While this can't exactly be called a pleasant experience it is so effective in conveying his worldview, his warped reasoning and his motivations. In this way it feels somewhat similar to Damon Galgut's technique in “The Promise” because while being locked into the perspective of this character the reader is also implicated in his misogyny, bitterness and fury. It's a narrative structure which is entirely suited to conveying Polo's point of view and made me feel trapped in it just as he feels ensnared by his circumstances. This takes the form of long blocks of text and extended sentences.
All the while we deeply feel his growing resentment for the callous wealthy residents of this complex and anger about his limited options in life. We're bombarded by Polo's sensory experience of the world and his emotional interpretation of it. These are young men who feel they have nothing to lose which makes them incredibly dangerous.Īs with Melchor's novel “Hurricane Season” there is a hypnotic intensity to her prose which spills out in an almost stream of consciousness style. So they decide to break into the neighbour's home so Franco can force her to have sex with him and they can rob the property. He becomes obsessed with his masturbatory fantasies about his female neighbour who is a mother. Franco has failed socially and academically so will probably be sent to a military school. The sour dynamic of this friendship of convenience is so vividly conveyed as the boys waste their time together and hatch an evil plan. He's disgusted by Franco but the boy steals quality alcohol or small sums of money for Polo to buy them booze. Outside of work he spends time getting drunk with one of the older boys who lives in the complex named Franco, but Polo refers to him disparagingly as “fatboy”. Polo's cousin lives with them and she may be pregnant with his baby. He's paid little and what money he does make goes directly to his overbearing mother who makes him sleep on a palate on the floor. Polo is trapped in this dead end job where he's ordered to perform menial tasks for rich people. The luxury housing complex at the centre of this novel is called Paradise, but groundskeeper Polo has trouble pronouncing this English word so his employer orders him to say it phonetically as “Paradais”.
0 kommentar(er)
