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The Delivery
**From the acclaimed author of Fish Soup , a novel of motherhood, memory, and possibility just this side of the uncanny. ** In Delivery , an enormous package arrives that can’t be opened, Agatha the cat appears and disappears, half-finished buildings punctuate the horizon―semi-ordinary happenings that take on an otherworldly cast if you look at them sideways. And nothing is stranger, in this high rise apartment far from home, than the tenuous bonds of family that hold us together, or don’t. The narrator works, zooms with her sister, makes plans for the future (a writing residency, a child), and tentatively probes her past, while subtle fissures open up around her, changing her life forever. As she says about her childhood home, “Sometimes I get curious…but I don’t ask, because the answer could come with information I’d rather not know.” By turns tender and biting, this is Robayo’s finest work yet.
169 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2022
About the author
Margarita García Robayo
27 books352 followersMargarita García Robayo nació en Cartagena, Colombia, en 1980. Desde 2005 vive en Buenos Aires, donde escribe la columna “La ciudad de la furia” en el diario Crítica de la Argentina. En la Revista C -del mismo diario- escribió la columna “Mi vida y yo” bajo el seudónimo de Carolina Balducci, y semanalmente escribe contratapas de opinión. Para la edición digital de Clarín, creó el blog Sudaquia: historias de América Latina* y colaboró en revistas de crónica como Soho, Don Juan, Travesías, Surcos, Gatopardo. En su ciudad fue columnista de cine de El Universal, profesora de análisis fílmico de la Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano y coordinadora de proyectos en la Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano. Fue elegida como uno de los 50 líderes de Colombia en la edición de liderazgo del 2007 de la revista Cambio. Escribió el libro de cuentos Hay ciertas cosas que una no puede hacer descalza (Planeta, 2009; Destino, 2010), que fue traducido al italiano. Participó en la antología de las mejores crónicas de la revista Soho, publicada por Editorial Aguilar en 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 362 reviews
September 21, 2022
Le robo el elogio a Mariana Enriquez: "Creo que es la escritora que mejor escribe sobre la intimidad".
September 30, 2022
Una novela psicológica, inquietante, que explora fisuras mentales. Hace referencia al silencio, a su expresividad y a las reflexiones sobre la intimidad de una calma de cada capa de la narradora. En fin, un privilegio elogioso al silencio espectador de la inercia presente en el relacionamiento de la protagonista con el entorno cercano.
Puede decirse también que es una novela del apego, de nostalgia, de la distancia a lo presente y la cercanía del lejano recuerdo que se resigna a perecer a 5.000 kilòmetros de distancia. Margarita fija el ancla a su origen, lo amarra con los lazos de los idearios de la cotidianidad y los apremios de la convivencia; pero a la vez rebelde, con la mochila a cuestas y aferrada, paradójicamente, al ombligo familiar.
Hermanas, vecinos, gatos, son personajes que interactúan como reflejo a los rostros interiores de la narradora. Desde la forma de relacionarse hasta la subjetividad que imprime a cada circunstancia y construcciones narrativas.
FRASES DESTACADAS:
"El parentesco es un hilo invisible, toca imaginarlo todo el tiempo para recordar que está ahí".
"Así que ahora la escucho en silencio y le doy respuestas mentales que atizan mi fastidio en lugar de paliarlo".
"M hermana es blanca como merengue de claras, pero tiene el pelo enrulado, apretado y feroz, y ese, según decía mi abuela es el único y verdadero rasgo definitorio de la negritud".
"Disfrazo mi ignorancia de minimalismo"
"El amor envejece en forma de gratitud".
Calificación: 3,85
Puede decirse también que es una novela del apego, de nostalgia, de la distancia a lo presente y la cercanía del lejano recuerdo que se resigna a perecer a 5.000 kilòmetros de distancia. Margarita fija el ancla a su origen, lo amarra con los lazos de los idearios de la cotidianidad y los apremios de la convivencia; pero a la vez rebelde, con la mochila a cuestas y aferrada, paradójicamente, al ombligo familiar.
Hermanas, vecinos, gatos, son personajes que interactúan como reflejo a los rostros interiores de la narradora. Desde la forma de relacionarse hasta la subjetividad que imprime a cada circunstancia y construcciones narrativas.
FRASES DESTACADAS:
"El parentesco es un hilo invisible, toca imaginarlo todo el tiempo para recordar que está ahí".
"Así que ahora la escucho en silencio y le doy respuestas mentales que atizan mi fastidio en lugar de paliarlo".
"M hermana es blanca como merengue de claras, pero tiene el pelo enrulado, apretado y feroz, y ese, según decía mi abuela es el único y verdadero rasgo definitorio de la negritud".
"Disfrazo mi ignorancia de minimalismo"
"El amor envejece en forma de gratitud".
Calificación: 3,85
November 1, 2022
Guau, quedé muy sorprendida con esta joyita. He intentado leer a la autora y no me había encantado, pero leyendo este libro hay un punto en donde no podés parar, te atrapan la historia y su forma de contarla. Es bellísimo y perturbador a la vez.
October 31, 2022
Bukku septiembre: Es un delirio que no termino de descifrar. No entiendo si las cosas que pasan son simbolismos o si es alguien con personalidad border tipo el de la película Glass.
Me gustó? No tengo la más pálida idea
La autora narra muy bien, te atrapa, pero es todo muy raro.
Me gustó? No tengo la más pálida idea
La autora narra muy bien, te atrapa, pero es todo muy raro.
June 3, 2023
Si un genio se me apareciera para concederme un deseo, pediría haber sido yo la autora de esta novela. ¡¡Ojalá pudiera escribir como esta mujer!! Vi en un post de Instagram algunas de las frases de este libro y de inmediato quise leerlo, tengo una fascinación por las historias de familia, en especial por las que describen esa relación compleja que tanto me cuestiona: madres e hijas.
