Siempre indagando en los mecanismos de la construcción de la identidad, se sumerge en aquellos que se originan en las relaciones fraternales: duelo como combate que se inicia con el nacimiento de un hermano y duelo también como luto por su muerte. ( )

This is a selection of stories by Guatemalan-American writer, Eduardo Halfon. He has an interesting history; his family is Jewish and his grandfather a Auschwitz survivor. Halfon was born in Guatemala, but moved to Florida when he was 10. I have read a couple of other books by him, he writes short stories based on family history, so pretty autobiographical. I read an interview with him, he said that he thinks in English, but writes in Spanish. His writing is direct, but thick with emotion. He can be meandering, but then circle around to make a very tough point.

This book has three stories; the first two are set in Europe; he is brought to speak about his writing in Italy, and to visit a Holocaust memorial there; visits Poland to see where his grandfather was born. The third story, mourning, recounts his attempts, including a trip to Guatemala, to learn more about an uncle Salomon, who had died in unclear circumstance. ( )

Taking a chance at the bookstore, I was impressed with the Halfon's novel, particularly in the way that he ended the narratives, sort of like a series of gaping wounds. I was reminded of Sebald's genre blurring with the text although it did not have the technical or historical gravitas.

I loved this book and I plan on reading everything by Eduardo Halfon. This dreamlike sequence of places and times collapse history. The last piece was my favorite, with a haunted return to the narrator's childhood home, who discovers his take on the history of his family is wrong. The story of drowned boys in an ancient volcanic lake, and the ritual of cleansing the narrator goes through, could have turned into a sappy transcendent ending, but instead, there's still a feeling that the wounds of his past remain, and the story of his life and his family and their diaspora following the Holocaust remain somehow opaque, despite all attempts for clarity. The sentences are what get me: Halfon is a poet. The writing so economical and stripped down and yet lyrical, too. The translators have done stunning work here, because in Spanish, this is equally lyrical work. An exciting discovery of a new writer for me. ( )

Halfon has written what some call the nonfiction novel: the protagonist shares his name, history, family, and homeland. The book's three parts vary in intensity as he traverses the world. The writing feels uneven in places yet other parts are heartbreakingly intimate. This is a niche book but readers in that niche will enjoy.