Older Brother
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“This slim and vital novel is a tour de force; it will floor you, and lift you right the way up—I adored it.” —Claire-Louise Bennett , author of POND
During the summer of 2014, on one of the stormiest days on record to hit the coast of Uruguay, 31-year old Alejandro, lifeguard and younger brother of our protagonist and narrator, dies after being struck by lightning. This marks the opening of a novel that combines memoir and fiction, unveiling an intimate exploration of the brotherly bond, while laying bare the effects that death can have on those closest to us and also on ourselves.It’s always the happiest and most talented who die young. People who die young are always the happiest of all…Can grief be put into words? Can we truly rationalise death to the point of embracing it? Older Brother is the vehicle Mella uses to tackle these fundamental questions, playing with tenses and narrating in the future, as if all calamities described are yet to unfold. In a style reminiscent of Bret Easton Ellis and J.D. Salinger, recalling in parts Cronenberg’s or Burgess’s examination of violence and society, Mella takes us with him in this dizzying journey right into the centre of his own neurosis and obsessions, where fatality is skilfully used to progressively draw the reader further in.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Uruguayan author Mella's irreverent, recursive English-language debut, a writer named Dani describes the aftermath of his younger brother's death three years earlier, by lightning strike. Mella changes tense fluidly, holding the moment the family hears the news about Dani's brother, Alejandro ("Ale"), in suspension. Ale, a surfer and lifeguard who died at 31, was larger than life, though "he had a sadness deep inside him," their mother says, vacillating between acceptance and denial. Initially, she asks Dani to text Ale and ask him to tell them it wasn't him who was killed (instead, Dani writes, "I love you, cocksucker"). After their messy reactions to the news (Dani resents his ex-wife's condolences and claims he's now the oldest sibling, despite having an older sister), the family sits around and talks, sharing moments of guilt, anger, and longing as they consider their feelings about death. Mella plays with the line between autobiography and fiction, referencing titles of his previous Uruguayan publications as work written by Dani, while in a metafiction moment, he assures his mother he will disguise her in the text. Mella clearly captures the sharp moment of initial grief and the ways in which it can alter lives. This potent reflection on loss will stay with readers.
