Julio is a disillusioned professor of literature who has spent years away from his home, teaching in the United States. He receives a posthumous summons from an old friend, the writer Aliza Abravanel, to uncover the mysteries within her final novel. In her manuscript is a series of interconnected accounts of loss, tales that set Julio hurtling on a journey to uncover their true meaning.
... a multilayered exploration of ideas of belonging, language and erasure ... Austral is a masterly voyage of discovery, both physical and intellectual.
Besides historical events and stories, in this novel readers find photographs, notes and sketches that meld to create an intricate mosaic, a chronicle of human experience ... Fonseca writes eloquently about the immigrant perspective because he’s experienced it firsthand ... At times, one gets the sense that Fonseca is telling us we are losing the world, our worlds, and in the process, our ability to remember and honor our past, but I believe he’s inviting us to explore the world beyond the novel’s pages.
... in spite of the potential of this evocative material, the novel is essentially bloodless. At no point are we given an opportunity to engage with Gamboa or the other characters, who seem like hollow ciphers for the ideas that are Fonseca’s real interest. In this the author has not been helped by his translator (Megan McDowell) or editors, whose frequent errors are frustratingly distracting ... Austral is at its strongest when most conceptual ... Unfortunately, without the proper groundwork, these moments seem more likely to pass readers by.
