What do You think about Mascara: A Novel (2004)?
chilean novelist ariel dorfman, like many of his contemporaries, was forced into exile following the 1973 coup. too, like many of his fellow latin american writers, he is grossly neglected by many (if not most) in english-speaking countries. he currently teaches in north carolina at duke university.mascara, in many ways, defies traditional classification as a novel. it explores identity, the individual, anonymity, aesthetics, appearances, betrayal, beauty, modern culture, and the media. the narrative, told mostly in the first person, is infused with an inertia that propels the story onward at a commanding pace. dorfman, through an obfuscated and unnamed character, is able to craft a story of intrigue and import. it is one in which the reader is left to assert for him or herself the ever-growing effects of a culture that values the facade over substance, the form over the function. it is, perhaps, all the more modern now than when he wrote it some twenty years ago. in too many ways, there is a tragic, nearly horrific, aspect to the novel as a whole.dorfman writes tantalizingly well, and leads the reader to places unexpected, all but forcing one to confront the many things he has left unsaid. though the story is a simple one, there is a complexity and richness that unfurls only upon further thought. the seven stories press edition has an elucidating afterword by nobel laureate j.m. coetzee.
—jeremy
