Carlos Fonseca (3)

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.

You will be underlining and writing in the margins of this book, its possible that you will not and that it just the way that I express excitement when I read something that is truly special. Natural History is this beautifully written gem - the writing is astonishing and it's a translated work! The original must just be even more mind blowing so its a big accomplishment for translator Megan McDowell too. There are stunning atmospheric dreamlike effects in the writing. I found myself putting down the book so many times to either mouth out loud or think out the lines I loved most or just sit and ponder on the descriptions. It has the Natural History museum, it has archives, it has animals and mystery and subterranean adventure and intrigue and man its puzzling and Dennis Hopper fits into it too! and to boot its chock full of wildly interesting ideas and insights. Natural History is a literary atomic bomb.

So the story develops from the moment a curator at the New Jersey museum of natural history begins to collaborate with a famous fashion designer and they both have this common interest in animals and camouflage and so they begin to work on an exhibit. But what is the exhibit?! Who knows? It is all very obscure and slippery. After the designer dies some years later the curator finds the archive of the mysterious never completed exhibit and this is where things start to really get good its where the adventures begin. Then there is the boy who has visions of the end times.

This novel is so timely. Like any great novel its a mirror a portrait of the world we live in now. It is so bold and confident. Its a daring work that will challenge you in the best way possible. I am looking forward to more translated work out of Carlos Fonseca. High recommendations here.… (més)