Lo leí en dos días porque la manera como Margarita García Robayo narra la profundidad de lo cotidiano es hermosa y adictiva. Para mí es un relato perfecto sobre ese hilo con la madre que así quisiéramos no podríamos romper. No es sobre una mujer y su vida en Buenos Aires, ése es el pretexto para enmarcar el sentimiento o debería llamarlo más bien "la necesidad", a veces tan femenina, de querer y no querer encontrarnos en nuestra familia y nuestra infancia; de tratar de explicar lo que somos a través de los ecos de nuestra casa y nuestra madre y, al mismo tiempo, alejarnos para poder escribirnos desde otro lugar ausente de ellos. En una historia de un desarraigo que no puede desarraigarse.
A través de un hecho insólito y fantasioso, que tu madre te llegue en una caja, la autora nos lleva a transitar por esos caminos de la familia y la memoria, y como espectadores recibimos ese suceso irreal como algo completamente verídico porque los sentimientos y reflexiones que suscita son totalmente reales.
Frases que amé:
- "El parentesco es un hilo invisible, toca imaginarlo todo el tiempo para recordar que está ahí."
- "Quizás crecer significa aprender a transformar esa irritación en ternura".
- "Los padres son el hueco en el que uno pega el ojo para espiar la infancia".
- "Supongo que en algún momento borré mis memorias para hacer lugar en la cabeza y sumar nuevas".
- "Un diario me parece lo opuesto a un hijo: un depositario de secretos. Un escondite. En un diario uno puede guardar lo indecible y encerrarlo con llave. Poner a salvo versiones oscuras del mundo. A menos que sea un diario enfermo de preguntas y miedos y frases inconclusas. En ese caso, sería exactamente lo mismo que un hijo."
- "Mujeres que se sienten más cómodas que bellas, y por eso son bellas".
- "Mi madre mira triste porque yo supongo que el mundo, por bello que sea, no le basta. Y ese hueco de no bastarle el mundo, de echar en falta algo que el mundo no será capaz de darle, es la tristeza."
- "El deterioro pienso ahora, es una instancia superior de la materia porque quiere decir que algo floreció en ella. Solo aquello que dio fruto se pudre."
Lo leí en dos días porque la manera como Margarita García Robayo narra la profundidad de lo cotidiano es hermosa y adictiva. Para mí es un relato perfecto sobre ese hilo con la madre que así quisiéramos no podríamos romper. No es sobre una mujer y su vida en Buenos Aires, ése es el pretexto para enmarcar el sentimiento o debería llamarlo más bien "la necesidad", a veces tan femenina, de querer y no querer encontrarnos en nuestra familia y nuestra infancia; de tratar de explicar lo que somos a través de los ecos de nuestra casa y nuestra madre y, al mismo tiempo, alejarnos para poder escribirnos desde otro lugar ausente de ellos. En una historia de un desarraigo que no puede desarraigarse.
A través de un hecho insólito y fantasioso, que tu madre te llegue en una caja, la autora nos lleva a transitar por esos caminos de la familia y la memoria, y como espectadores recibimos ese suceso irreal como algo completamente verídico porque los sentimientos y reflexiones que suscita son totalmente reales.
Frases que amé:
- "El parentesco es un hilo invisible, toca imaginarlo todo el tiempo para recordar que está ahí."
- "Quizás crecer significa aprender a transformar esa irritación en ternura".
- "Los padres son el hueco en el que uno pega el ojo para espiar la infancia".
- "Supongo que en algún momento borré mis memorias para hacer lugar en la cabeza y sumar nuevas".
- "Un diario me parece lo opuesto a un hijo: un depositario de secretos. Un escondite. En un diario uno puede guardar lo indecible y encerrarlo con llave. Poner a salvo versiones oscuras del mundo. A menos que sea un diario enfermo de preguntas y miedos y frases inconclusas. En ese caso, sería exactamente lo mismo que un hijo."
- "Mujeres que se sienten más cómodas que bellas, y por eso son bellas".
- "Mi madre mira triste porque yo supongo que el mundo, por bello que sea, no le basta. Y ese hueco de no bastarle el mundo, de echar en falta algo que el mundo no será capaz de darle, es la tristeza."
- "El deterioro pienso ahora, es una instancia superior de la materia porque quiere decir que algo floreció en ella. Solo aquello que dio fruto se pudre."
June 7, 2023
No sé, terminé esta novela sin estar segura de lo que había leído. Una prosa lindísima, eso es indiscutible. Ahora, el eje del libro un poco lo perdí. No me entretuvo tanto como esperaba, y si no fuera por lo breve que es, probablemente lo hubiera abandonado. Fue una lectura reciente, y casi ni recuerdo lo que leí. No es que sea un libro pésimo, pero honestamente a mí me pareció poco memorable, intrascendente y algo soporífero.
October 19, 2022
Estoy para pelearme con cualquiera al que no le haya gustado este libro.
August 28, 2023
[4.5]
Creo que voy a seguir pensando en este libro por un rato...
Entre lo cotidiano y lo insólito, Margarita García Robayo explora la soledad de una mujer extranjera que escribe (o intenta escribir) desde su terraza, arrastrando la memoria y el peso del pasado en el presente.
(Y QUÉ FINAL).
Creo que voy a seguir pensando en este libro por un rato...
Entre lo cotidiano y lo insólito, Margarita García Robayo explora la soledad de una mujer extranjera que escribe (o intenta escribir) desde su terraza, arrastrando la memoria y el peso del pasado en el presente.
(Y QUÉ FINAL).
