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Not a River
Not a River: A Novel | Selva Almada
5 posts | 4 read | 3 to read
Its not a river, its this river. A hot, motionless afternoon. Enero and El Negro are fishing with Tilo, their dead friends teenage son. After hours of struggling with a hooked stingray, Enero aims his revolver into the water and shoots it. They hang the rays enormous corpse from a tree at their campsite and let it go to rot, drawing the attention of some local islanders and igniting a long-simmering fury toward outsiders and their carelessness. Its only the two sistersthe teenage nieces of one of the locals, Aguirrewith their hair black as cowbird feathers and giving off the scent of green grass, who are curious about the trio and invite them to a dance. But the girls are not quite as they seem. As night approaches and tensions rise, Enero and El Negro return to the charged memories of their friend who years ago drowned in this same river. As uneasy and saturated as a prophetic dream, Not a River is another extraordinary novel by Selva Almada about masculinity, guilt, and irrepressible desire, written in a style that is spare and timeless.
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review
AnneCecilie
Not a River: A Novel | Selva Almada
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Mehso-so

This book wasn‘t for me and had it been any longer (it‘s not even 100p), I would‘ve DNF. I‘m sure this is me & not the book, after all it was on the shortlist for the International Booker Prize so I‘m sure there‘s something I don‘t see

3 men have travelled to island to go fishing & then it expands into a story of some of the islanders. Then someone dies & they may come back at ghosts, but since they were just introduced, I didn‘t really care

AnneCecilie For me this covered too many story lines and people in too few pages so you didn‘t get to know the characters. 3mo
48 likes1 comment
review
Pinta
Not a River: A Novel | Selva Almada
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Pickpick

Hallucinatory fishing trip in rural Argentina. Male friendship, trauma, guilt, myth, grief, belonging and other, violence. Cinematic imagery: fire, huge stingray, dance dissolved to fighting. Dreams of the Drowner. Sparse, intense translation by Annie McDermott. 2024

47 “It wasn‘t a ray. It was that ray.”

79 “Every morning, since the girls died, he wakes up convinced he‘s going to hear that Siomara‘s set herself on fire. He‘s sure she‘ll do it.”

review
Graywacke
Not a River: A Novel | Selva Almada
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Pickpick

A short book with a message, but what message? Three men have a drunken vacation on an island they have had a troubled history with, and touch on the sore tensions of the also drunken locals. I was thinking colonialism, but the Argentinian author says it‘s an attack on conservative “neo-liberals”. Whatever it is, it‘s entangled within in an interesting way and open to interpretation. Lots to think about after only 2.5 hrs of reading.

Ruthiella 😻😻😻 5mo
BookmarkTavern So cozy! 5mo
Leftcoastzen 👏😻 5mo
55 likes3 comments
blurb
Graywacke
Not a River: A Novel | Selva Almada
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Not a River arrived today, the day of its US release. That‘s the last of the books i ordered for my birthday last month. Here are the 18 books I‘m calling my birthday books. (I‘ll list the titles in the comments.) So far I‘ve read one - Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener, which i finished today

Graywacke Top to bottom

Not a River by Selva Almada
Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener
Simpatía by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón
Knife by Salman Rushdie
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Treasures of Time by Penelope Lively
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translate by Simon Armitage
6mo
Graywacke Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
A Backward Glance by Edith Wharton
Master George by Beryl Bainbridge
Possession by A.S. Byatt
The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy
There but for the by Ali Smith
Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
Midnight‘s Children by Salman Rushdie
Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel
6mo
Ruthiella Fantastic stack with at least two all time favorites of mine: Possession and 6mo
See All 40 Comments
Graywacke @Ruthiella there‘s a story behind The Blue Flower. I joined this facebook group run by the Booker committee. Recently someone has been posting quotes by one judge from each year - recent quotes in hindsight. Three separate judges complained that The Blue Flower was overlooked in its year. So, now we have a group read planned there. 🙂 Possession is a hole in my reading. I need to fix that. 6mo
slategreyskies I agree with you about Possession. I actually own a copy of it (three copies, if I‘m honest), but I haven‘t read it yet. I need to fix that. 6mo
batsy Very impressive stack of which I've only read one and loved—Possession. 6mo
CarolynM Great stack. I‘ve read 3 - Hotel du Lac, Possession and Midnight‘s Children - none of which I liked very much. I started The Heart is a Lonely Hunter once, but didn‘t get very far with it. I want to try again. Both Penelope‘s are on y TBR. 6mo
Librarybelle Great book stack! 6mo
Meshell1313 Ooh a Haply Birthday indeed! 🙌 6mo
BarbaraBB Such a great stack! My favorite of the ones I read is definitely Midnight‘s Children, followed by Posession and Hotel Du Lac. (edited) 6mo
Graywacke @slategreyskies yes! But when? 🙁 That‘s funny you have three copies. 6mo
Graywacke @batsy yay, Possession. 🙂 6mo
Graywacke @CarolynM oh no 🙈 Four misses. But yay on the Penelopes. I‘ve never read Penelope Fitzgerald. 6mo
Graywacke @Librarybelle @Meshell1313 thanks! Any you recommend to start with? 6mo
Graywacke @BarbaraBB yay. those three and the Carson McCullers will fill in some gaping holes, once i read them. 6mo
sarahbarnes Great birthday stack! I have wanted to read Possession forever. And also have a copy of There But. I love her books so much and try to ration them out. I loved Hotel du Lac very much. 6mo
Tamra Bday Books! 👏🏾 Like @sarahbarnes I‘ve been meaning to read Possession. (edited) 6mo
Librarybelle I‘m echoing everyone else that Possession has been on my to read list for a long time. Hotel du Lac has been on my tbr for awhile too. 6mo
dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 6mo
Meshell1313 @Graywacke everyone is raving about Knife! I also loved midnight‘s children. 6mo
Graywacke @sarahbarnes Ali Smith is so clever and fun. I need to read more of her stuff. Ioved How to Be Both. And, yeah, Possession… 6mo
Graywacke @Tamra @Librarybelle @sarahbarnes @slategreyskies - does Possession need some group read motivation? Just offering. It‘s a little project. 6mo
Graywacke @Meshell1313 i‘m so excited to read Knife. When it arrived I had to sit down and have a talk with my squirrel brain about reading practicalities. So, it‘s impatiently still awaiting me. It‘s liked a book from Hogwarts - it‘s gives off little sparks, calling me. 6mo
Tamra @Graywacke @Librarybelle @sarahbarnes @slategreyskies absolutely! I would join in for sure! 6mo
Librarybelle @Graywacke @Tamra @sarahbarnes @slategreyskies I‘d be interested in doing a group read! 6mo
Aimeesue What a great stack of books! Enjoy! 6mo
sarahbarnes Yes! I would definitely join in on a group read of Possession! @Tamra @Librarybelle @slategreyskies 6mo
Graywacke @Aimeesue thanks! 6mo
Graywacke @slategreyskies @Tamra @Librarybelle @sarahbarnes great, let‘s do this. I have July in mind. Any thoughts on that? Too soon, too far away? 6mo
Graywacke @dabbe thanks 🙂 6mo
sarahbarnes July works for me! 6mo
slategreyskies July sounds good to me as well. 6mo
Librarybelle July works for me as well! 6mo
Tamra Yes, July! 😁 6mo
Graywacke @sarahbarnes @slategreyskies @Librarybelle @Tamra great! This is such a good group. Looking forward to this. I‘m giving us a hashtag - #byattbuddyread - and i‘ll post on this a couple times between now and July in anticipation. 6mo
Librarybelle Yay!! 6mo
Tamra Woot! 6mo
sarahbarnes Woohoo! 6mo
slategreyskies Sounds great! I‘m looking forward to it! 6mo
54 likes1 stack add40 comments