📘 "You Dreamed of Empires" by Álvaro Enrigue, translated from Spanish into English by Natasha Wimmer
I wanted to read this because I thought the title was great and that was reason enough. But was it enough, though? Hmmm.
This is a historical magical realism novel about Hernán Cortés going to meet Moctezuma and their arrival in Tenochtitlan that started the downfall of the Aztec empire and some of the many peoples that were part of it. I was in over my head, but after spending an evening with some relevant Wikipedia articles I was up to speed, at least enough to not feel lost.
The first half I was really enjoying myself. It's a literary and difficult book, but also one full of great commentary about (destructive) empires, imaginings of the everyday and a lot of humor. But halfway through I was kind of done. I got the jokes, I got the points, I've seen the thing -I was a little over it. But I kept reading because I saw so many people say a magnificent twist or ending would come.
I stuck around and... okay? It's a surprising ending, it's kind of fun, clever. I could somewhat appreciate it, but I also thought it was way overhyped.
Although I had quite a few laughs, I also was disturbed. Sometimes in the right way, sometimes in an unnecessary way. For example, I'm tired of scenes of (sexual) violence against women that are added to make a point about the personality of the male perpetrator or the barbarism of his culture, etc. Especially if this is done without the needed care that such topics require.
Overall I found it interesting but also lacking. I was left unsatisfied. Please don't take offense at my limited literary taste and don't ritually offer me to the book gods to make up for it, thank you.
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