January 5, 2024
I regret so many things that their mere enumeration solidifies behind my forehead and keeps me from thinking. I regret accepting the job on the cow, I regret committing to apply for the grant, I regret allowing myself to be saddled with a necrophiliac cat. I regret meeting Axel, I regret falling in love with Axel. I regret not being unequivocal with Susan: you two won't fit in my life, or in my house, or even on my sofa. What I most regret is not putting a stop to my sister's litany of packages: if I go back over all the boxes she has sent me, it's easy to see that she was preparing me for this last one, the coup de grace.
The Delivery (2023) is Megan McDowell's translation of Margarita García Robayo's La encomienda (2022) and the third book by the author/translator I've read after the novella+story collection Fish Soup and the novel Holiday Heart.
All three were published by Charco Press, this their 45th book overall - I've read and reviewed them all at my dedicated shelf.
The Delivery opens:
My sister likes to send me packages. It's ridiculous, because we live far apart and most of the things she sends get ruined on the way. Far is too short a word once it is translated into geography: five thousand three hundred kilometres is the distance separating me from my family. My family is her. And my mother, but I don't have any contact with my mother. I don't think my sister does, either. She hasn't mentioned her in years, though I assume she still takes care of all her affairs. Sometimes I wonder about what happened to the house we lived in as children, but I don't ask, because the answer could come with information I'd rather not have.
The narrator of The Delivery lives, rootlessly, in Buenos Aires; her original home while not stated is, from clues, Cartagena in Colombia.
Living here is an accident, I could just as well be anywhere else. My geographical location determines the mailing address for my sister’s packages and not much more. Everything else - bills, correspondence, work - comes to my email. My only superpower
I once told Axel, is that I can do what I do in any studio apartment with good Wi-Fi on the planet. I’d moved many times without any great disruption. The secret was to live with the bare minimum, and avoid getting settled.
She works on an assignments basis as a copywriter for an advertising agency (her current project has elements of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, promoting happy beef cows), although has aspirations as a novelist, and is applying for a residency in the Netherlands.
Her only contact with home is via her older sister, via fortnightly chats and the packages (encomiedas) she sends, full of drawings from her nieces, old family snapshots and food which was inevitably spoiled by the time it is delivered. The author has commented in interviews that the “encomienda” is a Latin American custom that she had to explain when promoting the novel in Spain. (As an aside the term also refers, indeed seems more commonly associated with, a 16th century 'Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples' - per Wikipedia - which implies an interesting new dimension to the novel's title although not one I've seen the author reference).
The narrator as well as being rather rootless in her residency, doesn't seem terribly keen on ties and commitments at all - whether it be the temporary nature of her job; her commitment to her partner; her friendships (she prefers friends who are cruel as that creates no obligation); or attempts from neighbours to get her to babysit or take responsibility for the neighbour cat.
Indeed a rather key line occurs early in the novel:
Kinship is an invisible thread, and you have to picture it constantly in order to remember it’s there.
El parentesco es un hilo invisible, toca imaginarlo todo el tiempo para recordar que está ahí.
And as the novel progresses we learn more of her childhood, where her and her sister spent weekends with their mother, who was rather loose in her parenthood, but weeks with their aunt:
I have more X-rays that photographs from my childhood … [My aunt] was like a formal boyfriend you have to return to after a passionate weekend with a beautiful, adventurous heroin addict.
All of which nicely sets up the novel's key concept - as the story has rather hinted and the English blurb gives away, the latest delivery (encomieda) from her sister contains a surprise - her mother.
The author has said the only book she re-read while writing this was Kafka's Die Verwandlung, and the surreal arrival of her mother serves in a similar way to Gregor Samsa's metamorphosis. The Delivery leaves it cleverly ambiguous as to whether this actually happened or is in the narrator's imagination leaving the reader nicely caught in the Todorovian middle ground, althugh my reading favoured the latter. There is also a further Kafka link towards the novel's end where the narrator find herself on 'trial' in front of her residents' association for reasons that are unclear to her.
An interesting novel, although at times it can feel a little too much of an intellectual exercise. 3.5 stars.
The Delivery (2023) is Megan McDowell's translation of Margarita García Robayo's La encomienda (2022) and the third book by the author/translator I've read after the novella+story collection Fish Soup and the novel Holiday Heart.
All three were published by Charco Press, this their 45th book overall - I've read and reviewed them all at my dedicated shelf.
The Delivery opens:
My sister likes to send me packages. It's ridiculous, because we live far apart and most of the things she sends get ruined on the way. Far is too short a word once it is translated into geography: five thousand three hundred kilometres is the distance separating me from my family. My family is her. And my mother, but I don't have any contact with my mother. I don't think my sister does, either. She hasn't mentioned her in years, though I assume she still takes care of all her affairs. Sometimes I wonder about what happened to the house we lived in as children, but I don't ask, because the answer could come with information I'd rather not have.
The narrator of The Delivery lives, rootlessly, in Buenos Aires; her original home while not stated is, from clues, Cartagena in Colombia.
Living here is an accident, I could just as well be anywhere else. My geographical location determines the mailing address for my sister’s packages and not much more. Everything else - bills, correspondence, work - comes to my email. My only superpower
I once told Axel, is that I can do what I do in any studio apartment with good Wi-Fi on the planet. I’d moved many times without any great disruption. The secret was to live with the bare minimum, and avoid getting settled.
She works on an assignments basis as a copywriter for an advertising agency (her current project has elements of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, promoting happy beef cows), although has aspirations as a novelist, and is applying for a residency in the Netherlands.
Her only contact with home is via her older sister, via fortnightly chats and the packages (encomiedas) she sends, full of drawings from her nieces, old family snapshots and food which was inevitably spoiled by the time it is delivered. The author has commented in interviews that the “encomienda” is a Latin American custom that she had to explain when promoting the novel in Spain. (As an aside the term also refers, indeed seems more commonly associated with, a 16th century 'Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples' - per Wikipedia - which implies an interesting new dimension to the novel's title although not one I've seen the author reference).
