|
Although LEAVING TABASCO, like BETWEEN TWO FIRES, has a political component to its
storytelling, Carmen Boullosa's novel approaches its ultimate subject via a surprising
plot device late in the book that changes the way the reader interprets everything that
came before.
In LEAVING TABASCO, Delmira Ulloa recounts the story of her childhood in the village of
Agustini in southern Mexico and the events that eventually led to her emigration to
Europe. Ostensibly a simple coming of age story, LEAVING TABASCO is actually a
multi–layered narrative, challenging the reader to navigate a series of fantastic
stories --- the day no bird could fly, the day the coffee beans and cocoa pods fell off
the plants, the day a woman bearing the stigmata of Christ dissolved in her own urine ---
and seek the truth, not just of the stories themselves (which may or may not be the
workings of an overactive and fever–inspired imagination) but of the themes of the
stories. Most of Delmira's tales take place on 10 successive Sundays, lending them a
religious tone, which adds to their mystery. The book is also punctuated by the stories of
Delmira's grandmother, a stern, unyielding woman, who recounts much of the history of
Agustini as nightly bedtime stories.
Late in the book, the layers of stories are stripped away, as civil unrest leads to
military intervention in Agustini in 1967. The earlier stories of quasi–biblical
plagues and miraculous events are replaced by the stark realities of military repression,
deforestation, and other social ills. The change in tone is discordant, but Boullosa
skillfully handles the shift, shocking the reader into recognizing that real threats to
society are far more horrifying than the most shocking imaginings of a young girl.
--- Reviewed by Rob Cline
© Copyright 1996-2009, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
|
