Descripción editorial
This novel focuses on a group of characters who are all in different ways endeavouring to take control of their fate. Their desire to lead a genuine existence forces them to confront difficult decisions, and to break out of comfortable routines.Karl and Marina have been together for ten years and have a young son, Simón. Karl is a German-born oboist at Argentina’s national orchestra, and Marina is a meteorologist. On a field trip, she meets fellow researcher Zárate, and what might have been just a fling starts to erode the foundations of her marriage. Then there is Amer, a dynamic and successful taxidermist. At a group therapy session for smokers, Amer falls for the younger Clara. While the relationship between Karl and Marina disintegrates, the love story between Amer and Clara is just beginning – or is it already at an end? One of Argentina’s leading contemporary writers, Jorge Consiglio portrays the inner worlds of these characters through the minute details of their everyday lives, laying bare their strivings and their frustrations with a wry gaze, and seeking in this close-up texture a deeper truth.
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Argentine novelist Consiglio (Southerly) offers a moving testament to the beauty and banality of human relationships. In an opening note, Consiglio muses on the mystery of whether events are determined by fate or chance, and cites the film The Third Man as inspiration for the atmospheric tone. Consiglio's four protagonists crisscross modern-day Buenos Aires: Marina Kezelman, a meteorologist embarking on an affair, drinks coffee and consults an I Ching app; later, her husband, Karl, goes to the park with their son, where he narrowly avoids collision with a frisbee. Meanwhile, Amer, an aging taxidermist, endeavors to nourish his budding romance with the noncommittal Clara. Amer prepares guacamole after work; Karl eats two chocolate bars while shopping for his wife's birthday present; Marina Kezelman orders an oat muffin in the airport. These ordinary actions move Consiglio's characters along and enact consequences of ambiguous provenance and irresistible force. Throughout, the power of the quotidian is harnessed by the prose ("Everything fastened together in a joyful line. Something unstoppable: a chain of wise choices and well-being"). This subtle, swiftly executed accomplishment lures with its aura of classic art house cinema.