The narrator as well as being rather rootless in her residency, doesn't seem terribly keen on ties and commitments at all - whether it be the temporary nature of her job; her commitment to her partner; her friendships (she prefers friends who are cruel as that creates no obligation); or attempts from neighbours to get her to babysit or take responsibility for the neighbour cat.
Indeed a rather key line occurs early in the novel:
Kinship is an invisible thread, and you have to picture it constantly in order to remember it’s there.
El parentesco es un hilo invisible, toca imaginarlo todo el tiempo para recordar que está ahí.
And as the novel progresses we learn more of her childhood, where her and her sister spent weekends with their mother, who was rather loose in her parenthood, but weeks with their aunt:
I have more X-rays that photographs from my childhood … [My aunt] was like a formal boyfriend you have to return to after a passionate weekend with a beautiful, adventurous heroin addict.
All of which nicely sets up the novel's key concept - as the story has rather hinted and the English blurb gives away, the latest delivery (encomieda) from her sister contains a surprise - her mother.
The author has said the only book she re-read while writing this was Kafka's Die Verwandlung, and the surreal arrival of her mother serves in a similar way to Gregor Samsa's metamorphosis. The Delivery leaves it cleverly ambiguous as to whether this actually happened or is in the narrator's imagination leaving the reader nicely caught in the Todorovian middle ground, althugh my reading favoured the latter. There is also a further Kafka link towards the novel's end where the narrator find herself on 'trial' in front of her residents' association for reasons that are unclear to her.
An interesting novel, although at times it can feel a little too much of an intellectual exercise. 3.5 stars.
March 23, 2023
Quien nos cuenta la historia es una mujer joven que sale apenas puede de su casa y de su país para irse a vivir a Buenos Aires.
Tiene su vida organizada, una pareja, trabajo y una aparente claridad de lo que es la vida lejos de “casa”. No tiene contacto con su mamá y muy poco con su hermana quien le manda encomiendas, hasta que en una caja le llega “algo” completamente inesperado que le hará confrontarse con “eso” de lo que estaba huyendo.
Tiene muchas frases para subrayar y muchas observaciones interesantísimas de lo que es vivir en Buenos Aires.
Leer a esta autora me encanta. Es el cuarto libro que leo, y quiero más. De este libro me gustó mucho el fondo, y en cuanto a la forma cambié mi apreciación cuando escuché el podcast que tiene con @mariajosecastanod
Tiene su vida organizada, una pareja, trabajo y una aparente claridad de lo que es la vida lejos de “casa”. No tiene contacto con su mamá y muy poco con su hermana quien le manda encomiendas, hasta que en una caja le llega “algo” completamente inesperado que le hará confrontarse con “eso” de lo que estaba huyendo.
Tiene muchas frases para subrayar y muchas observaciones interesantísimas de lo que es vivir en Buenos Aires.
Leer a esta autora me encanta. Es el cuarto libro que leo, y quiero más. De este libro me gustó mucho el fondo, y en cuanto a la forma cambié mi apreciación cuando escuché el podcast que tiene con @mariajosecastanod
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October 15, 2023Colombian-born, Argentina-based author Margarita García Robayo has written several celebrated novel, including the excellent Holiday Heart, and The Delivery is perhaps her finest achievement.
A deeply thoughtful, borderline surreal piece of literary fiction, The Delivery presents us with a nameless narrator-protagonist who was born in Caribbean, lives in Buenos Aires, and is hoping to relocated yet again to the Netherlands.
My full thoughts: https://booksandbao.com/essential-lit...
A deeply thoughtful, borderline surreal piece of literary fiction, The Delivery presents us with a nameless narrator-protagonist who was born in Caribbean, lives in Buenos Aires, and is hoping to relocated yet again to the Netherlands.
My full thoughts: https://booksandbao.com/essential-lit...
May 9, 2023
Me pareció muy íntimo, podría etiquetar a Margarita en esa sutil categoría porque me he leído ya dos de sus libros y la encuentro metafórica, valiente al enfrentar el YO.
Hace algunos días en un pequeño taller de escritura leí a mis amigas y me leí en voz alta también y hablamos sobre nuestras identidades, sobre nuestros miedos y en el libro que acabo leer encontré una frase que me dijo mucho
“Aunque mucha gente cree que al escribir uno se desnuda yo se que en realidad uno se disfraza, se pone otras caras, se vuelve a rehacer de un modo en el que se mezclan la culpa, la frustración y el deseo y el resultado es un personaje perfectamente despojado y honesto”
Aplaudo los libros de Margarita, me encantan las diferentes situaciones que plantea sobre la familia, amistad y parejas.
“Las familias son emboscadas, lugares inflamables”
Hace algunos días en un pequeño taller de escritura leí a mis amigas y me leí en voz alta también y hablamos sobre nuestras identidades, sobre nuestros miedos y en el libro que acabo leer encontré una frase que me dijo mucho
“Aunque mucha gente cree que al escribir uno se desnuda yo se que en realidad uno se disfraza, se pone otras caras, se vuelve a rehacer de un modo en el que se mezclan la culpa, la frustración y el deseo y el resultado es un personaje perfectamente despojado y honesto”
Aplaudo los libros de Margarita, me encantan las diferentes situaciones que plantea sobre la familia, amistad y parejas.
“Las familias son emboscadas, lugares inflamables”
February 2, 2023
Realmente tuve problemas para calificar este libro, casi, casi que llego a crisis existencial 🫠
La prosa se la autora me gusto, pero el libro me dejo más preguntas que repuestas. Me gustaron los diálogos internos de la protagonista y los problemas a los cuales se enfrenta…pero literalmente quedaron demasiadas cosas en el aire.
La prosa se la autora me gusto, pero el libro me dejo más preguntas que repuestas. Me gustaron los diálogos internos de la protagonista y los problemas a los cuales se enfrenta…pero literalmente quedaron demasiadas cosas en el aire.
