you describe the layering of narration and how money (or a lack of it) underpins much of the action. I loved the propulsive intensity of this novel the most. It’s so vivid it just grabbed me. It’s probably my favourite on the list too.
Your feelings about The Memory Police being more widely read are most probably correct, somehow that one skipped my mind, but I guess overall this one has more uniform applause. Although having said that in the review I already had two comments from my CZcams friends that didn’t like it. Another lesson, never to generalise :)
I loved this feverish atmosphere too. It felt like such vivid organism. And it was such a nice change to be grabbed by a novel after I read Red Dog for which I had to work so much when reading.
WhatKamilReads Phew, you make me relieved I’ve not taken the time to read Red Dog yet. 😅
I have this lined up on kindle and you have got me quite excited for it. Thank you.
It’s great to hear that. Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did
Great review Kamil. I’m ordering it today. I’ve spent some time in Mexico and have lived through hurricanes so I feel as if I would understand this book. Your description sounds like things I’ve seen. Deb
Thank you Deb. Oh that sounds very interesting. Your experience of Mexico will add a very interesting perspective when reading a novel.
Deborah McDonald I wonder if you read it and what you thought about it
Hi Kamil - I love your new section "The Writing Style". :) This review shows that Fernanda Melchor's 'Hurricane Season' is everything I hoped it would be - a sweeping and complex canvas of exploitation, corruption, sensuality, challenges to and embracing cultural pride and a determination to eke out a private life (even if not successful). The novel sits on my bedside table, and it will be the next one I pick up. I love this novel and Azar's 'The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree' engage folklore and other past forms of story-telling in their more modern contexts (well, Azar's is the late 70s principally). Perhaps this is part of a new wave or extension of magic realism? While you were giving your review, the director Fernando Meirelles came to mind (I know he's not Mexican) - in the film world, he has a gift for energy and pace, as well as focusing on vaunting minorities, unveiling corporate greed yet not all in a judgmental way but in one that is critical and compassionate...I loved his film version of The Constant Gardener, which is one of the best book-to-film adaptations I've ever seen. You're doing such a splendid job of reviewing the long list of the International Booker Prize!!
Hi Shaun.
You are doing a great job watching my reviews ;-) I really do appreciate all your thoughtful comments.
Yes Azar is quite successful in bringing into the novel the tradition she grew up within, both, in form of the history and storytelling (One Thousand and One Nights) but we have been observing it since the beginning of postcolonial writing, I believe the incorporation of those elements into literature. Achebe did that in his works, it wasn't magical realism of course, but Hurricane Season isn't either. In both works, though the folklore and local believe play an important role. More so in Achebe's than Melchior's work as the latter is a realistic narration and therefore strongly affected by modernity and capitalism. I love Meirelles work, especially those movies from the first decade of the 21st century. Constant Gardener and City of God being my favorite. You made a great point about his work addressing corporate greed, especially in Constant Gardener. I remember I was ve moved with that move.
Eating breakfast while listening to the first lines. Perfect timing. I haven't read it, but I'd be interested enough to at least borrow it.
It’s really good. You should not be disappointed
I like nonlinear sequence of plot showing different perspectives of both the perpetrators and victims. I love this book and somehow I hope it wins.
This is definitely a very strong novel, there are four books I loved from the longlist, this one, the adventures of china iron, the enlightenment, and fosse's The Other Name being my favourite.
Great job, Kamil. I saved this one til after I read the book. You did a great job of summarising it, I wouldn't know where to begin to describe it. I guess you'd be straying into spoilers to get into the LGBT+ stuff but I thought that was all dealt with in a really interesting way too. I loved the frenetic nature of the writing, and how compulsive it is to read. I did start to feel by the end that it was a bit glorifying but maybe that's just my discomfort speaking. It made me kinda nauseous which I think was testament to how effectively it's written.
My main bugbear was in a couple of the translation choices, particularly the use of British slang in this translation (I assume Hughes did American equivalents for the New Directions edition but I haven't confirmed that). On one hand I liked seeing some equivalent phrases used ("grassed up" as a Britishism for snitching, etc) but at the same time I know the slang must be really poetic in Mexican Spanish and I wanted to read it (like how Diaz uses a lot of Dominican slang in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao). It's a trade-off but I found some of the British slang a bit cold.
I found the LGBTQ part stellar in execution. However, exactly for that reason I didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted for everybody to have the pleasure of discovering it by themselves. Even though I believe that good literature cannot really be spoiled but in this case the discovery and uncovering layer after layer of that subplot definitely brings pleasure.
I don’t have such a sensitive ear for the language, unfortunately. One of the reasons I always feel the imposter syndrome and wonder if I shouldn’t only read in Polish... on the other hand one needs to push oneself.
