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Fate
They inhabited a present that was weightless, fickle even, and yet at the same time effortlessly assembled; it was the very embodiment of something sound, something firm and tangible: a space of utter certainty...
This novel focuses on a group of characters who are all in different ways endeavouring to take control of their fate. Their desire to lead a genuine existence forces them to confront difficult decisions, and to break out of comfortable routines.
Karl and Marina have been together for ten years and have a young son, Simón. Karl is a German-born oboist at Argentina’s national orchestra, and Marina is a meteorologist. On a field trip, she meets fellow researcher Zárate, and what might have been just a fling starts to erode the foundations of her marriage. Then there is Amer, a dynamic and successful taxidermist. At a group therapy session for smokers, Amer falls for the younger Clara. While the relationship between Karl and Marina disintegrates, the love story between Amer and Clara is just beginning – or is it already at an end?
One of Argentina’s leading contemporary writers, Jorge Consiglio portrays the inner worlds of these characters through the minute details of their everyday lives, laying bare their strivings and their frustrations with a wry gaze, and seeking in this close-up texture a deeper truth.
This novel focuses on a group of characters who are all in different ways endeavouring to take control of their fate. Their desire to lead a genuine existence forces them to confront difficult decisions, and to break out of comfortable routines.
Karl and Marina have been together for ten years and have a young son, Simón. Karl is a German-born oboist at Argentina’s national orchestra, and Marina is a meteorologist. On a field trip, she meets fellow researcher Zárate, and what might have been just a fling starts to erode the foundations of her marriage. Then there is Amer, a dynamic and successful taxidermist. At a group therapy session for smokers, Amer falls for the younger Clara. While the relationship between Karl and Marina disintegrates, the love story between Amer and Clara is just beginning – or is it already at an end?
One of Argentina’s leading contemporary writers, Jorge Consiglio portrays the inner worlds of these characters through the minute details of their everyday lives, laying bare their strivings and their frustrations with a wry gaze, and seeking in this close-up texture a deeper truth.
117 pages, Paperback
First published March 5, 2020
About the author
Jorge Consiglio
19 books16 followersJorge Consiglio nació en Buenos Aires en 1962. Es licenciado en Letras por la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Publicó las novelas El bien (Premio Nuevos Narradores de Editorial Ópera Prima de España, 2001), Gramática de la sombra (Tercer Premio Municipal de Novela, 2003), Pequeñas intenciones (Primer Premio Municipal de Novela, 2011 y Segundo Premio Nacional de Novela, 2014) y Hospital Posadas (Eterna Cadencia, 2015); los volúmenes de relatos Marrakech (1992), El otro lado (Segundo Premio Municipal de Cuento, 2009), Villa del Parque (Eterna Cadencia, 2016; traducido al inglés) y los libros de poesía Indicio de lo otro, Las frutas y los días, La velocidad de la Tierra, Intemperie y Plaza Sinclair. Además, el libro de microrrelatos Las Cajas (2018), que recopila las colaboraciones realizadas en el blog de Eterna Cadencia.
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February 6, 2022
The young lady in the above photo was just about to leave the city after her conference but at the last moment decided to spend the afternoon taking in the sights - first stop, a coffee shop. She spots another conference attendee, introduces herself to the gent and is invited to take a seat. Within minutes, they click. Phone numbers are exchanged, a relationship develops and the couple eventually marry and raise a family.
What role did fate play in their meeting?
According to the ancient Greeks, three goddesses of Fate preside over the cycle of human life, each person's destiny a thread spun by Clotho, measured by Lachesis and cut by Atropos.
How much freedom and choice do we really have?
In his Author's Note serving as the novel's preface, Jorge Consiglio writes, "The key question is: fate or chance? Life presents itself as a series of events, and we will never know if we are fulfilling a pre-established path or if fortuitousness - the accidental in the strictest sense of the word - is the decisive factor."
The author tells us the English translation by Carolina Orloff and Fionn Patch is nothing short of impeccable, capturing all the nuances of the original Spanish. Thank you Charco Press. Incidentally, while reading this novel, I discovered that Charco is a province in northeast Argentina known for its nature reserves and wildlife.
Jorge Consiglio frames his novel thusly: We're in modern day Buenos Aires and each short chapter of three or four pages snaps back and forth between a trio of characters: Amer the taxidermist, Marina the meteorologist and Marina's husband Karl the oboe player.
Three more characters quickly enter the picture: Clara, Zárate and Simón. Amer sees Clara for the first time at his self-help group for those wishing to quit smoking and he quickly becomes infatuated with the young lady twenty years his junior. Marina meets Zárate, a biologist from the Institute of Experimental Medicine, when on a field project north of the city. Like Marina, Zárate is also married but the couple begin an affair that turns into something much more. Simón is the son of Karl and Marina, a moody schoolboy hovering around age seven.
We watch, chapter by chapter, as their respective lives unfold. Is what happens fate or is it chance? I wonder if I would have tuned into Jorge Consiglio's prime intention in writing Fate if the Author's Note was not included and if the title of the novel was something else, say Six in Buenos Aires.
Either way, I would undoubtedly pick up on two things. First, let me share a quote from German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer: "A novel will be the higher and nobler the more inner and less outer life it depicts...The art lies in setting the inner life into the most violent motion with the smallest possible expenditure of outer life; for it is the inner life which is the real object of our interest.The task of the novelist is not to narrate great events but to make small ones interesting."
This dynamic is both the beauty and the strength of Fate: Jorge Consiglio makes the events of six ordinary people extremely interesting. A reader will take delight in turning those pages.
Second, although we'll never know definitively if key events in our lives happen by fate or by chance, one thing is certain: as humans we're in the realm of desire, that is, we're always yearning, hankering for more. Going back to the wisdom traditions East and West - Greek philosophy, Roman philosophy, Yoga practice, Buddhism - the issue is how much insight we bring to understanding and dealing with our desires.
The novel's characters chase happiness and feeling good by smoking and drinking and a rainbow of pills such as Paracetamol and Xanax. To what degree does wisdom figure in their lives? As a way of addressing this question, I'll share a Fate highlight reel -
Character, Charisma and Confidence - To emphasize her strong sense of identity, Jorge Consiglio frequently uses Marina Kezelman's full name or only her last name. Marina sips her macchiato in a cafè with aristocratic bearing and deft, assured movements. Marina understands she's always been an attractive woman who can get her own way. However, she does consult the I Ching from time to time since, after all, even a woman of her stature doesn't know the future.
Outrageous Outing for an Oboist - Karl on a subway platform: "The sensible response would have been to let life carry on as usual, but things went awry from the outset. Rage spiked not because of the intensity of the impact, but because both men stared daggers at each other....They hit each other wherever they could: stomach, arms, face. They kicked, bit, strangled....In the frenzy, they rolled into a wall and stayed there, bunched up and immobile, until the police came and pulled them apart." Come, come, Karl! You play oboe in the orchestra. You're a tall, refined, distinguished looking, middle-aged man. When responding to that uptight lawyer, a measure of Stoic philosophy would have come in handy.
Tension Tango - Amer and Clara play a game of Truco in the park. "They took it way too seriously. Absurd as it may seem, the prospect of defeat was tragic to them." Things boil up into an argument, the aftermath no less emotional. "After a while, Amer took a deep breath, held the air in his lungs and let it out. He opted for peace, but Clara chose to pursue her indignation." Does this sound like the makings of a lasting relationship?
Father and Son - Karl calls Simón to the table for lunch. Doing his best to ignore the buildup of disharmony between mom and dad, Simón doesn't respond. Karl loses patience. "He grabbed Simón by the shoulders and shook him as if trying to wake him up. The boy - less out of rancour than out of astonishment - threw an open-handed blow at his father." What are the odds Karl will act with fatherly compassion?
Perfect Execution - Marina and Zárate together. "The first part had transpired in slow motion, with graceful placidity. This second sequence, meanwhile, was electric. Kezelman and Zárate were sprinters in a 100-metre race. Perfect and luminous." What does this description refer to? You'll have to read this fine novel to find out.
