MADreads

“I’ve come to see my father”

July 21st, 2006 Jon - Central Library

“Who is he?” I pressed him.
“Living bile,” was his reply.

It was hard to come up with an angle for reviewing Pedro Paramo, by Juan Rulfo. If I stick to the facts, I can say:

1. All the characters in Pedro Paramo are dead.

2. The book is an early example of magic realism.

3. The beauty of this short novel doesn’t depend on whether or not I can describe what it’s about. Which is good, because I can’t, except in the most rudimentary way: a young man is sent by his mother to find his father, in order to “make him pay…for all those years he put us out of his mind.”

That’s the end of the facts. Short novels tend to be my favorites, and I really enjoyed this one. If you’re reading a short novel, and you’re enjoying it, you get a good, long dose of it. And, if you don’t, it’s over before it becomes a chore.

I discovered this novel during my weekly flip through the many news magazines at the library. You can get a more in-depth take on the novel and its author here.

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction