Earn How To Order The Universe Originated By María José Ferrada Kindle
es uno de esos libros con los que por más que me esfuerce, no logro enganchar, Una pena, porque se veía interesante y la portada es hermosa,
Hubo una frase que me encantó por lo simple y cierta que dice la protagonista:
El primer año de vida supe, por ejemplo, que hay algo que se llama día, algo que se llama noche y que todo lo que pasa en una vida cabe dentro de una de esas dos categorías.
Bastante chido. La voz está buena, me gusta que oscile entre el omnisciente y la primera persona relevando la especulación pero sin explicitarla como sí hace su compatriota chilena if you know what I mean no es crítica, las dos me gustan!
Excelente progresión / transformación de voz conforme la personaje crece.
La escena de anagnórisis es genial no hablo de la violencia, hablo de los zapatos lustrados,
Hubo un par de cositas que se me hicieron too much, pero equis, igual soy consciente de que me he endurecido.
Luego vi que MJF ha escrito mucho infantil y, con razón, y ahora quiero leerlo todo, La protagonista di questo romanzo breve, ambientato in Cile, durante la dittatura di Pinochet, è una bambina di sette anni, M, che anziché andare a scuola, con il consenso della madre, accompagna il padre D in giro a vendere oggetti di ferramenta.
D è un padre un po' particolare, che ha l'abitudine a classificare tutto come se fossero appunto
gli oggetti della sua valigetta di articoli di ferramenta.
E così gli avvenimenti della vita, per lui, si classificano "in due categorie: quelli probabili e quelli improbabili, ". Questa ristretta catalogazione la arricchisce poi con un'altra sottocategoria: "Quando uscirono dallanagrafe, D chiese alla donna di aspettarlo un momento e andò a cercare un tovagliolino su cui annotò ciò che era appena successo il suo matrimonio in una sottocategoria della classificazione delle cose che battezzò “avvenimenti davvero improbabili tutti quei fenomeni che ci fanno pensare allesistenza di una qualche specie di dio”.
"
D insegna a sua figlia a guardare il mondo come somma di più parti, unite da connettori: "qualsiasi edificio, perfino il più grande del mondo, è tenuto in piedi da una struttura unita da viti.
Il che equivale a dire che:, Le cose grandi e piccole si completano,. Una sola vite può causare la fine del mondo, se viene messa male, Quelledificio, che ora crolla rovinosamente, ne abbatterà un altro, e questultimo, per un terribile effetto domino, abbatterà ledificio accanto.
E via così fino a radere al suolo la città, le nazioni e la civiltà, Il funzionamento degli ecosistemi, la legge di causaeffetto, la relatività, “tutto si può capire guardando nei cassetti di un ferramenta”, aveva detto D.
"
M, con gli occhi di un'attenta osservatrice, impara che: "Nei negozi di paese non cera disordine, ma un ordine dinamico.
Non cera bisogno di essere tanto furbi per comprendere la loro vera natura: i negozi di paese erano sistemi protoanarchici.
"
Questo mondo fiabesco, fatto di viti e di bulloni, che caratterizza l'infanzia di M, subisce un brusco arresto quando D sparisce di casa e madre e figlia decidono di cambiare città: "Lì accanto, io lasciai una busta con i soldi risparmiati nel breve corso del mio lavoro remunerato, e una lettera che diceva: “Ti voglio bene.
PS: I soldi sono in prestito, ”. "
Madre e figlia scappano via, lontane da D, lontane dai fantasmi: "Viaggiammo per una notte intera a bordo di un autobus che ci portò, a me e a mia madre, sufficientemente lontano.
Lontano da D. Lontano dai prodotti Kramp. Lontano dai fantasmi. E la lista di allontanamenti mi colpì nel profondo, "
E in quel momento ci fu un doloroso CRAC: "I casi erano due: A, Che la precarietà ci avesse sempre accompagnati e io non me ne fossi accorta, B. Che qualcosa fosse cambiato. In ogni modo, il mio ricordo dinfanzia si spezzò in due: crac, E odiai il Grande Falegname, non tanto per la realtà dei fatti, ma per quella rivelazione che mi avvolgeva in uno sgradevole, e fino ad allora inedito, pudore: lo sguardo degli altri.
Lo sapevano Notavano la nostra precarietà"
M cresce e alla fine si accorge che quei cataloghi legati all'infanzia non hanno più ragione di esistere: "Eravamo stati profondamente legati da un catalogo di articoli di ferramenta: chiodi, martelli, spioncini, viti.
Ma quel catalogo non esisteva più, Le cose procedevano secondo un meccanismo che non potevamo fermare, "
Alla fiaba, subentra la realtà e non è più tempo di guardarsi indietro,
È tempo di guardare avanti, con in bocca l'amaro delle cose che furono e che non possono più essere.
Una storia delicata che fa riflettere, For sevenyearold M, the world is guided by a firm set of principles, based on her father Ds life as a traveling salesman.
Enchanted by her fathers trade, M convinces him to take her along on his routes, selling hardware supplies against the backdrop of Pinochetera Chile.
As father and daughter trek from town to town in their old Renault, Ms memories and thoughts become tied to a language of rural commerce, philosophy, the cosmos, hardware products, and ghosts.
M, in her innocence, barely notices the rising tensions and precarious nature of their work until she and her father connect with an enigmatic photographer, E, whose presence threatens to upend the unusual life theyve created.
María José Ferrada expertly captures a vanishing way of life and a fatherdaughter relationship on the brink of irreversible change.
At once nostalgic, dangerous, sharply funny, and full of delight and wonder, How to Order the Universe is a richly imaginative debut and a rare work of magic and originality.
Probably closer to.stars. A lovely little fatherdaughter novella that was perfect for Women in Translation month
Watch my full thoughts in my August wrap up: sitelink be/RkYGbjNVnM Absolutely charming little book, You'll read it in a single sitting, the pages being about as much white space as they are text but somehow it never feels slight or lacking.
It's the story of a young girl enamored of her father's life as a traveling salesman, and the way that working with him helps her understand the world around her.
It's sweet for much of the time, but you can feel it barreling towards something bad and when it comes, it comes like a gasp.
Just terrific. Worth reading aloud, too, if you're into that kind of thing, a comingofage tale narrated by a precocious child and set during the pinochet regime, maría josé ferrada's how to order the universe kramp is a charming work of innocence, curiosity, and the inevitable stripping of illusions.
ferrada's tale, slight only in length, captures almost effortlessly the insatiable wonder of childhood and the reckoning/reconciling with the adult world that arrives ever too soon.
the chilean author's debut is thoughtprovoking and subtle, yet resounding in its effect, too, ferrada's young narrator, m, is an absolute delight, smart, funny, and crafty as she is,
billions of years before, on that same night, the big bang had taken place, and from then on everything drew apart, and continued to draw apart, irretrievably.
translated from the spanish by elizabeth bryer salazar jiménez, sainz borgo, lun, et al, My review will appear in Booklist! Awarded Chilean book, coming of age novel, . . for those who love Alejandro Palomas' novel "Son" : Author to watch, . . recommended to me by Alejandro Palomas : Every life has its own moon landing,
Its interesting to consider how our parents occupations often color our understanding of the world at an early age.
My father designed car engines and my childhood thoughts on the workings of life had the atmosphere of machinery and grease.
I wonder what impressions I am passing onto my own children who are growing up in a bookstore and library as if they were an extension of our own house.
Such is the case for M, the young narrator of How to Order the Universe by María José Ferrada and translated by sitelinkElizabeth Bryer, who spends her childhood selling Kramp tools with her travelling salesman father, D, often skipping school to do so.
This intimate and charming story of a father and daughter becomes a story of Chile in thes and the ways life can take an abrupt and violent turn in the midst of political upheaval.
Quirky and adorable with a beautifully beguiling narrator trying to make sense of the world around her, How to Order the Universe is an profound onesittingread gem.
Child narrators can be hitormiss, but Ferrada pulls this off with captivating grace, Told as a reflection back upon her childhood, Ms narration only provides the scope of what her childself was able to understand and the unspoken often looms louder than the words on the page.
This technique also avoids having to couch everything the way ayear old would authentically write, a pitfall that even the precociouschild trick doesnt always achievethough M would likely be labeled precocious anywayswhile still being able to dip into childlike charm, innocence and diction for effect.
If this is autofiction or not is unclear but the hinted possibility gives it a weightier sense that works well and the lack of names M, D, the mysterious E or the other salesman S only builds the impression that this is a true story and names are redacted for what becomes obvious political necessity.
While D was nothing special as a father, he made an excellent employer,
The first half of the novel is so sweet and idyllic, following M on her trips with her father as she gets an alternative education in life.
Her father sells tools for a company called Kramp and is quite proud to present the positive of Kramp tools, so much of Ms impressions and abstract understandings on life revolve around hardware store aesthetics.
Stars look like tacks in the sky and her idea of god is one that is The Great Carpentera workingclass image of god in keeping with the humble beginnings of Jesus.
Her world revolves around the life of salesmen, spending her lunches in the cafes and bars frequented by salesmen in each town they travel.
There is a love between father and daughter that transcends simple family structure, but one of an even partnership in life that gives M a great sense of maturity, selfesteem and selfreliance.
She is also aware of the power she can have over a situation, especially learning at a young age that her onthebrinkoftears gaze can be a secret weapon in winning over potential clients.
I spent a chunk of my lates as a travelling delivery driver for a coffee company, so idyllic renderings of life on the road has always really worked for me and sifts out the positive memories and impressions from that time away from all the negatives that had sometimes clouded my joy in the moment.
Books like this make me proud of my affinity with drivers and delivery workers, Here we get to witness the quirks of travelling salesmen and the way they selfmythologize themselves on their travels, their stories growing into legends as they further market themselves as much as their own products.
E was a secondary character in our lives, M says, and we were secondary characters in a larger story.
The story begins to take on the taintings of a struggle going on just beyond Ms frame of reference on life when her father begins to hang out with his friend Ea traveling cinema man who does photography on the side with a connection to foreign newspapers, M once overhears.
Something about E connects to Ms mostly absent mother and her abject sadness, for the mother begins crying the first time E comes to their house.
For M, her mothers lack of presence in her life isnt foretelling of some great tragedy, but merely a convenience that allows her to live her life on the road with her father.
The idyllic nature of the novel comes to an abrupt end and everything is suddenly scattered, M can only half understand it, though the reader will follow a great deal more particularly with any knowledge of the violent sitelinkPinochet regime in Chile and the USbacked coups across South America.
Her lack of understanding makes everything so much more heart wrenching, M often uses personal terminology for emotions in her life, much like the way children often have made up terms for things.
There is the blackhole feeling there is a space theme to much of the metaphors in this book which is a sadness that, even though you feel it, doesnt belong to you, but even more heartbreaking is when an event occurs that releases lucky beetles from a barrage of blackholes being shot into someone in front of her:
”lucky beetles” are not a species, but an insect that alights in the exact spot where life took a different course Its a fraction of a second so small that only an insect can pass through it.
An insect that, when it appears, parts life in two,
There is something akin to the structure of the film sitelinkLife is Beautiful going on in this book, where the lighthearted comedy of the first half juxtaposed with the tragedy of the latter half gives each a stronger emotional pull.
The narrative quickly speeds up over a few years with the advancement of Ms age coming more quickly to emphasize the way she emotionally ages due to the very adult situations befalling her.
M is taken away from her father by her mother for his involvement with what happens to E, she learns the truth of her mothers sadness, and more.
The world has collapsed around M and she must find the strength to push on with the innocence of her childhood dramatically torn from her by events beyond her control.
I remember him saying, so many times, that it was improbable that a house constructed frompercent Kramp products would collapse in the event of an earthquake or a tornado, and realized that mine was one of the unfortunate cases that fell within the improbability.
For the earthquake had come, the feared tornado, and my construction, made frompercent Kramp products, was now a pile of sticks.
The novel becomes a tearjerker with her father pretending to sell tools that no longer exist just to keep the dream alive for M when she visits, salesmen all carrying guns in case they decide theyve had enough of life.
. . it gets bleak. It becomes the story of Chile and the fallout from the coup, something that still has residue on the nation to the present when massive protests were breaking out inand eventually the people sitelinkvoted to rewrite their Constitution.
This is such a lovely little novella and it destroyed me in the best way, The Tin House publishing edition is really nice, though it only contains a small space of text on each page, making apg book out of what would otherwise have been probably.
I was also very impressed her next book to be translated into English by Bryer, sitelinkHow to Turn Into a Bird, which I reviewed sitelinkhere.
This is heartwarming and heartbreaking, showing both the fun and fragility of life seen through the eyes of a delightful young girl.
It can be read in a single sitting, which I did and felt the whole spectrum of emotions pass through me in a really redeeming and refreshing way.
Finishing the book feels like the end of a good cry, one you know you really needed, While this is a quick read, it is definitely one that will stick with you,
./.