Que el español sigue vivo nos lo demuestran los más de cuatrocientos millones de hablantes que farfullamos esta lengua desde la cuna, más otras decenas de millones de personas en el mundo que se han interesado en aprenderla. Que el español literario también lo está es buena muestra esta novela de Rita Indiana.
Sin complejos, con la fuerza de una lengua cibaeña crisol de influencias lingüísticas lejanas geográficamente pero ya seculares en su promiscuidad: españolas, evidente, pero también amerindias, africanas, y sin hacerle ascos al inglés, que el vecino del norte pesa e influye mucho. La autora desenvuelve su relato con una osadía y una agilidad de muñeca al empuñar la pluma, o las teclas del ordenador, dignas de admiración. Sin corsés academicistas pero con la rotundidad de un español más vivo en tanto que no es purista pues como decía Cela, cito de memoria, “el español es de todos y cada uno lo habla como le sale de los cojones”.
La novela es todo un ejercicio de prestidigitación léxica al servicio de una trama compleja de seguir en sus saltos temporales e identidades solapadas. Un argumento desquiciante, alocado en su desarrollo que, sin sermonear, no elude hablar de “arte, política y ambientalismo”. Sólo queda decir: “Pasen y lean”. ( )

Confusing. Very confusing. But a fun and easy read. One of those books I'll remember visuals/scenes from but not the whole story, because the whole story just didn't come through clearly enough for me. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2020/05/2020050-tentacle-rita-indiana-trans.html ( )

I was a good 2/3 sold on the cover alone (just last week I'd been bemoaning the lack of tentacle and marine biology fiction in my home library), THEN I saw "Translated," THEN I saw the Caribbean Writers prize, THEN I flipped it over and saw magic phrases like "Santeria prophecy" and "travel back in time and save the ocean," and "sacred anemone." Like, seriously, I could go on, but I was already sold. Why had I never heard of this book before the magical wizards at Literati put this book in front of my face?

Anyway, it seems like all that could be a lot to live up to, but it DID. The book starts out brutal -- with automatic systems that detect virus in Haitian refugees and gas, incinerate, and dispose of them -- and never really lets up. There is rape, there is racism, there is violence. This is not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination. At least one of the POV characters is an out-and-out asshole, all of them are hardened in some way. As the book goes on it layers more characters and more timelines and just when it seems it may all spin out of control all the pieces start converging and it's kind of amazing when it all comes together.

This book is startling and mud-dragged and glistening and fraught and intellectual and visceral and tawdry and a gut-punch and new.

Amazing. ( )

Short yet dense story. Translation-wise, I did not detect too many bumps in the road. Tentacle is an interesting premise that gets bogged down in places - especially in the early going where characters and perspectives shift quite quickly and with little guidance for the reader. This makes it a bit difficult to keep track of the characters and their relations but things do click together by the end. There is also some violent imagery and none of the characters are all that sympathetic. Not an easy read but I did enjoy the creativity and the juxtapositions between timelines. Glad I read it. Should another Rita Indiana title fall into my lap, I might be tempted to dive in. ( )