PanThe Times Literary Supplement (UK)... 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.
Anne Garréta, Tr. Emma Ramadan
PositiveAkimbo Bookshop... an uproarious cautionary tale/celebration of what can happen when a household is governed by a philosophy of extreme tinkering, written in prose that has itself been heavily hammered, soldered and jimmied into weird and wonderful shapes. The translator Emma Ramadan has clearly had enormous fun (along with not a few bouts of confusion and exasperation I would imagine) rendering it into English and the overall effect is Tom Sawyer by way of Molly Bloom ... The action is breathless, noisy and often grotesque ... Underneath the childish bravado; which includes a plethora of war metaphors, the narrator being an enthusiastic albeit selective student of history, Garreta has trowelled layer upon layer of linguistic, political and cultural symbolism whose subjects range from social inequality to homophobia and racism. While the tone of the novel is essentially playful, there’s plenty of profundity if you’re of a mind to look for it and if you find some of the set pieces described preposterous or are frustrated by that quintessentially oulipian trait of always going for one joke too many, ask yourself how much of the world around you isn’t shaped by one megalomaniacal tinkerer or another; you might well conclude that there’s plenty that could do with some serious waxing and buffing.
