Ever since I read The Sound
of Things Falling almost four year ago, everything that Columbian author Juan
Gabriel Vasquez has been of the upmost interest to me. That book, its dark
brilliance and dreamlike tragedy are only equaled, in my humble opinion by Roberto
Bolano’s 2666, and while that book is almost 900 pages, Vasquez brushed that
kind of greatness with less than 300. So I’m a bit disappointed that none of
his novels have been as good as that one, including this one (although this
comes as close to that level of greatness more than his other two novels, The
Informers and The Secret History of Costaguna). I was impressed last year by
his short story collection, Lover’s on All Saint’s Day, a slim collection of
sad and somber stories I have come to expect from this Vasquez, and was eager
to read this one, Reputations. It is the shortest of his novels, clocking in at
only 187 pages, but they are filled to the brim with revelations, regret and
sadness. It opens with Javier Mallarino getting his shoes shined on the eve of
receiving quite a high honor for his vocation of a newspaper cartoonist. It is
a startling scene of faded notoriety and reflection, but it is also the weakest
of the sections, having very little influence on the latter two. During the ceremony,
a woman posing as a journalist manipulates her way into his house and reveals
herself as someone from Javier’s past: a forgotten, buried memory that
terrifies him. What is revealed is convoluted but believable, and while you may
find Javier morally responsible for what actually happens, his musings and
guilt seem overdramatic to me. Really a mediation on futility and the downsides
of influence, this novel keeps my fascination for one of Latin America’s best
exports alive and kicking.
Rating: 4/5
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