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January 19, 2024The first-person narrator of this enigmatic novel is unnamed, except we know she has a loooong name. She's a writer, wanting to be a novelist, but often just doing freelance copy work. She has this to say:
Compared to all other professions, writing is like the effort a tick makes to feed and survive among predators. I climb up onto a branch, wait a long time until the herd passes, calculate the least risky distance to drop onto a fluffy mass and drink a miniscule ration of blood, which will allow me to maintain this limited but sufficient life.
There's different ways to take that, of course. One way was to slide my chair over to where a long mirror was, just to see if I, the reader, was what might be called a fluffy mass.
This is a book, teeming in symbolism, that makes you ask such questions. What is the herd? What is the dead pigeon? The dead rat? What are the cows, who are served an all-natural sludge which puts them to sleep, so when they are then humanely killed their meat will taste better?
Who's Catrina? the narrator's boyfriend asks. He asks again, a few chapters later, so the narrator isn't saying. I can tell you Catrina is a stray cat. But what is Catrina?
When she's feeling down, the narrator likes to put on an over-sized sweatshirt, left by a previous boyfriend. Emblazoned on the front of the sweatshirt is: Rabid Fox. Really, you can't swing a dead rat around this novel without hitting some animal symbolism.
The narrator has family, too: a sister and a mother. The sister sends the narrator packages and early on a huge crate arrives. Then the mother shows up. Did the sister deliver the mother? And who and what are they? This I would like to know.
She has a friend, Marah, who I found intriguing. The narrator has this to say about her: she 'prefers literature with no plot', as if such a thing were possible.
Marah, then, would like this novel, as I did. I knew better than to hope the narrator/author would explain all the dead animals to me. It would be up to me, that fluffy mass, to figure it out, if I could. And that, after all, is the fun.
This I know: write an enigmatic novel, get an enigmatic review.
Compared to all other professions, writing is like the effort a tick makes to feed and survive among predators. I climb up onto a branch, wait a long time until the herd passes, calculate the least risky distance to drop onto a fluffy mass and drink a miniscule ration of blood, which will allow me to maintain this limited but sufficient life.
There's different ways to take that, of course. One way was to slide my chair over to where a long mirror was, just to see if I, the reader, was what might be called a fluffy mass.
This is a book, teeming in symbolism, that makes you ask such questions. What is the herd? What is the dead pigeon? The dead rat? What are the cows, who are served an all-natural sludge which puts them to sleep, so when they are then humanely killed their meat will taste better?
Who's Catrina? the narrator's boyfriend asks. He asks again, a few chapters later, so the narrator isn't saying. I can tell you Catrina is a stray cat. But what is Catrina?
When she's feeling down, the narrator likes to put on an over-sized sweatshirt, left by a previous boyfriend. Emblazoned on the front of the sweatshirt is: Rabid Fox. Really, you can't swing a dead rat around this novel without hitting some animal symbolism.
The narrator has family, too: a sister and a mother. The sister sends the narrator packages and early on a huge crate arrives. Then the mother shows up. Did the sister deliver the mother? And who and what are they? This I would like to know.
She has a friend, Marah, who I found intriguing. The narrator has this to say about her: she 'prefers literature with no plot', as if such a thing were possible.
Marah, then, would like this novel, as I did. I knew better than to hope the narrator/author would explain all the dead animals to me. It would be up to me, that fluffy mass, to figure it out, if I could. And that, after all, is the fun.
This I know: write an enigmatic novel, get an enigmatic review.
October 12, 2023
A young self-absorbed woman lives alone, away from family. Though loathe to form attachments, she is aware of all that goes on around her, the neighbour into whose apartment she sees, the doorman sweeping below, the mother with he young son, the babysitter. She is delivered a large package from her sister who recently told her in a video-call she was leaving on a cruise. The crate stays in the hallway for two days until neighbours complain, knock on her door and push it into her seventh floor apartment.
Working from home, she is a freelance copy writer, who only needs to meet for boss once a week. She's working on a piece about a cow, while also procrastinating over completing a grant for a writer's residency in Holland.
The novel follows a week or so in her life and the people (and a cat) with whom she interacts, both willingly and unwillingly. Encounters that awaken memories, that cause her to explore her own responses and thoughts on them all, she avoids closeness but each situation contributes to the growing relationships between them all.
Her efforts to keep a distance stall, fail and slowly make her see her own role in running from herself, the inclination to self-sabotage.
It's both introspective and funny, as her avoidance and inattention to things leads to consequences that surprise her and because we see everything from her perspective, we too have a somewhat clouded view of reality. Her philosophical considerations and snippets of conversation give pause for thought. It's entertaining in a surreal yet banal way, knowing that life's reality is likely to burst the bubble she lives in eventually, yet it doesn't stop her from continuing to ponder and escape from it.
It's noon; my sister must be aboard her cruise ship by now. I can just see her gazing excitedly at the array of interactive screens showing maps of the ship marked with little flags: '...over twenty stations of international food.'
I wonder:When my sister isn't there, who takes care of my mother?
Working from home, she is a freelance copy writer, who only needs to meet for boss once a week. She's working on a piece about a cow, while also procrastinating over completing a grant for a writer's residency in Holland.
I felt I had the right to not be a trustworthy person. It was good to make that clear, even if it worked against my professional future; from now on you should be aware that assigning me a job includes the possibility that I'll quit halfway through. That was more or less how I put it. It was the closest I would come in this business to an outburst of dignity.
The novel follows a week or so in her life and the people (and a cat) with whom she interacts, both willingly and unwillingly. Encounters that awaken memories, that cause her to explore her own responses and thoughts on them all, she avoids closeness but each situation contributes to the growing relationships between them all.