This was already on my wishlist but I was a bit iffy about it because of some awful reviews I have been seeing here and there, but I think you persuaded me with this riveting video. The dealbreaker for me was the fact that it would make a great movie by Iñárritu! From the tone of this book, Fernanda Melchor must have read lots of Juan Rulfo, as her bleakness and violence really reminded of The Burning Plain, one of the most depressing short story collections I ever tried to read.
Thank you very much Paula. I loved it, but there are some that found the writing annoying.
Thank you for recommending Juan Rufalo if anything close to that I need to pick it up.
@@WhatKamilReads Thanks, Paula! I will also look around for Juan Rolfo's The Burning Plain.
Sorry if you have already read them, but I highly recommend Mariana Enriquez's book of short stories "The dangers of smoking in bed" and Gabriela Cabezón Cámara "Slum Virgin" if you are interested in the topics covered by "Hurricane Season". Violence, drugs, prostitution, crime, women and children being sexually abused and killed, injustice, are a plague in all Latin America. A fact that I want to highlight is how La Bruja has no name. I think that the author tries to display how poor people are considered by the Latin American governments: they are believed to be just numbers, they are ignored and marginalized, there are even slums (here they are called "villas") surrounding the capital city that don't have water service.
I really liked Melchor's way to tell the story. But sadly, the topics are too real for me as a Latin American. (I'm from Argentina)
Very helpful review, and this was also undoubtedly my favourite as well; I couldn't put it down.
The thing that struck me most about the novel was the ambiguity with respect to the gender identity of the Witch. For the first half of the book we are led to believe that she's female, without question, but in the latter half it becomes more unclear. Female? A feminine gay man? Trans? I think it's deliberately left unclear to reflect the way in which hyper-masculinity always end up persecuting that which is perceived as feminine.
I think this is further explored in Brando's fear that what happened between him and Luismi be found out. This seems to me the main driving force for his desire to escape.
Yes, I agree that the LGBTQ element was greatly done, I didn't want to spoil the fun of discovering that so I decided not to talk about it in the video, but I agree with everything you wrote.
this was a really important element of the book for me too. When Fernanda first introduced the possibility of the witch being trans, I felt concerned that yet again a trans character was being depicted as a crazy and potentially dangerous witch. (this isn’t how I saw the witch, as she never harmed anyone and there were many tender moments showing her care for the community, both men and women, but you know what i mean!) as the story continued, and as I’ve listened to interviews and discussions of the book, I feel that within the context of this story, the ambiguity of her gender, the complete lack of understanding from the men and the fearful ignorant way that they perceive her is so complex and effective in showing the lgbt issues in the story and the world . It’s more than a shame that so many films have represented the trans community so poorly that I have my back up. This book is so amazing I can’t stop thinking about it! Thanks for a great review and a place to discuss and learn more
I have not read it yet, but now I am eager to do so!
Let me know how it goes.
Great review as always, but l.didnt really like this one , l didn't finish it , l kind of agree with Marc Nash , the writing style and pace was off putting but most likely be in the minority. Will be interesting to see who wins !! Enjoying this series of reviews very much. 👍👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you Leoni. Lovely to hear that. Would you mind telling me why was it off putting? What’s your favourite from the short list?
This sounds like a great book, I hope I can find it somewhere somehow in this lockdown...
This is really a great one. Yes lock down complicates things. Which country do you live in if I may ask?
@@WhatKamilReads In the Netherlands
@@drawyourbook876 you can buy it in amazon
Soda Cushion I don’t like to buy things on amazon, I will try to find it in my local bookstore or library instead
I'm afraid I didn't get on with novel at all Kamil. It was all of one tone, shrill (exacerbated by the run on sentences) and while it represented its world I believe authentically, it was utterly without light and shade
I loved those run-on sentences, I felt it fit the plot perfectly.
We agree in case of a lot of novels (Children Archive, Milkman etc), so a few we don't agree on, the others being Houellebecq, (I think you like him, right?) and Grossman I find A Horse Walks into a Bar fantastic (you don't), it will not tear us apart, right? :-)
Sorry Marc, was on my Polish account :) That's still me Kamil
@@osleuszy428 of course not :-) I rather think I'm in the minority on his one as I know Eric really liked it as well
I think the writing style is what really made me finished the book. The other aspect,I was feeling so much.. I wouldn't want to watch this movie.
Why wouldn't you want to watch it?
@@WhatKamilReads
Too bleak.
Have got a question,what is the gender of the witch?
It was explicitly stated and a guardian review also had the same doubt that I did.
www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/25/hurricane-season-fernanda-melchor-review