“We’re all rotting in this country. Only the dead are saved.”
Current installment of Tommi Reads the World – we’re still in the Bs.
Country: Bolivia
Title: American Visa
Author: Juan de Recacoechea
Language: Spanish
Translator: Adrian Althoff
Publisher: Librería-Editorial Los Amigos Del Libro, 1994; English translation, Akashic Books, 2007
My journey to read books from every country continues, and this time, we find ourselves in Bolivia with a kafkaesque tale of Mario Alvarez, a high school English teacher trying to get a tourist visa to visit his son in America. Raymond Chandler influence is seen in both the author and the character. The seedy underbelly of bureaucracy and crimes quickly exposes itself in Recacoeachea’s “crime” thriller that is less heavy on crime and more absurdity and the struggle of the “everyman.” The novel reminded me a bit of Gary Shteyngar’s Absurdistan.
Mario’s papers are forged, like most, but his are good forgeries. When he finds out that they actually investigate the validity of the submitted paperwork because of the forgeries, he ducks out of the consulate office. He’s unsure of what he’ll do, but suicide is something he’s considered. What unfolds is the story of a man who self-sabotages at almost every turn, but who also seems largely to just go along with the flow. He starts a relationship with a “heart of gold” prostitute, develops relationships with an older man who is slowly selling his books to survive, a former soccer player, and a transvestite named Alfonso or Gardenia, “depending on the circumstances.” Mario puts together a plan to rob a gold dealer and pay $800 to have a travel agency “fix” the visa issue. Here comes the “crime” part of this novel, but by this point, the reader knows it’s not going to work out for him.
Everyone seems a caricature in this tragicomedy that takes us through the dark alleys of La Paz – full of lies and cheats, dollars and danger, lust and longing, the novel takes us along with Mario as he tries to realize his American dream, by hook or crook.
It’s a fun ride. Read this book.
A Girl Named Tommi 