I can't recommend Fate highly enough. For me, I'm looking forward to the other Jorge Consiglio novel available in English courtesy of Charco Press - Southerly.
Author Jorge Consiglio from Argentina, born 1962
February 16, 2020
Charco Press is an Edinburgh-based small UK press – they focus on “finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world”.
This is the first book of their fourth year of publication, and the second they have published by the Argentinian author Jorge Consiglio, after the short-story collection “Southerly”. It is joint translated by Carolina Orloff (co-founded of Charco) and Fionn Petch.
The story features one family unit that is starting to disintegrate (a German-born musician Karl, Marina a Meteorological researcher – who starts an affair with a colleague on a field trip, and their rather sullen Son Simon) and another couple just starting on a relationship (an older taxidermist Amer and Clara, training to be a PE teacher).
The story is told in short third-party point of view chapters – mainly from the viewpoint of Karl, Marina and Amer (with a brief Clara chapter – confusingly in the introduction, the author describes the fourth character as a child).
The epigraph says “fate replaces destiny” – the difference I think (at least in English) being that fate is what you cannot change; destiny is what you are meant to do. The authors introduction explicitly adds a further layer as describing the story as being between fate and chance – saying “we will never know if we are fulfilling a pre-established path or if fortuitousness – the accidental in the strictest sense of the world – is the decisive factor”, which seems to be treating fate more as destiny, but seems to be introducing the subject of randomness, which is picked up in the story via i-ching (which I believe inspired the original Spanish title of the book).
I enjoyed the initial set up of the story – at least as I interpreted it.
Karl, Marina and Amer all come across as rather pretentious characters, assured of their own importance and believing themselves to be living fully in the present and in control of their fate (or destinty) as well as having a portentous interpretation of their actions and their qualities. In the first few chapters we have: someone who remarks on not having eaten for six hours (which would be a normal gap between meals), someone who demonstrates their extraordinary physical strength by moving a fridge 20 cms and their exceptional stamina by waking at 7AM, and (the same person)’s character being defined by their height (which at 5’4” is entirely average). Later we have a momentous example of their implacable resolution and relentlessness – as they determinedly …. sew a rip in a teddy bear.
I looked forward to how the vagaries of fate (or chance) on their lives, and the uncertainty of their futures would question their confidence.
And yet I felt this never really quite happened. I would have loved to agree with the author’s introduction that “beneath the [prose’s] simplicity, a turbulent ocean swells …. [and] Each sentence … reverberates, seeks to expand and transform itself into both a proposition and an enigma” – but that simply did not reflect my reading of the book.
I did however enjoy the non-chance ending – as the two storylines just fail to intersect (albeit even the failed intersection would have been, literally, peripheral to both stories, albeit not to the reader’s enjoyment): perhaps reminding us that fate/chance can be just as much about what did not happen as to what did. And, more to the point, what we never even realise did not happen (as opposed to more explicit non-occurences such as examples outlined in the author’s introduction of people who for different reasons missed a fatal train journey).
Overall an interesting book but one that did not fulfill I felt either the expectations set out in the introduction, or my own hopes on reading the first 1/3rd of the book
This is the first book of their fourth year of publication, and the second they have published by the Argentinian author Jorge Consiglio, after the short-story collection “Southerly”. It is joint translated by Carolina Orloff (co-founded of Charco) and Fionn Petch.
The story features one family unit that is starting to disintegrate (a German-born musician Karl, Marina a Meteorological researcher – who starts an affair with a colleague on a field trip, and their rather sullen Son Simon) and another couple just starting on a relationship (an older taxidermist Amer and Clara, training to be a PE teacher).
The story is told in short third-party point of view chapters – mainly from the viewpoint of Karl, Marina and Amer (with a brief Clara chapter – confusingly in the introduction, the author describes the fourth character as a child).
The epigraph says “fate replaces destiny” – the difference I think (at least in English) being that fate is what you cannot change; destiny is what you are meant to do. The authors introduction explicitly adds a further layer as describing the story as being between fate and chance – saying “we will never know if we are fulfilling a pre-established path or if fortuitousness – the accidental in the strictest sense of the world – is the decisive factor”, which seems to be treating fate more as destiny, but seems to be introducing the subject of randomness, which is picked up in the story via i-ching (which I believe inspired the original Spanish title of the book).
I enjoyed the initial set up of the story – at least as I interpreted it.
Karl, Marina and Amer all come across as rather pretentious characters, assured of their own importance and believing themselves to be living fully in the present and in control of their fate (or destinty) as well as having a portentous interpretation of their actions and their qualities. In the first few chapters we have: someone who remarks on not having eaten for six hours (which would be a normal gap between meals), someone who demonstrates their extraordinary physical strength by moving a fridge 20 cms and their exceptional stamina by waking at 7AM, and (the same person)’s character being defined by their height (which at 5’4” is entirely average). Later we have a momentous example of their implacable resolution and relentlessness – as they determinedly …. sew a rip in a teddy bear.
I looked forward to how the vagaries of fate (or chance) on their lives, and the uncertainty of their futures would question their confidence.
And yet I felt this never really quite happened. I would have loved to agree with the author’s introduction that “beneath the [prose’s] simplicity, a turbulent ocean swells …. [and] Each sentence … reverberates, seeks to expand and transform itself into both a proposition and an enigma” – but that simply did not reflect my reading of the book.
I did however enjoy the non-chance ending – as the two storylines just fail to intersect (albeit even the failed intersection would have been, literally, peripheral to both stories, albeit not to the reader’s enjoyment): perhaps reminding us that fate/chance can be just as much about what did not happen as to what did. And, more to the point, what we never even realise did not happen (as opposed to more explicit non-occurences such as examples outlined in the author’s introduction of people who for different reasons missed a fatal train journey).
Overall an interesting book but one that did not fulfill I felt either the expectations set out in the introduction, or my own hopes on reading the first 1/3rd of the book
Read
May 24, 2020Remarkably vivid and replete with sensual detail. As I read, I saw the scenes and the people to a degree that I never do. The book urged me to read it slowly. It invited me to take in each page. It persuaded me to allow myself time to look around before I moved on.
I'm not sure what I think of this novel yet in terms of emotional resonances...what I'm feeling from it right now is a blobby wonder, and a fuzzy feeling in my fingertips. I'm noticing things around me in real space in much the way I do, for a little while, after visiting an art museum.
I'll be re-reading this novel soon.
I'm not sure what I think of this novel yet in terms of emotional resonances...what I'm feeling from it right now is a blobby wonder, and a fuzzy feeling in my fingertips. I'm noticing things around me in real space in much the way I do, for a little while, after visiting an art museum.
I'll be re-reading this novel soon.
February 9, 2020
Each occurrence, however small and insignificant, was lit by the gleam of celebration. Everything fastened together in a joyful line. Something unstoppable: a chain of wise choices and well-being.
Fate is the second translation of Argentinian author Jorge Consiglio's works published by Charco Press, this translated by Carolina Orloff, co-founded of the press, and Fionn Petch. My review of the first, Southerly, a short-story collection translated by Cherilyn Elston from the original, Villa del Parque, is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... It was a collection I appreciated but felt I would have appreciated more with some notes for the UK reader, as it drew heavily on Argentinian literature (notably Borges) and history.
Fate is more universal in that regard, but far more enigmatic, although it comes with a helpful introduction from the author, noting how the dialgoue in the Ferris Wheel scene in film of The Third Man was a key inspiration for the style for which he was aiming. And indeed a Ferris Wheel appears in the final scene of the novel, one the author has said was the starting point of the book, the rest consisting of working back from this point as to how the characters arrived there.
The 2018 original was titled “Tres monedas”, i.e. Three Coins, representing the i-ching that two of the characters resort to in the novel to determine their destiny.
The third-person narration of this novel switches, in each short (2-4 page) chapter between the perspectives of the different characters: while not their thoughts one gets the impression this is how they would narrate their own stories. Stylistically the author is a fan of Onetti and (my translation) his thing that I loved about Onetti, which was to tell you as if you already knew the story, as if you were one more witness.
In the first couple of chapters there were what first seemed a couple of false notes, passages I re-read in case I'd missed something:
The first chapter of the novel is narrated from the perspective of Amer, a renowned taxidermist, with a slightly odd mental obsession with bears. It opens with him eating a fairly simple self-made guacamole on toast but in the next paragraph proclaims dramatically “he hadn’t eaten a thing in six hours” (a typical time gap between lunch and dinner.)
We then switch to Marina, a meteorologist who we find attempting, actually rather unsuccessfully, to kill some ants. But as the insects scuttle away from her attacks the narrator pronounces:
Marina Kezelman was clearly a threat. Her height became apparent when she stood up which she did in two movements. She was five feet four inches tall. This fact was relevant to a feature of a personality, perhaps the most significant one: her determination. Maria Kezelman was someone who faced her problems head-on. As her husband put it, she crushed them.
Except 5ft 4 is actually the average height for a US woman, and it is 5ft 3 in Argentina (per Wikipedia)
In practice I think these may be deliberate exaggerations are I think key to how the characters see themselves, as Shakesparian heroes, as the author has said in an interview, although in reality their lives turn on small, trivial moments (echoes of "A Horse! A Horse! My Kingdom for a Horse!"?)
The novel is also narrated from the perspective of Karl, a German-born oboist in Argentina's national orchestra, and (in one chapter) a younger woman Clara, who Amer meets at a group psychotherapy class for smokers.
Karl and Marina have been married for ten years (he hasn’t seen his daughter from a previous marriage in Germany for many years) and have a primary school age son Simón. But their marriage seems rather distant, and as the story opens Marina finds herself drawn to a fellow researcher Zárate.
The relationship between the characters, particularly the Amer and Marina strands, is never clear although the two stories converge at the novel's end - or do they?
In his introduction the author himself says 'the plot of Fate is simple, the prose straightforward. But beneath this simplicity a turbulent ocean swells. In this novel each action is what it is - or something else. Or more precisely each action is many things at once.' But I must admit I struggled - there is a enigma at the heart of Fate, but it was a little too enigmatic for me.
I look forward to other reviews and discussing this with other readers - but 2.5 stars for now.
Author Interview (he also explains the bear): https://www.eternacadencia.com.ar/blo...
Fate is the second translation of Argentinian author Jorge Consiglio's works published by Charco Press, this translated by Carolina Orloff, co-founded of the press, and Fionn Petch. My review of the first, Southerly, a short-story collection translated by Cherilyn Elston from the original, Villa del Parque, is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... It was a collection I appreciated but felt I would have appreciated more with some notes for the UK reader, as it drew heavily on Argentinian literature (notably Borges) and history.
Fate is more universal in that regard, but far more enigmatic, although it comes with a helpful introduction from the author, noting how the dialgoue in the Ferris Wheel scene in film of The Third Man was a key inspiration for the style for which he was aiming. And indeed a Ferris Wheel appears in the final scene of the novel, one the author has said was the starting point of the book, the rest consisting of working back from this point as to how the characters arrived there.
The 2018 original was titled “Tres monedas”, i.e. Three Coins, representing the i-ching that two of the characters resort to in the novel to determine their destiny.
The third-person narration of this novel switches, in each short (2-4 page) chapter between the perspectives of the different characters: while not their thoughts one gets the impression this is how they would narrate their own stories. Stylistically the author is a fan of Onetti and (my translation) his thing that I loved about Onetti, which was to tell you as if you already knew the story, as if you were one more witness.
In the first couple of chapters there were what first seemed a couple of false notes, passages I re-read in case I'd missed something:
The first chapter of the novel is narrated from the perspective of Amer, a renowned taxidermist, with a slightly odd mental obsession with bears. It opens with him eating a fairly simple self-made guacamole on toast but in the next paragraph proclaims dramatically “he hadn’t eaten a thing in six hours” (a typical time gap between lunch and dinner.)
We then switch to Marina, a meteorologist who we find attempting, actually rather unsuccessfully, to kill some ants. But as the insects scuttle away from her attacks the narrator pronounces:
Marina Kezelman was clearly a threat. Her height became apparent when she stood up which she did in two movements. She was five feet four inches tall. This fact was relevant to a feature of a personality, perhaps the most significant one: her determination. Maria Kezelman was someone who faced her problems head-on. As her husband put it, she crushed them.
Except 5ft 4 is actually the average height for a US woman, and it is 5ft 3 in Argentina (per Wikipedia)
In practice I think these may be deliberate exaggerations are I think key to how the characters see themselves, as Shakesparian heroes, as the author has said in an interview, although in reality their lives turn on small, trivial moments (echoes of "A Horse! A Horse! My Kingdom for a Horse!"?)
The novel is also narrated from the perspective of Karl, a German-born oboist in Argentina's national orchestra, and (in one chapter) a younger woman Clara, who Amer meets at a group psychotherapy class for smokers.
Karl and Marina have been married for ten years (he hasn’t seen his daughter from a previous marriage in Germany for many years) and have a primary school age son Simón. But their marriage seems rather distant, and as the story opens Marina finds herself drawn to a fellow researcher Zárate.
The relationship between the characters, particularly the Amer and Marina strands, is never clear although the two stories converge at the novel's end - or do they?
In his introduction the author himself says 'the plot of Fate is simple, the prose straightforward. But beneath this simplicity a turbulent ocean swells. In this novel each action is what it is - or something else. Or more precisely each action is many things at once.' But I must admit I struggled - there is a enigma at the heart of Fate, but it was a little too enigmatic for me.
I look forward to other reviews and discussing this with other readers - but 2.5 stars for now.
Author Interview (he also explains the bear): https://www.eternacadencia.com.ar/blo...
July 18, 2022
"... understand that the world is not ruled by immutable laws; it is vulnerable, uncertain. Understand that fate replaces destiny."
- Ezequiel Martínez Estrada
Opening epigraph of
• FATE by Jorge Consiglio, translated from the Spanish by Carolina Orloff & Fionn Petch, 2018 / 2020.
Character sketches of modern people living and moving about Buenos Aires, Argentina: a museum taxidermist who is trying to stop smoking, a meteorologist who fancies a fling, a professional musician...
The novella cycles through each person story in a repeating 1-2-3 pattern for the whole book, and at only 118 pages, that worked well. A longer work, possible the format would have gone stale - crisis averted!
Parts of this reminded by of the fun frolics of Norwegian writer Gunnhild Øyehaug in WAIT, BLINK, told in present tense, the feeling of looking in a window at people as they go about their business... or like watching a goldfish in a bowl.
Relatable scenarios (I laughed at the on-going situation with the one character trying to figure out where the ants 🐜 were coming from / going to in her kitchen.... Been there), real-life interactions of people just living, pursuing various things, and trying to take control of their fates...
@charcopress was kind to send me this book and I'm glad I got to it - will definitely seek out Consiglio's other book from Charco, Southerly.
- Ezequiel Martínez Estrada
Opening epigraph of
• FATE by Jorge Consiglio, translated from the Spanish by Carolina Orloff & Fionn Petch, 2018 / 2020.
Character sketches of modern people living and moving about Buenos Aires, Argentina: a museum taxidermist who is trying to stop smoking, a meteorologist who fancies a fling, a professional musician...
The novella cycles through each person story in a repeating 1-2-3 pattern for the whole book, and at only 118 pages, that worked well. A longer work, possible the format would have gone stale - crisis averted!
Parts of this reminded by of the fun frolics of Norwegian writer Gunnhild Øyehaug in WAIT, BLINK, told in present tense, the feeling of looking in a window at people as they go about their business... or like watching a goldfish in a bowl.
Relatable scenarios (I laughed at the on-going situation with the one character trying to figure out where the ants 🐜 were coming from / going to in her kitchen.... Been there), real-life interactions of people just living, pursuing various things, and trying to take control of their fates...
@charcopress was kind to send me this book and I'm glad I got to it - will definitely seek out Consiglio's other book from Charco, Southerly.
February 10, 2020
Fate comes to us in English via Charco Press. On the publisher’s website, Charco says:
We select authors whose work feeds the imagination, challenges perspective and sparks debate. Authors that are shining lights in the world of contemporary literature. Authors that have won awards and received critical acclaim. Bestselling authors. Yet authors you perhaps have never heard of. Because none of them have been published in English.
Until now.
Fate is the fifth novel by Jorge Consiglio (Southerly is also available in English from Charco Press). It is certainly true that this novel fulfils the ambition of feeding the imagination and challenging perspective.
The novel begins with an epigraph by Ezequiel Martínez Estrada:
”…understand that this world is not ruled by immutable laws; that it is vulnerable, uncertain. Understand that fate replaces destiny.”
That was the first point at which I stopped to pause for thought. Like, I imagine, many people, I tend to think of “fate” and “destiny” as roughly synonymous. After a bit of internet research, I think it is fair to say that most commonly “fate” is regarded in a negative sense in that it covers things over which an individual has no control or things that will happen to a person if they don’t take any positive steps and just events proceed. Whereas “destiny” is much more positive and refers to what an individual makes happen, what happens when a person puts some effort into realising their own potential.
In that context, the final sentence of the epigraph sets us up for a somewhat depressing story: it seems to be telling us that the way the world works is that random chance trumps human endeavour. The original title of the novel is “Tres Monedas” or “Three Coins” which makes reference to the use of three coins to consult the I Ching (an ancient Chinese method of divination) - see here: https://www.wikihow.com/Consult-the-I.... Two of the characters in the novel use this method to determine their fate (or destiny).
There is, in fact, an author’s note in the pages before the epigraph and it is worth reading this before launching into the story itself. Here, the author says:
”Beyond all the precautions taken, beyond everything we do to protect ourselves in society, beyond personal defence mechanisms, every human being stands face-to-face with the unknown. This is the distinctive and most genuine characteristic of our species. This idea lies at the core of Fate”.
We meet Amer, a taxidermist with something of a bear obsession who strikes up a relationship with Clara when he meets her at a “stop smoking” group. We also meet Marina and Karl, a married couple, she a meteorologist and he a musician, and their son Simón. Marina’s story brings us into contact with Zárate, a fellow meteorologist. Amer, Marina and Karl are all, in their own ways, trying to overcome their fate and replace it with their destiny. Early on, we read of Marina
She would choose a direction and move forward, with a certain degree of bewilderment, but always forward.
Likewise, Amer looks to take control of events and shape the future he wants.
Karl is far more impulsive and more inclined to let things happen i.e. to head towards his fate rather than make his own destiny.
In two different storylines, we watch developments in Karl and Marina’s relationship and we see Amer in his relationship with Clara.
What we see is several different people struggling in their own ways to make sense of life, to shape something for themselves when, as the epigraph has told us, that is not how the world works.
Ultimately then, it is a sad novel and that sadness is illustrated and made more poignant at the very end when the two storylines almost overlap but the randomness and uncertainty of the world intervenes again to mean that they miss one another by just 7 seconds.
I may not hold to same world view about fate and destiny, but I did find this a beautiful book to read.
We select authors whose work feeds the imagination, challenges perspective and sparks debate. Authors that are shining lights in the world of contemporary literature. Authors that have won awards and received critical acclaim. Bestselling authors. Yet authors you perhaps have never heard of. Because none of them have been published in English.
Until now.
Fate is the fifth novel by Jorge Consiglio (Southerly is also available in English from Charco Press). It is certainly true that this novel fulfils the ambition of feeding the imagination and challenging perspective.
The novel begins with an epigraph by Ezequiel Martínez Estrada:
”…understand that this world is not ruled by immutable laws; that it is vulnerable, uncertain. Understand that fate replaces destiny.”
That was the first point at which I stopped to pause for thought. Like, I imagine, many people, I tend to think of “fate” and “destiny” as roughly synonymous. After a bit of internet research, I think it is fair to say that most commonly “fate” is regarded in a negative sense in that it covers things over which an individual has no control or things that will happen to a person if they don’t take any positive steps and just events proceed. Whereas “destiny” is much more positive and refers to what an individual makes happen, what happens when a person puts some effort into realising their own potential.
In that context, the final sentence of the epigraph sets us up for a somewhat depressing story: it seems to be telling us that the way the world works is that random chance trumps human endeavour. The original title of the novel is “Tres Monedas” or “Three Coins” which makes reference to the use of three coins to consult the I Ching (an ancient Chinese method of divination) - see here: https://www.wikihow.com/Consult-the-I.... Two of the characters in the novel use this method to determine their fate (or destiny).
There is, in fact, an author’s note in the pages before the epigraph and it is worth reading this before launching into the story itself. Here, the author says:
”Beyond all the precautions taken, beyond everything we do to protect ourselves in society, beyond personal defence mechanisms, every human being stands face-to-face with the unknown. This is the distinctive and most genuine characteristic of our species. This idea lies at the core of Fate”.
We meet Amer, a taxidermist with something of a bear obsession who strikes up a relationship with Clara when he meets her at a “stop smoking” group. We also meet Marina and Karl, a married couple, she a meteorologist and he a musician, and their son Simón. Marina’s story brings us into contact with Zárate, a fellow meteorologist. Amer, Marina and Karl are all, in their own ways, trying to overcome their fate and replace it with their destiny. Early on, we read of Marina
She would choose a direction and move forward, with a certain degree of bewilderment, but always forward.
Likewise, Amer looks to take control of events and shape the future he wants.
Karl is far more impulsive and more inclined to let things happen i.e. to head towards his fate rather than make his own destiny.
In two different storylines, we watch developments in Karl and Marina’s relationship and we see Amer in his relationship with Clara.
What we see is several different people struggling in their own ways to make sense of life, to shape something for themselves when, as the epigraph has told us, that is not how the world works.
Ultimately then, it is a sad novel and that sadness is illustrated and made more poignant at the very end when the two storylines almost overlap but the randomness and uncertainty of the world intervenes again to mean that they miss one another by just 7 seconds.
I may not hold to same world view about fate and destiny, but I did find this a beautiful book to read.
July 12, 2020
The everyday lives of four characters filled with mundane, ordinary, and boring things which are exaggerated and made look like they have some sort of significance to the story. The book ends in the same way - slow and mundane, made to feel like there's some deeper meaning, which unfortunately eludes us. The best way to read this is in a buddyread where you can have a good discussion and share your bafflement!
May 21, 2021
argentine author jorge consiglio's fate (tres monedas) is a subtle novel about the lives of everyday people. family, marriage, romance, career, consiglio writes assuredly about life's shifting fortunes, however, herein it all happens in incremental, mundane ways, rather than with melodrama or spectacle. consiglio's tale of lives colliding and destiny's influence is well-written, if a little lacking in overall effect.
*translated from the spanish by carolina orloff (harwicz & charco press co-founder) and fionn petch (sagasti, renato cisneros, et al.)
yet sometimes, when luck is on our side, we chance on signs that are enormously useful in orienting us amid this nebulous universe of possibilities.
*translated from the spanish by carolina orloff (harwicz & charco press co-founder) and fionn petch (sagasti, renato cisneros, et al.)
June 18, 2020
3.5 stars
(#gifted @charcopress) A succinct little novel documenting the everyday lives of three main characters, Fate throws up some beautiful passages about fate, unsurprisingly, and destiny, and how much control we exert over them.
.
In the author's note at the beginning, Argentinian author Consiglio declares that the translation is impeccable, perfectly capturing his every nuance from the original Spanish. I would have to agree with that, as I was borne along by the clean-cut prose. This is the second translation I've read this year from Carolina Orloff, this time assisted by Fionn Petch, and you can colour me impressed!
.
Fate is one for my fellow readers who enjoy getting lost in the minutiae of other people's lives. There are no huge surprises or explosions, although there is taxidermy, ferris wheels and dildos if that convinces anybody. I particularly enjoyed Amer's chapters, a taxidermist embarking on a new (but already doomed?) relationship with a woman he meets at a group for quitting smoking. The other chapters focus on Karl and Marina, a married couple with a son who are coming to the end of their relationship.
.
Although a quiet and pensive book throughout, the ending gave me the most pause. It's a missed encounter by seven seconds, spurred by fate (or destiny? Honestly, I still struggle to differentiate between the two). It really made me think about how much in our lives happens or doesn't happen because of where we are at a certain moment - especially since I met my partner mainly due to a bunch of random things coming together at one time! Who knows if seven seconds would have made the difference there?!
.
Part of me wishes it had been longer, but then again, maybe the beauty of it is in the concision. It's just a glimpse into the inner lives of three people, a sliver before that door is closed to us again.
(#gifted @charcopress) A succinct little novel documenting the everyday lives of three main characters, Fate throws up some beautiful passages about fate, unsurprisingly, and destiny, and how much control we exert over them.
.
In the author's note at the beginning, Argentinian author Consiglio declares that the translation is impeccable, perfectly capturing his every nuance from the original Spanish. I would have to agree with that, as I was borne along by the clean-cut prose. This is the second translation I've read this year from Carolina Orloff, this time assisted by Fionn Petch, and you can colour me impressed!
.
Fate is one for my fellow readers who enjoy getting lost in the minutiae of other people's lives. There are no huge surprises or explosions, although there is taxidermy, ferris wheels and dildos if that convinces anybody. I particularly enjoyed Amer's chapters, a taxidermist embarking on a new (but already doomed?) relationship with a woman he meets at a group for quitting smoking. The other chapters focus on Karl and Marina, a married couple with a son who are coming to the end of their relationship.
.
Although a quiet and pensive book throughout, the ending gave me the most pause. It's a missed encounter by seven seconds, spurred by fate (or destiny? Honestly, I still struggle to differentiate between the two). It really made me think about how much in our lives happens or doesn't happen because of where we are at a certain moment - especially since I met my partner mainly due to a bunch of random things coming together at one time! Who knows if seven seconds would have made the difference there?!
.
Part of me wishes it had been longer, but then again, maybe the beauty of it is in the concision. It's just a glimpse into the inner lives of three people, a sliver before that door is closed to us again.
March 3, 2020
A beautifully constructed novel that's poignant without being overblown; a pleasure to read.
July 30, 2022
this book crept up on me and once i started reading it i couldn’t stop. jorge’s writing style is intoxicating and reminds me of the best of murakami and marquez, it was such a joy to finish as the description of buenos aires and the people within it made for a colourful and contemporary universe i would love to read about again!
April 27, 2020
Not Much Fate
Review of the Charco Press English translation paperback edition (March 2020) of the Spanish language original Tres monedas (Three Coins) (2018)
I confess that I wasn't very engaged by Fate and did not really feel it was living up to its new title in translation. The original title, Three Coins did not seem to relate either (I may have missed the 3 coins reference, I'll admit). There are two couples involved and one is in a marriage and the other is in a new relationship. The partners did not seem very passionate at all and everyone goes through the motions of falling in and out of love. It all felt somewhat clinical, which was perhaps symbolised by one of the characters being a taxidermist i.e. seeking to portray a semblance of life when in fact it no longer existed.
I read Fate as part of the Translated Fiction Online Book Club (TFOBC) which has been organized by Charco Press and 5 other UK independent publishers for an initial 6 week period (March 26 to April 30, 2020) during this current world pandemic situation. There is a possibility of the Book Club continuing past its initial 6 books based on the enthusiastic response.
As I live in Canada, I wasn't the best candidate for the Book Club as it was UK-centric in its publishers and international parcel shipping under the current world circumstances seems to have been almost completely stopped depending on which postal services you are dealing with. Although I ordered all six of the book club selections roughly at the same time around the start of the club, only Fate from Charco Press has been delivered from the UK since that time as of late April 2020. I dislike reading eBooks on screen so could not read all the selections in time to actually join in all of the online meetings. It was still possible to catch up to them after the fact as the audio was recorded and archived on Soundcloud and Author and/or Translator Q&As were distributed via email.
Trivia and Links
The archived audio from the TFOBC Week 3 conversation with Charco Press publisher & translator Carolina Orloff of Charco Press can be heard on Soundcloud.
The Q&As with writer Jorge Consiglio can be read here (in pdf format).
Review of the Charco Press English translation paperback edition (March 2020) of the Spanish language original Tres monedas (Three Coins) (2018)
I confess that I wasn't very engaged by Fate and did not really feel it was living up to its new title in translation. The original title, Three Coins did not seem to relate either (I may have missed the 3 coins reference, I'll admit). There are two couples involved and one is in a marriage and the other is in a new relationship. The partners did not seem very passionate at all and everyone goes through the motions of falling in and out of love. It all felt somewhat clinical, which was perhaps symbolised by one of the characters being a taxidermist i.e. seeking to portray a semblance of life when in fact it no longer existed.
I read Fate as part of the Translated Fiction Online Book Club (TFOBC) which has been organized by Charco Press and 5 other UK independent publishers for an initial 6 week period (March 26 to April 30, 2020) during this current world pandemic situation. There is a possibility of the Book Club continuing past its initial 6 books based on the enthusiastic response.
As I live in Canada, I wasn't the best candidate for the Book Club as it was UK-centric in its publishers and international parcel shipping under the current world circumstances seems to have been almost completely stopped depending on which postal services you are dealing with. Although I ordered all six of the book club selections roughly at the same time around the start of the club, only Fate from Charco Press has been delivered from the UK since that time as of late April 2020. I dislike reading eBooks on screen so could not read all the selections in time to actually join in all of the online meetings. It was still possible to catch up to them after the fact as the audio was recorded and archived on Soundcloud and Author and/or Translator Q&As were distributed via email.
Trivia and Links
The archived audio from the TFOBC Week 3 conversation with Charco Press publisher & translator Carolina Orloff of Charco Press can be heard on Soundcloud.
The Q&As with writer Jorge Consiglio can be read here (in pdf format).
April 8, 2020
Read for week three of the Translated Fiction Online Book Club.
Some novels are so short their ideas don't have enough time to sink in. Some are so smoothly written you could miss their inner profundities as you glide quickly over each page to the finish. Unfortunately, unfairly, Fate can be accused of both.
Consiglio writes characters who convincingly come alive on the page with just a few strokes but part of the project of this book is to describe both significant and insignificant (I suppose) details with equal importance. It is amazing the narrative isn't fatally weighed down by this, however, there is a consequence for the reader. When everything is possibly important there is no focus on a single unifying idea that isn't metatextual. I found myself, like the characters, burdened with a struggle to find meaning in a world inundated with little details. Ultimately, this technique conspired to make his cynical little story crushingly depressing.
Some novels are so short their ideas don't have enough time to sink in. Some are so smoothly written you could miss their inner profundities as you glide quickly over each page to the finish. Unfortunately, unfairly, Fate can be accused of both.
Consiglio writes characters who convincingly come alive on the page with just a few strokes but part of the project of this book is to describe both significant and insignificant (I suppose) details with equal importance. It is amazing the narrative isn't fatally weighed down by this, however, there is a consequence for the reader. When everything is possibly important there is no focus on a single unifying idea that isn't metatextual. I found myself, like the characters, burdened with a struggle to find meaning in a world inundated with little details. Ultimately, this technique conspired to make his cynical little story crushingly depressing.
April 19, 2020
Another very good book from Charco Press. This one is centered around the idea of fate vs destiny. The writing is absolutely brilliant with wonderfully rendered details about the characters' lives, and their choices. But author Jorge Consiglio keeps the reader at a distinct remove from the characters' innermost thoughts and emotions, and while this is obviously a deliberate choice, it muted the book's impact somewhat for me. Still a very enjoyable reading experience.
July 7, 2022
3.25 stars rounded down to 3 stars
I liked the book, but felt like it was going nowhere. Perhaps that was the intention of the author?
You follow 4 main characters throughout the book, but don't receive closure on their stories. I'm starting to think this is intended, but as a reader, I'd much rather have the book be longer to wrap them up.
I would recommend this book for those who enjoy slice-of-life books
I liked the book, but felt like it was going nowhere. Perhaps that was the intention of the author?
You follow 4 main characters throughout the book, but don't receive closure on their stories. I'm starting to think this is intended, but as a reader, I'd much rather have the book be longer to wrap them up.
I would recommend this book for those who enjoy slice-of-life books
January 25, 2024
Wish I read it in Spanish!
April 7, 2020
This author really resonates with me. I loved this close-up of three characters as they negotiate through their daily lives.
May 23, 2020
The marriage of an oboist and a meteorologist falters while a taxidermist starts a relationship with a younger women met at a quit smoking group. Precisely detailed with the minutae of the characters lives, physical and emotional. Clearly and carefully structured, interlacing the stories of characters grappling with life changes, through fate and chance.
August 17, 2021
i really enjoyed this . I think the writing was brilliant and so poetic . Jorge Consiglio wrapped immense feelings into tiny details and his hidden metaphors meant everything . I really enjoyed this , I just wish it was longer
March 19, 2020
Fate, by Jorge Consiglio (translated by Carolina Orloff and Fionn Petch) is the first of Charco Press’s 2020 publications. Set in Argentina, it features a disparate cast of characters. They each weave in and out of their often mundane day to day experiences without truly noticing how others are thinking or feeling. The author is exploring within the story how people exist – that they can only view the world through their personal lens. Concerns affecting self override empathy. Written in a fragmentary style, the character studies offer intimate details yet the language used has a detached feel. Settings are largely irrelevant except as conduits for a character’s flexuous thinking.
The book opens with a note from the author explaining how the apparent randomness of fate has such a significant impact on the course a life will take.
“When tragedy strikes, there is always someone who is spared by some tiny detail. As a result, triviality takes on monumental dimensions.”
“I imagined […] the characters would find themselves in a state of solitude, would be defined by it – yet would also fight tirelessly to make that modest leap of exceptionality and intensity.”
The first character introduced is Amer, a taxidermist specialising in museum work. His health has been adversely affected by his smoking habit so he joins a therapy group in an attempt to quit. There he meets a younger woman, Clara, who is training for a change of career. They start dating, although Amer appears to want more from Clara than she is willing to give.
As Amer and Clara are coming together, another relationship is crumbling. Karl is a German musician who left his home country and daughter to move to Buenos Aires and be with Marina, a scientific researcher. The couple now have a young son, Simón. Marina starts an affair with a colleague in an attempt to push her ‘paltry and predictable’ life into a forward trajectory.
Alternate short chapters offer snapshots of events from the points of view of Amer, Karl and Marina. They go about their days – at home and as they move through the city. They encounter others but remain engrossed in what is happening to themselves. They look to loved ones for affirmation and feel let down if this is not forthcoming, unaware that they too are failing in this respect.
“What he’d just felt – the pleasure of the sfogliatella – had faded. It had found no echo in the only person who could confirm the value of his experience.”
Karl buys Marina a birthday present and is dismayed when it is not valued as expected. He is unaware of how his son regards him, feeling anger when food cooked for the boy is not appreciated.
Marina pushes through any despondency she feels with focused determination. When she finds she cannot control every factor of the changes she orchestrates this is accepted as yet another new starting point from which decisions must be made and then dealt with.
Amer is pleased when an inheritance is finally processed but then discovers he is not sure how best to control and enjoy it. Clara shows only transient interest in plans he shares, unwilling to fit herself into the role he has unilaterally assigned her.
The writing captures how thoughts fluctuate and change direction with many threads forgotten as others take precedence. Plans change as individuals react to the unexpected actions of others. This is shown to be just one factor in the inability to control one’s future position.
By setting the story in the everyday, readers will recognise the unpredictable aspects that drive the direction life takes. It is a salutary reminder of any individual’s lasting significance.
The perfectly formed structure offers a story told in taut yet attentive prose that resonates with poignancy without demanding sympathy. The characters’ flaws add to their authenticity. It is a thought provoking and gratifying read.
The book opens with a note from the author explaining how the apparent randomness of fate has such a significant impact on the course a life will take.
“When tragedy strikes, there is always someone who is spared by some tiny detail. As a result, triviality takes on monumental dimensions.”
“I imagined […] the characters would find themselves in a state of solitude, would be defined by it – yet would also fight tirelessly to make that modest leap of exceptionality and intensity.”
The first character introduced is Amer, a taxidermist specialising in museum work. His health has been adversely affected by his smoking habit so he joins a therapy group in an attempt to quit. There he meets a younger woman, Clara, who is training for a change of career. They start dating, although Amer appears to want more from Clara than she is willing to give.
As Amer and Clara are coming together, another relationship is crumbling. Karl is a German musician who left his home country and daughter to move to Buenos Aires and be with Marina, a scientific researcher. The couple now have a young son, Simón. Marina starts an affair with a colleague in an attempt to push her ‘paltry and predictable’ life into a forward trajectory.
Alternate short chapters offer snapshots of events from the points of view of Amer, Karl and Marina. They go about their days – at home and as they move through the city. They encounter others but remain engrossed in what is happening to themselves. They look to loved ones for affirmation and feel let down if this is not forthcoming, unaware that they too are failing in this respect.
“What he’d just felt – the pleasure of the sfogliatella – had faded. It had found no echo in the only person who could confirm the value of his experience.”
Karl buys Marina a birthday present and is dismayed when it is not valued as expected. He is unaware of how his son regards him, feeling anger when food cooked for the boy is not appreciated.
Marina pushes through any despondency she feels with focused determination. When she finds she cannot control every factor of the changes she orchestrates this is accepted as yet another new starting point from which decisions must be made and then dealt with.
Amer is pleased when an inheritance is finally processed but then discovers he is not sure how best to control and enjoy it. Clara shows only transient interest in plans he shares, unwilling to fit herself into the role he has unilaterally assigned her.
The writing captures how thoughts fluctuate and change direction with many threads forgotten as others take precedence. Plans change as individuals react to the unexpected actions of others. This is shown to be just one factor in the inability to control one’s future position.
By setting the story in the everyday, readers will recognise the unpredictable aspects that drive the direction life takes. It is a salutary reminder of any individual’s lasting significance.
The perfectly formed structure offers a story told in taut yet attentive prose that resonates with poignancy without demanding sympathy. The characters’ flaws add to their authenticity. It is a thought provoking and gratifying read.
September 21, 2021
Una novela amena, convencional en lo aparente, pero con un planteo complejo (y por eso interesante): es fácil de leer, pero genera la necesidad de revisar y repensar el relato para encontrarle el sentido. Son tres trayectorias distintas, aunque dos están conectadas directamente (son un matrimonio) a la vez que son simultáneas y la otra no completamente. En ellas se cuenta una cotidianeidad desde muy cerca, hechos muy concretos y escenas muy puntuales con personajes que son descriptos en su actuación, sin presentaciones ni profundización: todo surge de ver sus movimientos y voluntades. Resulta interesante cuando se puede notar cómo entre las historias hay convergencias y divergencias, o que cada historia son distintas maneras de contar lo mismo.
De hecho, es posible reconocer en las historias una estructura: parte de la incomodidad con la propia situación y junto con él alguna forma de deseo que irrumpe de manera inquietante e indefinida, luego aparecen indicios y una iluminación que lleva a un mismo equilibrio.
En función de esto, se puede leer la historia en términos de narratología: reconocer las alternancias entre los personajes y cómo van cambiando (buscarle sentido a la desaparición del relato de uno de ellos hacia el final); también pensar en cómo se encadenan los hechos, buscando los hechos aislados y los que establecen relaciones entre sí viendo cómo la novela que cuenta lo que forma parte de ella y también lo que no.
Pero lo interesante no es lo fijo y repetitivo, la aplicación de un esquema a todas las historias, sino cómo cada una de esas historias tratan de contar lo mismo de distintas formas. Y gracias a esas distintas formas de narrar es que la novela se transforma en una reflexión a través de la narración sobre la(s) dinámica(s) del deseo (como si todo no fuera exactamente eso: un deseo en movimiento): en una reducción que no le hace justicia a la novela, se podría contrastar el caso en el que la relación amorosa da lugar a un “flujo ondulante” que producía la combinación de movimientos o una “espontaneidad prefabricada” y el de la relación en la que cada individuo es funcional al escenario del otro.
Cada una de esas relaciones implica la ruptura de su statu quo que se expresa en la relación de cada personaje con su propio espacio vital: cada uno también a su manera buscan construir un espacio aislado y estable en el que permanentemente irrumpen voces, personas, mensajes (en general a través de la tecnología) frente a los cuales existen un intento de recuperar o transformar ese ámbito en busca de un nuevo equilibrio, pero también es lo que permite que se instale el deseo.
Ninguna de las líneas tiene una salida fija, previsible, repetida: son todas acciones individuales y significativas, que abren líneas de reflexión. Eso es lo más valioso de la novela: que no hay soluciones previstas y definidas (aunque algunos personajes crean que sí, que sus comportamientos están regidos por los astros). Es un trabajo muy meticuloso en un texto sumamente breve pero que por momentos parece inagotable.
De hecho, es posible reconocer en las historias una estructura: parte de la incomodidad con la propia situación y junto con él alguna forma de deseo que irrumpe de manera inquietante e indefinida, luego aparecen indicios y una iluminación que lleva a un mismo equilibrio.
En función de esto, se puede leer la historia en términos de narratología: reconocer las alternancias entre los personajes y cómo van cambiando (buscarle sentido a la desaparición del relato de uno de ellos hacia el final); también pensar en cómo se encadenan los hechos, buscando los hechos aislados y los que establecen relaciones entre sí viendo cómo la novela que cuenta lo que forma parte de ella y también lo que no.
Pero lo interesante no es lo fijo y repetitivo, la aplicación de un esquema a todas las historias, sino cómo cada una de esas historias tratan de contar lo mismo de distintas formas. Y gracias a esas distintas formas de narrar es que la novela se transforma en una reflexión a través de la narración sobre la(s) dinámica(s) del deseo (como si todo no fuera exactamente eso: un deseo en movimiento): en una reducción que no le hace justicia a la novela, se podría contrastar el caso en el que la relación amorosa da lugar a un “flujo ondulante” que producía la combinación de movimientos o una “espontaneidad prefabricada” y el de la relación en la que cada individuo es funcional al escenario del otro.
Cada una de esas relaciones implica la ruptura de su statu quo que se expresa en la relación de cada personaje con su propio espacio vital: cada uno también a su manera buscan construir un espacio aislado y estable en el que permanentemente irrumpen voces, personas, mensajes (en general a través de la tecnología) frente a los cuales existen un intento de recuperar o transformar ese ámbito en busca de un nuevo equilibrio, pero también es lo que permite que se instale el deseo.
Ninguna de las líneas tiene una salida fija, previsible, repetida: son todas acciones individuales y significativas, que abren líneas de reflexión. Eso es lo más valioso de la novela: que no hay soluciones previstas y definidas (aunque algunos personajes crean que sí, que sus comportamientos están regidos por los astros). Es un trabajo muy meticuloso en un texto sumamente breve pero que por momentos parece inagotable.
August 30, 2020
Due in part to the lockdown, but also for my drive to get back into Latin American literature, I signed up for Charco Press’s 2020 bundle, the first off the press being Fate. Having been intrigued by Trout, Belly Up, and loving and being alienated at the same time by An Orphan World, I wondered where Fate would take me. It would take me to a few spoilers in here, just so you know.
It probably says something that I had no notes from reading, I normally note down the page number and the text I want to include at the top and the bottom of the post while reading, and I had nothing for this. I just didn’t get into it, it left me feeling indifferent and cold.
I didn’t like any of the characters, and there’s no reason why I should, but without having an interest in at least one, there is nothing to hang your hat on really. Karl drifts through his life, seemingly putting little effort in, perhaps because of his dislocation from his home country. Marina just seemed awful and their child also. Amer and Clara never really seemed together, you could always tell that they were destined to collide but then spin off in different directions, again neither one having any impetus or drive in anything, let alone each other.
But then as I sat down to write this, I sort of got it. Or something. This is life, this is what happens everyday. Marina trying to rediscover herself as she remembers, or think she still is before she was dulled by her marriage. Zarate is the everyman, taking what he can get without really wanting to put more in than he needs to. Karl I couldn’t work out, I couldn’t understand how he even ended up being married to Marina, yet he seems to get some small release after they split, as both sides try to justify why their life had diversed in this way.
Clara and Amer were different, but again I couldn’t say I really found myself caring whether they stayed together or not, she certainly seemed destined to flit out of his life at some point. But maybe that’s my own experience from my last relationship. I have been thinking a bit about what readers bring to books and how their thoughts, feelings and emotions infect the story and the reaction to it, and I think that has had a big influence on Fate.
So, I didn’t like it, I also didn’t dislike it, it just didn’t capture me. But it has made me think, quite a lot about not just the book but about reading and my relationship with the books I read, so it can’t have been all bad.
(blog review here)
It probably says something that I had no notes from reading, I normally note down the page number and the text I want to include at the top and the bottom of the post while reading, and I had nothing for this. I just didn’t get into it, it left me feeling indifferent and cold.
I didn’t like any of the characters, and there’s no reason why I should, but without having an interest in at least one, there is nothing to hang your hat on really. Karl drifts through his life, seemingly putting little effort in, perhaps because of his dislocation from his home country. Marina just seemed awful and their child also. Amer and Clara never really seemed together, you could always tell that they were destined to collide but then spin off in different directions, again neither one having any impetus or drive in anything, let alone each other.
But then as I sat down to write this, I sort of got it. Or something. This is life, this is what happens everyday. Marina trying to rediscover herself as she remembers, or think she still is before she was dulled by her marriage. Zarate is the everyman, taking what he can get without really wanting to put more in than he needs to. Karl I couldn’t work out, I couldn’t understand how he even ended up being married to Marina, yet he seems to get some small release after they split, as both sides try to justify why their life had diversed in this way.
Clara and Amer were different, but again I couldn’t say I really found myself caring whether they stayed together or not, she certainly seemed destined to flit out of his life at some point. But maybe that’s my own experience from my last relationship. I have been thinking a bit about what readers bring to books and how their thoughts, feelings and emotions infect the story and the reaction to it, and I think that has had a big influence on Fate.
So, I didn’t like it, I also didn’t dislike it, it just didn’t capture me. But it has made me think, quite a lot about not just the book but about reading and my relationship with the books I read, so it can’t have been all bad.
(blog review here)
April 28, 2020
Hay algo de la literatura argentina/latinoamericana que me deja con una sensación de desconcierto con más frecuencia de la que me gustaría. Varias veces sentí que las historias no van a ningún lado, están flotando en el aire sin rumbo y muchísimas veces los finales son abiertos, abruptos e insatisfactorios. Ya si los finales abruptos no eran suficiente, una novela nacional contemporánea que supere las 200 páginas es casi un milagro. Tal vez me acostumbré demasiado a otros formatos de novela, manejo otras expectativas y me cuesta asimilar estos parámetros poco familiares.
Habiendo dicho eso, Tres monedas cumple con algunos de los puntos que mencioné. Hay cosas que quedan en la nada misma y me dejaron llena de preguntas e inquietudes que obviamente nunca voy a poder resolver. También es cierto que aunque sea un libro corto, en pocas páginas se llega a saber más de lo que esperaba y Consiglio esconde (o tal vez no tanto) un planteo filosófico sobre cuánto en la vida es casualidad y cuánto es decisión de uno. ¿Estamos sujetos a un destino fijo o podemos moldearlo?
De esta manera, Consiglio cuenta la historia de tres personajes que toman decisiones o se dejan llevar por las circunstancias y cómo estas (in)acciones llevan a formar lo que es la vida de cada uno de ellos, porque, al fin y al cabo, somos una seguidilla de decisiones constantes de hacer o dejar de hacer cosas, ¿no? Pero las decisiones se toman en base a lo que se nos pone en frente, y esas oportunidades no pueden ser obra de otra cosa más que de la casualidad. ¿Cuántas cosas nos perdemos por una cuestión de segundos? Todo eso plantea Consiglio en esta novela de pocas páginas.
Habiendo dicho eso, Tres monedas cumple con algunos de los puntos que mencioné. Hay cosas que quedan en la nada misma y me dejaron llena de preguntas e inquietudes que obviamente nunca voy a poder resolver. También es cierto que aunque sea un libro corto, en pocas páginas se llega a saber más de lo que esperaba y Consiglio esconde (o tal vez no tanto) un planteo filosófico sobre cuánto en la vida es casualidad y cuánto es decisión de uno. ¿Estamos sujetos a un destino fijo o podemos moldearlo?
De esta manera, Consiglio cuenta la historia de tres personajes que toman decisiones o se dejan llevar por las circunstancias y cómo estas (in)acciones llevan a formar lo que es la vida de cada uno de ellos, porque, al fin y al cabo, somos una seguidilla de decisiones constantes de hacer o dejar de hacer cosas, ¿no? Pero las decisiones se toman en base a lo que se nos pone en frente, y esas oportunidades no pueden ser obra de otra cosa más que de la casualidad. ¿Cuántas cosas nos perdemos por una cuestión de segundos? Todo eso plantea Consiglio en esta novela de pocas páginas.
December 12, 2020
Tres monedas (Three Coins) is an odd but intriguing little book in which three disparate characters - Amer, a taxidermist, Marina, a meteorologist and her husband Carl, a German oboist - go about their daily business. The points of view of these three characters' points alternate throughout the novel. Nothing much happens. Amer's path crosses only glancingly with Carl's. Marina finds an infestation of ants in the kitchen; spends time with Simón, the son she has with Carl; and slips into an affair with her colleague Zárate. Carl rehearses for a performance, comes to realise that his marriage to Marina is over, takes Simón to a funfair. Amer completes a new taxidermy project to his satisfaction, hesitantly starts a relationship with fellow tobacco addict Clara, and worries about problems on the farm he has inherited.
Argentinian writer Jorge Consiglio manages to create a sense of lived reality through the minutiae of his characters' activities. This reality appears heightened by Consiglio's close attention to transient detail, and to the characters' inner lives.
As a novel it seems slight, inconsequential even; but it lingers.
Tres monedas is available in English as Fate, trans. Carolina Orloff and Fionn Petch (Charco Press) 3.5*
Argentinian writer Jorge Consiglio manages to create a sense of lived reality through the minutiae of his characters' activities. This reality appears heightened by Consiglio's close attention to transient detail, and to the characters' inner lives.
As a novel it seems slight, inconsequential even; but it lingers.
Tres monedas is available in English as Fate, trans. Carolina Orloff and Fionn Petch (Charco Press) 3.5*
August 28, 2024
So…. Was there any point in establishing the idea of Fate or Chance in the authors note or was it for the shits and giggles of the 4 sentences of the book which actually try to play with the idea?
Honestly, had been looking forward to reading this for a while and then it just turns out like that, my god.
Like the book just felt pointless, no attachment to any of the characters and what the fuck even was the storyline? Was there any apart from the break down of 2 character’s marriage which is a minor plot line till the last 30 pages of the book.
I’ve really wanted to immerse myself in the Latin American literature that Charo Press publish but this and ‘Last Date in El Zapotal’ have been far from shining examples of I’m sure the great quality of many other Latin American books.
Grrrr this book has just really annoyed me.
Honestly, had been looking forward to reading this for a while and then it just turns out like that, my god.
Like the book just felt pointless, no attachment to any of the characters and what the fuck even was the storyline? Was there any apart from the break down of 2 character’s marriage which is a minor plot line till the last 30 pages of the book.
I’ve really wanted to immerse myself in the Latin American literature that Charo Press publish but this and ‘Last Date in El Zapotal’ have been far from shining examples of I’m sure the great quality of many other Latin American books.
Grrrr this book has just really annoyed me.
April 10, 2020
The original title for this little masterpiece translates to Three Coins, which is apparently a reference to the I Ching, but it also literally flips what the book is about when translated to English. Chance or fate? Will an Argentinian reader think this thought? It doesn't matter. Consiglio makes the mundane gorgeous while pursuing a grand albeit obscure project. The book demands re-reading. And if not that, it at the very least demands your attention and persistent thought long after the first reading occurs.
June 25, 2020
3.25 stars
'Fate', the English language translation of Jorge Consiglio's novella 'Tres monedas', is an intricate narrative of interpersonal relationships that showcases its author's effortless skill in narrating the ordinary in such terms that it becomes almost magical.
Like 'Southerly', the narrative of 'Fate' has much of the same positives and negatives. The perspectives of the three main characters feel distinctive enough for the story to remain interesting, and again, Consiglio is able to narrate surface thoughts and actions with enough ambiguity that 'Fate' becomes a novel of weaving disparate threads together and making one's own interpretation of it. The metaphors and imagery never feel heavy-handed, with a subtle poetic quality to them, and the events of the conclusion fit in nicely with the overall themes of chance and fate.
The length of 'Fate' perhaps sometimes works against it, as it is a rather short narrative that, because it focuses on three different characters, can at times feel somewhat puzzled, with Amer's narrative in particular feeling like it ultimately does not develop him much as a character. Likewise, the prose is perhaps sometimes too ambiguous to make the reader truly emotionally invested in events. However, the presence of one story with numerous themes, rather than the inverse, allows Consiglio to refine his intentions and construct what is ultimately an interesting read. Thus, for all its quibbles, 'Fate' is a novella that is ultimately a good introduction to its author's style, and one that will hopefully have enough success to justify further translations of Consiglio's work into English in the future.
'Fate', the English language translation of Jorge Consiglio's novella 'Tres monedas', is an intricate narrative of interpersonal relationships that showcases its author's effortless skill in narrating the ordinary in such terms that it becomes almost magical.
Like 'Southerly', the narrative of 'Fate' has much of the same positives and negatives. The perspectives of the three main characters feel distinctive enough for the story to remain interesting, and again, Consiglio is able to narrate surface thoughts and actions with enough ambiguity that 'Fate' becomes a novel of weaving disparate threads together and making one's own interpretation of it. The metaphors and imagery never feel heavy-handed, with a subtle poetic quality to them, and the events of the conclusion fit in nicely with the overall themes of chance and fate.
The length of 'Fate' perhaps sometimes works against it, as it is a rather short narrative that, because it focuses on three different characters, can at times feel somewhat puzzled, with Amer's narrative in particular feeling like it ultimately does not develop him much as a character. Likewise, the prose is perhaps sometimes too ambiguous to make the reader truly emotionally invested in events. However, the presence of one story with numerous themes, rather than the inverse, allows Consiglio to refine his intentions and construct what is ultimately an interesting read. Thus, for all its quibbles, 'Fate' is a novella that is ultimately a good introduction to its author's style, and one that will hopefully have enough success to justify further translations of Consiglio's work into English in the future.
April 9, 2020
This book was an OK read, but failed to ever really get going. Some good passages where you feel for the characters - I felt especially for Karl. But the characters never really came alive and there was not enough action - which I think is what the author is getting at, that life is just a series of random events with little mensing, but I'm not sure if this makes the most satisfying story.
February 18, 2020
If you like character-oriented novels you'll like this one.
English: https://elifthereader.com/books/fate-...
Türkçe: https://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/f...
English: https://elifthereader.com/books/fate-...
Türkçe: https://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/f...
April 22, 2020
This was a 3.5 read for me
thoughts coming shortly
thoughts coming shortly
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