Her efforts to keep a distance stall, fail and slowly make her see her own role in running from herself, the inclination to self-sabotage.
Sometimes I feel like two people live inside me, and one of those people (the good one) keeps the other in check, but sometimes she gets tired and lowers her guard and then the other (evil) one stealthily emerges, with a mad desire to wound just for the sake of it.
It's both introspective and funny, as her avoidance and inattention to things leads to consequences that surprise her and because we see everything from her perspective, we too have a somewhat clouded view of reality. Her philosophical considerations and snippets of conversation give pause for thought. It's entertaining in a surreal yet banal way, knowing that life's reality is likely to burst the bubble she lives in eventually, yet it doesn't stop her from continuing to ponder and escape from it.
How quickly the shell of a routine is shattered.
Any routine, however solid it may be, is obliterated by the unexpected.
December 6, 2022
Sobre las grietas y lo que habita en lo profundo. Un montón de dudas, parte de la existencia.
El pasado que se hace eco a través de encomiendas, pero la última es un poco más real (y a la vez imposible). También el pasado que viene a traer promesa de futuro.
Pura incertidumbre.
Espectacular.
El pasado que se hace eco a través de encomiendas, pero la última es un poco más real (y a la vez imposible). También el pasado que viene a traer promesa de futuro.
Pura incertidumbre.
Espectacular.
Read
January 19, 2024Translation is a series of decisions. There is never a complete one-to-one equivalent of one word in another language, all words have several meanings, meanings that seep into each other, a decision has to be made as to which of the many possibilities is the closest, the most apt, or which one's colouring is too remote, which one brings too much with it.
The original title of this intriguing novel for example: La Encomienda. A parcel, a package, yes, but also something that you have been charged with to do. An assignment. A job that needs doing. Here, get on with this.
And isn't it brilliant that the word Delivery can deliver other reverberations? You can be delivered of a burden. A woman is delivered of a child. To be delivered of something can mean to be set free of it.
Amazing: the whole of this novel in the contemplation of its title in two different languages: the narrator, a writer, is given a task to do. It is done with the writing of the work you are reading. At the end, she is set free.
I loved it.
The original title of this intriguing novel for example: La Encomienda. A parcel, a package, yes, but also something that you have been charged with to do. An assignment. A job that needs doing. Here, get on with this.
And isn't it brilliant that the word Delivery can deliver other reverberations? You can be delivered of a burden. A woman is delivered of a child. To be delivered of something can mean to be set free of it.
Amazing: the whole of this novel in the contemplation of its title in two different languages: the narrator, a writer, is given a task to do. It is done with the writing of the work you are reading. At the end, she is set free.
I loved it.
April 3, 2023
Novela psicológica, en la cual la protagonista va haciendo una introspección y ésta se disfraza de la cotidianidad que nos va narrando, donde vamos perdiendo un poco el sentido de lo que es tangible o lo que es producto de la imaginación de la narradora.
La protagonista va haciendo un descubrimiento por ciertos episodios de su infancia y su relación con su madre y su hermana mayor, al mismo tiempo que trata de seguir su rutina: la interacción con su jefe, amiga, vecinos, pareja y la gata que vive en el edificio; todo esto a miles de km de distancia de su familia.
A lo largo de este análisis de su propia conciencia vamos entendiendo mejor a la persona que está relatando: sus miedos, incertidumbres, su sentir respecto a la maternidad, el tipo de relaciones de pareja y amistad que escoge, etc., pero al mismo tiempo vamos dudando de qué es o no real.
La prosa de García Robayo es excelente, intensa, te mantiene cautivado hasta el final.
La protagonista va haciendo un descubrimiento por ciertos episodios de su infancia y su relación con su madre y su hermana mayor, al mismo tiempo que trata de seguir su rutina: la interacción con su jefe, amiga, vecinos, pareja y la gata que vive en el edificio; todo esto a miles de km de distancia de su familia.
A lo largo de este análisis de su propia conciencia vamos entendiendo mejor a la persona que está relatando: sus miedos, incertidumbres, su sentir respecto a la maternidad, el tipo de relaciones de pareja y amistad que escoge, etc., pero al mismo tiempo vamos dudando de qué es o no real.
La prosa de García Robayo es excelente, intensa, te mantiene cautivado hasta el final.
January 18, 2023
Margarita García Robayo es una escritora extraordinaria. Da un gusto enorme leer sus obras siempre porque logra describir cada personaje y situación en sus textos con una selección de palabras que es casi poética, las reflexiones de sus personajes son agudas y profundas, y las circunstancias en las que se mueven son perfectamente construidas, entonces empezar una novela o un cuento escritos por ella es garantía de una lectura agradable y aparecen frases e ideas por destacar en muchas de las páginas que escribe. Es una constante en su estilo.
La encomienda cuenta con todas estas cualidades, y en este caso hay una especie de suspenso, pues la protagonista de la historia se encuentra en un momento de su vida de ruptura o de cambio, y muchas de las cosas que le ocurren no parecen estar siempre aferradas a la realidad. El pero que encuentro en la novela es que nada se resuelve; todo queda planteado hasta llegar a un final que más que abierto, da la sensación de inconcluso, como si no fuera el final del relato, sino un corte abrupto en la narración que deja todas las preguntas sin respuesta. Esto no le resta disfrute a la lectura, pero sí le suma una forma de incomodidad esa invitación obligada a terminar la historia por cuenta propia.
La encomienda cuenta con todas estas cualidades, y en este caso hay una especie de suspenso, pues la protagonista de la historia se encuentra en un momento de su vida de ruptura o de cambio, y muchas de las cosas que le ocurren no parecen estar siempre aferradas a la realidad. El pero que encuentro en la novela es que nada se resuelve; todo queda planteado hasta llegar a un final que más que abierto, da la sensación de inconcluso, como si no fuera el final del relato, sino un corte abrupto en la narración que deja todas las preguntas sin respuesta. Esto no le resta disfrute a la lectura, pero sí le suma una forma de incomodidad esa invitación obligada a terminar la historia por cuenta propia.
