Posted by
Buster Foghorn on Tuesday, March 03, 2009 1:07:14 PM
I highly recommend Aura by Carlos Fuentes. This review is based on the bilingual edition by Lysander Kemp—a beautiful and rhythmic translation with vivid and clear descriptions. This novella glides through its story effortlessly. The prose displays an elegant freshness, vivid verbs, imagery so descriptive you feel you are in the shoes of the main character—“first on the paving stones, then on the creaking wood, spongy from the dampness.” You climb the stairs and count them with Felipe, feeling the sides of the dark hallway as he gropes for a bedroom door, or a stairway at the end of a passageway.
Aura is a page-turner that carries you further into the events in Felipe’s life when he responds to an add that struck him as too good to be true—as if it were written with his name inserted in the add. His employer Consuelo briefs him on his work, but it is Aura, her young, beautiful, spellbinding niece that merges into his very essence.
Yes, comparisons to Gothic literature are helpful, and the mention of Poe rings true, but, for me, I found another comparison more helpful. For those familiar with “The Twilight Zone,” this story takes me back to some of those episodes. It also reminds me of a favorite story about another young man; a young man taken in by a young, beautiful woman; a story also requiring a suspension of belief, a journey into another dimension, a tale of intrigue, mystery, and an unpredictable ending; a story included in: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 12 Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV.