This novel takes place in northwestern spain, Galicia, in the towns of compestela and coruna mainly, from 1936 to more or less now. Its cast of characters focus mainly on the very poor, but also the cops, franco and his wife Carmen, the secret police, rich people, tourists, fishermen and farmers and fishwives. To start off the “re-conquest” from liberal, progressive govt. the fascists started out burning all the books of the liberals of the town. That act chokes all that comes after, for you see, books burn badly. This excerpt takes place in the judges house. The judge is a fascist who has been uplifted by the franco regime (though he seems not such a bad sort, for a nazi). Neves is a maid, polka is a sometimes-servant, sometimes-tutor for the judges son, Gabriel, and polka is a subversive. Polka is teaching Gabriel not to stutter. ‘o’, is olinda, a washerwoman and sometimes-servant to the judge/judge’s family. This little vignette takes place about maybe 1940’s, or even early 1950’s, deep in the dictatorship of franco, and usa’s rapprochement (we just luuuvvv us our dictators). Luis terranova was a subversive too, but has been disappeared. He was always pushing things very far but was somewhat tolerated because of his wit and talent (but disappeared nonetheless).Rivas’ novel is incredibly dense, dreamy, trippy even. Perhaps this will give a good flavor of this incredible story:t“Neves accompanied the judge to the door. Polka, meanwhile, poured himself some coffee, which he sugared generously.t“ But you’re…..having….sugar!’ the boy protested.Polka winked.‘My words are re-turned already.’‘Phew! I’m glad he didn’t ask anything,’ sighed Neves when she came back.‘I’d have explained it all to him,’ said O. ‘We weren’t doing anything wrong.’‘He’s very particular,’ commented Neves in a low voice. ‘When he gets all authoritative, there’s nothing to be done. He walks with his bust on a pedestal.’Polka savored the last drop of sugary coffee. La dolce vita, he called those dregs. A phrase he’s heard from Luis Terranova. What had happed to Terranova, to that boy who was a diamond, a Gardel? He hoped he hadn’t had dealings with eternity.Polka savored the last drop as if it were an undying pleasure and then clicked his tongue.“What was the problem? He looked at me and didn’t see me.’He turned his face to Gabriel.‘Now you know. What you have to do is look and see. Give eyes their vision. Words their meaning. Come on. Let’s have another go. Say, ”With each note he played, the bagpiper made a polished diamond”.’Gabriel recited the sentence without getting stuck on the jingle. He didn’t choke on a single word. His voice sounded happy and singsong and the words contained everything they named.‘That’s it. That’s what I call many happy re-turns,’ Polka congratulated himself. ‘You have to find the right key for the lock.’He was emotional. He took Gabriel’s head in his hands as if he might lift it off his body and polish the sculpture. These were no sad verses, but the man’s eyes were wet. He heard Luis Terranova’s voice again. He was standing naked, a god in the nude, on top of Ara Solis. He mumbled that incomprehensible refrain Yamba, yambo, yambambe! As if it were Latin. Something Polka only did when he’d just killed a worm of fear.
A panic purchase and evidence perhaps that W.H. Smith's at Heathrow Airport might want to consider a more considered attitude toward supply chain management, this is far from a bad book but, at the risk of confirming people's opinion of me as a bit of a thicko, a really difficult one to get into.Each sentence is lovingly crafted - in the translation at least, although I have no reason to believe that the original Galician is any less accomplished - but therein lies the problem - if the author wanted to write a book of poetry, he should have written a book of poetry. A beautiful use of metaphor and imagery punctuates every pages but the text is comprised of a series of allusions and impressions, with narrative clinging on all too desperately - I like a difficult book but this was ridiculous.I blame Twitter for the diminishing of my attention span.
What do You think about Books Burn Badly (2010)?
At first I found the character portrayals frustrating; they were so distant, and so devoid of solid context that I couldn't keep track of them (names are used sparingly here -- the book is mostly structured as fuzzy and poetic montage of memories, and people are addressed differently--if at all--depending on who's speaking). It would have been difficult to get invested in them if Rivas didn't do such a good job of assigning them their own subtle and recognizable quirks, hopes and obsessions. The narrative struck a nice balance between intimacy and complete, almost aerial, removal.
—Naila
I can count the number of books I have started reading and not finished on the fingers of one hand. This book is one of them. I got to page 218 of 545 and realised that I just wasn't enjoying it. Normally when I'm reading a book I hate to put it down and can't wait to pick it up again. Not with this one - I hated picking it up.I think at times the book suffers from poor translation. Although I don't speak Galician, I do speak Spanish and Portuguese and I could often read the Galician wording below the English translation. As a translator, I do understand that this can give a text an 'exotic' or 'foreignised' flavour but for me it didn't work in this book.The thing I found most frustrating was not being able to keep track of which character the narrative was referring to. A chapter would start with one male character then a few pages later I would realise that the pronoun 'he' was now referring to a different male character and I would have to go back to work out who.This is a difficult book to read, with many unusual metaphors. I liked that they and one or two of them were very effective but very often they didn't work for me.
—Jane
I struggled with this book - because of the length and sheer beauty of the writing. I kept re-reading passages. I feel in love with the characters - Olinda, Polka, Hercules,Gabriel, and O. And the rest, such a melange of supporting characters that at times I found it hard going. But the sheer beauty of the prose - as a poet i found it quite intoxicating. I was sad when it ended, the author had transported me into another world that felt so real. Just like my first experience of Bolano, in fact. I'd like to read something else by Rivas - but it'd have to be shorter.
—Caroline