Read
May 13, 2024Esta novela, para mí, es sobre relaciones familiares, infancia, maternidad, situaciones y relaciones perdidas, pero, sobre todo, sobre nostalgia.
El estilo de la autora es muy bello y, aunque nos deja con una historia inconclusa, disfruté mucho leyéndola.
El estilo de la autora es muy bello y, aunque nos deja con una historia inconclusa, disfruté mucho leyéndola.
November 27, 2022
¿La narradora sufre un delirio? Lo leí confundida, quise terminarlo desde que lo empecé. Me daba un poco de intriga y hay frases y reflexiones muy bien logradas, pero es todo muy raro. En términos generales, no lo disfruté y no me gustó.
January 16, 2023
Soy super fan de Margarita García Robayo y estaba esperando este libro con la expectativa de un oráculo. La madre es un tema central y esperaba que el eco de sus palabras resonara en mis reflexiones. No me decepcionó. Al contrario. De entrada se resistió a reducirse a un mensaje cifrado para mí y fue desdoblándose con la familiaridad y la extrañeza de una historia con varias capas, personajes apenas esbozados que se hacen memorables y nítidos. La precisión y la delicadeza de la prosa de Margarita es vía regia para ir y venir entre la acción y la reflexión sobre los vínculos, con una poética que conecta al lector sin presuponer un esquema universal de la experiencia. Me encanta encontrar palabras sonoras e inusuales en sus textos, es como tropezar con perlas o tréboles de cuatro hojas que se van contigo y amplían la vivencia con el lenguaje. En resumen una novela hermosa, conmovedora y reflexiva que se queda con el lector más allá de las páginas impresas.
September 25, 2022
Es cierto que este libro est�� muy bien escrito, pero la verdad es que no me enganchó para nada. Leí las primeras 100 páginas con la expectativa de que pasara algo que llegara a interpelarme y eso no sucedió nunca. Me aburrí muchísimo. Supongo que no es el momento de leerlo o simplemente no es para mí.
November 21, 2023
4? 4.5? What do these numbers mean anyway?
Thanks to Charco Press for the gifted copy.
"There are days when I want to disappear after a final sigh of exhaustion. But the relief vanishes when I think I will have passed through the world with nothing to hold onto. Who could I leave a message for, a surrender, an apology? Who could put me on trial?"
It's a little scary how much I can relate to this selfish, overthinking, self-absorbed, kinda lazy narrator. God, how many times have I not wanted to do something but caved in anyway? How often do I feel like SO MUCH IS HAPPENING when not all that much is happening?
The narrator is a Columbian writer in Argentina who is estranged from her mother and only has contact with her sister through zoom calls and the random packages she receives from her. Her sister is going away on a cruise, but manages to ship a crate before leaving.
In the week the novel takes place, the narrator -she's unnamed- somehow unpacks her intimacy issues, family baggage, her ideas of kinship and what it means to belong or call a place home, and her self-sabotaging ways while still trying to turn her work assignment in, finishing a grant application, going on dates, and taking care of the neighbor's son and the building cat. It's a lot, but it all somehow fits in 170 pages.
There's a dark wit and deadpan humor that's balanced with emotional insights and philosophical musings. You may not always agree with her, but it's damn interesting to think about. Meanwhile there's this whole banal surreality throughout the story which you just accept. We don't have time to question reality, so just go with it. The writing is smart with gorgeous turns of phrases and passages where you want to highlight the whole thing.
“My theory is that the awareness of the blood relationship is enough to convince people that kinship is an inexhaustible resource, that it’s enough for everything: to unite opposing destinies, to twist people’s wills …or to carry on an anodyne conversation. But it’s not enough, not at all. Kinship is an invisible thread, and you have to picture it constantly in order to remember it’s there.”
Thanks to Charco Press for the gifted copy.
"There are days when I want to disappear after a final sigh of exhaustion. But the relief vanishes when I think I will have passed through the world with nothing to hold onto. Who could I leave a message for, a surrender, an apology? Who could put me on trial?"
It's a little scary how much I can relate to this selfish, overthinking, self-absorbed, kinda lazy narrator. God, how many times have I not wanted to do something but caved in anyway? How often do I feel like SO MUCH IS HAPPENING when not all that much is happening?
The narrator is a Columbian writer in Argentina who is estranged from her mother and only has contact with her sister through zoom calls and the random packages she receives from her. Her sister is going away on a cruise, but manages to ship a crate before leaving.
In the week the novel takes place, the narrator -she's unnamed- somehow unpacks her intimacy issues, family baggage, her ideas of kinship and what it means to belong or call a place home, and her self-sabotaging ways while still trying to turn her work assignment in, finishing a grant application, going on dates, and taking care of the neighbor's son and the building cat. It's a lot, but it all somehow fits in 170 pages.
There's a dark wit and deadpan humor that's balanced with emotional insights and philosophical musings. You may not always agree with her, but it's damn interesting to think about. Meanwhile there's this whole banal surreality throughout the story which you just accept. We don't have time to question reality, so just go with it. The writing is smart with gorgeous turns of phrases and passages where you want to highlight the whole thing.
“My theory is that the awareness of the blood relationship is enough to convince people that kinship is an inexhaustible resource, that it’s enough for everything: to unite opposing destinies, to twist people’s wills …or to carry on an anodyne conversation. But it’s not enough, not at all. Kinship is an invisible thread, and you have to picture it constantly in order to remember it’s there.”
