PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewAs each character responds to the storm, the novel explores how a natural disaster can bring out both the best and worst in human nature ... Though the hurricane — referred to as Maria, la monstrua or simply she/her — strikes before Velorio opens, the storm itself is, in many ways, the main character of the story. On every page we are confronted with the devastation left in Maria’s wake ... As the characters attempt to make sense of the destruction, the narrative occasionally takes on a sort of concussed dreaminess ... At their best, these dreamlike sequences have a Murakami-esque flavor, albeit darker — here, the characters have surfaced from a bad dream, only to find themselves in a living nightmare ... From the beginning, Navarro Aquino establishes a visceral, lyric tone that frequently rises to a fever pitch ... Urayoán is positioned to be an equally complicated figure — he’s an idealistic, troubled cult leader who is grappling with government failure to respond to Maria, as well as the horrible echoes of colonialism ... Unfortunately, as the novel reaches its climax, Urayoán begins to resemble an almost comically villainous, one-dimensional plot device ... La monstrua could have been villain enough. In “Velorio,” Navarro Aquino, an incredibly talented young writer, is still finding his way.
