In his native Columbia, โGaboโ is the most famous man alive (the most famous woman being his friend and fan Shakira). This is the book that made him a global figure and the story has almost become part of folklore, something that really happened. Thatโs odd, because itโs about a family curse, a book that foretells the future and the weather defying reason to help the people against a foreign companyโs dominion. Along the way thereโs a girl so pure that she ascends to heaven to evade lustful men and a boy born with a pigโs tail because his parents were too closely related. (See, I told you Middlesex was influenced by this tradition, and probably this very book).
Youโre not supposed to read this the way you would a departure-lounge thriller. Neither are you to read it as a Worthy Tome. Amazon have it listed as a childrenโs book. Our libraryโs copy has clearly never been opened but just sat on a shelf making its former owner look clever. In Britain, more people talk about this kind of book than actually read them but, as I indicated, these arenโt forbiddingly difficult, just a bit unfamiliar. In Columbia, the bookโs something taxi-drivers have all read. English-reading audiences are used to something a bit more well-behaved, with clearly-defined generic boxes to put things in and a linear progression. You have Historical Fiction over here and Fantasy over here and Family Saga over here and so on. Even delineating clear boundaries for what is and isnโt Magic Realism is an attempt to tame writers who donโt fit the booksellerโs neat categories. Most of my favourite books are exercises in taxonomy-evasion. Just to confuse matters, many of the details in the novel are taken from real events and situations. Thereโs research in between all the fairytale elements, and genuine, uncompromising anger at the causes of these past injustices. To confuse matters further, the main family in this saga tend to give their sons the same names across generations, so there are โAurelianoโs and โArcadioโs hither and yon. Itโs confused more than a few readers:
You might want to take notes on your first go, or just flag up anything you canโt follow for next time. The reasons why this book is the way it is are complex and connected to Columbiaโs murky and bloody history (and, at the time it was written, present) but itโs as much as anything a book where people who inflict their stories on others come unstuck. To paraphrase an old 70s slogan: objectivity is European/ yanqui subjectivity. Malgudi is an island (sort of) upon which one man thought he could impose his will and vision of the world. Thatโs about all the help youโll need for a first reading. Enjoy the ride and then maybe come back to it, armed with the copious online resources โ which I recommend you steer clear of beforehandโฆ yes, even Oprah โ and see what else was in it.
By Tat Wood