December 28, 2023
Definitely Robayo's best yet, although I still find myself waiting to be blown away by one of her novels. The Delivery follows a woman, estranged from her mother and having weekly calls with her long-distance sister, who receives a strange and absolutely massive parcel to her home. After opening the package she finds herself accompanied by her mother who now lives in the apartment with her, and we never find out if she is real or if she is a figment of the narrator's imagination that has stemmed from guilt and her own creeping inevitability of motherhood.
I really enjoyed the narration and thought the main character was funny and slightly unlikeable in really good way. This book really reminded me of Pink Slime without the post-apocalyptic element as she makes friends with a young boy who lives in the apartment block with her and navigates her relationship with a man who doesn't understand her relationship with her family.
Robayo is a wonderful writer and I'm still eager to eat up everything she writes. I'd love to see her write more like the Delivery where something seems a little bit sinister as I feel like she'd write some some of psychologically thrilling novel really well. I'd definitely recommend this book if you e enjoy books without a strong plot but that focus on young women not really knowing what their doing with their lives and examining mother-daughter relationships.
I really enjoyed the narration and thought the main character was funny and slightly unlikeable in really good way. This book really reminded me of Pink Slime without the post-apocalyptic element as she makes friends with a young boy who lives in the apartment block with her and navigates her relationship with a man who doesn't understand her relationship with her family.
Robayo is a wonderful writer and I'm still eager to eat up everything she writes. I'd love to see her write more like the Delivery where something seems a little bit sinister as I feel like she'd write some some of psychologically thrilling novel really well. I'd definitely recommend this book if you e enjoy books without a strong plot but that focus on young women not really knowing what their doing with their lives and examining mother-daughter relationships.
October 21, 2023
Reading this book was a rather unusual and surreal experience, a character with no name, living in a condo which might be located in Buenos Aires surrounded by memories and plans for the future, it was like she didn’t exist in the present. In fact the only thing that seems to exist in the here and now is a parcel that has arrived from an unknown source. The protagonist comes across as so lonely and has an instinct to push away anybody who gets too close, as the story unfolds you get hints on how she has become the woman she is now…if now even exists…a distant mother and a family that communicate via post it notes.
The bulk of the book follows her thoughts as she interacts with the world and those around her, as the story proceeds, her grip on reality starts to unravel and she overreacts to the smallest events as the book reaches it’s grand finale. The pace was gripping, easy to get caught up in events and there were some moments of humour, her thoughts made me proper laugh out loud. There was also much commentary on life in general, how people behave, how vegans are made and how little things like a neighbour looking at you can change your whole day, many times I was nodding along with how wise Robayo is.
A thought provoking novel that will break your heart and mend it in time to make you laugh before breaking it again. Highly recommended reading.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2023...
The bulk of the book follows her thoughts as she interacts with the world and those around her, as the story proceeds, her grip on reality starts to unravel and she overreacts to the smallest events as the book reaches it’s grand finale. The pace was gripping, easy to get caught up in events and there were some moments of humour, her thoughts made me proper laugh out loud. There was also much commentary on life in general, how people behave, how vegans are made and how little things like a neighbour looking at you can change your whole day, many times I was nodding along with how wise Robayo is.
A thought provoking novel that will break your heart and mend it in time to make you laugh before breaking it again. Highly recommended reading.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2023...
September 6, 2023
En general me gustó este libro, el primero que leo de Margarita García Robayo, me gustó el universo del caribe, su estilo, las frases cortas, las ideas punzantes, el ritmo que mantiene y que te deja con curiosidad hasta el final.
Me gustó que no usó palabras comunes para acomodar las situaciones. En su lugar, creo que hubo honestidad brutal, emociones reales con los que sería fácil identificarse. El final no me mató, pero en general disfruté esta lectura.
Me gustó que no usó palabras comunes para acomodar las situaciones. En su lugar, creo que hubo honestidad brutal, emociones reales con los que sería fácil identificarse. El final no me mató, pero en general disfruté esta lectura.
December 12, 2023
perfection
March 19, 2023
Me gustó mucho la forma en la que está escrito, nunca había visto un uso de adjetivos tan top 🔝 O.o y es impresionante cómo todas las frases suenan bien. En una parte del libro a la protagonista le dicen que el texto que redactó parece metafísico y justo así sentí el libro, medio filosófico y poético a la vez. Hace mucho que no leía una protagonista tan fría y ver sus dinámicas y procesos mentales me agradó. Aunque sí sentí que le faltaron páginas y el final fue muy abrupto.
En cuanto al libro como audiolibro, me encantó, parece que te está murmurando. Amé su acento, se me quedó grabado y empecé a pensar con la voz de la narradora.
En cuanto al libro como audiolibro, me encantó, parece que te está murmurando. Amé su acento, se me quedó grabado y empecé a pensar con la voz de la narradora.
April 2, 2023
Existe esa cosa que yo llamo AnagramaGrrrls que es un tipo de novela con mujeres hechas mierda, perdidas en los 30 con la vida pasándoles por encima y escribiendo cosas que Pérez Reverte no consideraría de señoritas. Podrías ponerle esa etiqueta a ‘Cauterio’ y a Sara Mesa. Y también a ‘La Encomienda’ que es AnagramaGrrrls goes realismo mágico.
A mi no me ha gustado pero porque me ha costado mucho conectar con el. Está muy bien escrito y cuenta cosas desde ese terreno difuso y misterioso de no dar muchas explicaciones para que el lector se haga sus esquemas. Sobre el papel tendría todo para encantarme pero no me ha pasado. Quizás no era el libro, quizás no era el momento.
A mi no me ha gustado pero porque me ha costado mucho conectar con el. Está muy bien escrito y cuenta cosas desde ese terreno difuso y misterioso de no dar muchas explicaciones para que el lector se haga sus esquemas. Sobre el papel tendría todo para encantarme pero no me ha pasado. Quizás no era el libro, quizás no era el momento.
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