Alemán’s writing throughout the novel, whether she is describing wild landscapes or archaic medical treatments, is like a multisensory curio cabinet. No moment, no sensation, no image is too minor for the author to portray it in detail with her masterful hand. Cluster, who also translated Alemán’s Family Album and Poso Wells into English, has rendered a superb translation, delicately handling a complex narrative laden with specific geographical, cultural, and historical references, multilingual dialogue, and texts within texts. The result is a richly dense yet lucid, poetic, and moving novel that cannot help but lead the reader into a deeper curiosity about Paraguay and how its history is intertwined with the world’s.
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