Comemadre | 
panI enjoy reading translated books but this one fell short for me. The premise of a psychiatric facility in early 1900s Argentina decapitating patients to see what they say in the moments between decapitation and death was really interesting to me but it just didn't explore it in a way I found at all satisfying.
"The child prodigy is a repulsive creature. It can be measured according to the degree of its anomaly, the fence around its isolation: its so-called talent."
"I shoot Mr. Allomby a conspiratorial glance. We‘re not actually conspiring, but it‘s important to look at people like that every now and then because that‘s how real relationships are forged."
"The sweat from our necks trickles down to our asses; if it weren‘t for our underwear, it would continue all the way down to our feet and gradually form a puddle big enough to swim in."
"Papini doesn‘t have a scientific face. He has freckles. No diploma in the world can make freckles disappear."
"He is sweating, exopthalmic, and smells like lemon. This indicates that he is happy, or believes that he is happy."
pickThis strange gem begins in a Buenos Aires asylum in 1907 where a bunch of the doctors are creeping on the head nurse as a series of horrific experiments are undertaken to probe the boundaries of life and death. Not weird enough? Then we flash forward a hundred years to glimpse the life of an artist obsessed with integrating the human body and its various parts into shocking exhibitions. Dark and funny, with a sharp wit underlying the strangeness.
#brooklynbookfestival #bookhaul
I've always been resolving to try out small presses, so I'm really excited about this haul. Two of these were on my radar- Vesaas' The Birds from Archipelago (and put on my radar by praise from @BarbaraBB ) and Apostol's Insurrecto from Soho. Also picked up Kincaid's Party: A Mystery (Akashic) for my 2-year-old niece, and Larraquy's Comemadre (Coffee House Press), which I am trying to resist reading immediately.
pickOh My God! This is one of the sickest, creepiest absurd stories I have ever read, dark, funny and I loved it! Set in Argentina in a sanitarium in 1907, where they are doing experiments using cancer patients....bizarre,macabre that just gets more extreme as you read. This story of image, identity, medical testing and deformities takes a look at the field of psychiatry through the back door.
Excellent. Unforgettable and not for the faint of heart.
Morning reading: Someone on Goodreads referred to this as “gothic Dana Spiotta” and I nearly fell out of my seat with joy. 👁❤️📚
