I just read this book in one sitting. It was very much something I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the end. If fo no other reason than I wanted some kind of explanation of what was really happening. Which I didn’t get. I think that’s because I was overthinking everything. I think, maybe, the story was a lot more straightforward than I imagined.

Amanda is very ill, and she is lying in a clinic. David is a young boy sat beside her, trying to help her figure out what has happened to her and what will happen next. He isn’t her son; he is Carla’s son. But Carla and her husband, Omar, are frightened of David. He drank some poisoned water when he was three, and the old witchy-lady in the green house saved his soul through transmigration. Which turned out to be not a good thing.

There is a lot of focus on the poisons (the pesticides) that are used on the vegetation in the village, particularly the soya beans. Most of the children born in the village are deformed in some way. On holiday there, Amanda and her young daughter, Nina, both become poisoned also.

I thought Amanda was imagining all of this, imagining her conversation with David, because of the fever she had. But I’m actually not sure now that I’ve finished it. It’s intriguing. Unusual.

What was real and what was imagined? I don't know. Maybe it was all real.

Anyone could give this a read and take something from it. It speaks out against pesticides, which I think were a problem in Argentina. Maybe still are. It's also very absorbing, as a narrative.

Nina is as cute as a button. And Amanda's motherly love is well portrayed.

The ending. It happened quickly. And the very last scene left me knowing no more than I already knew. There seemed to be a lot of loose ends.

Read something easy, where I don't have to think too much.

Confused.

Samantha Schweben. From Amazon: "Samanta Schweblin was chosen as one of the 22 best writers in Spanish under the age of 35 by Granta. She is the author of three story collections that have won numerous awards, including the prestigious Juan Rulfo Story Prize, and been translated into 20 languages. Fever Dream is her first novel and is longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize. Originally from Buenos Aires, she lives in Berlin.

Megan McDowell has translated books by many contemporary South American and Spanish authors, and her translations have been published in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Paris Review, McSweeney's, Words Without Borders, and Vice, among other publications. She lives in Chile."

It's interesting, for sure.

It's not neat and tidy with all your questions answered.

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Created Feb 24, 2025 at 6:03am • Submit your own review...