Name: Perla
ISBN: 9780307599599

Carolina De Robertis

Set in Buenos Aires, "Perla" is a coming-of-age story, based on a recent shocking chapter of Argentine history, about a young woman who makes a devastating discovery about her origins with the help of an enigmatic houseguest.

Perla

Jessica Smith

This was a truly devastating, powerful book, set in Buenos Aires at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It's also, at times, a little too pretentious; I had to roll my eyes more than once at some excessively florid piece of description. But when you sweep aside the pseudo-philosophical cruft, what's left is brilliant. It has elements of a horror story, with a ghostly visitor arriving at Perla's home and showing her (or the reader at least) something of the nightmare of the torture chambers of the military regime. I honestly cried about the fate of this ghost and his love, Gloria; I was also relieved that Perla's own ending was what it was, because I don't think I could have taken much more tragedy.

So. This is clearly a novel that deals with the aftermath of Argentina's military dictatorship, and in particular with those people who were taken from their "subversive" parents (who, of course, were killed) as babies and awarded to various members of the regime. Reaching adulthood, though, she gravitates to the "subversive" type, with her boyfriend of four years (Gabriel) being a researcher into the desaparecidos seven years her senior. (view spoiler)[The inequality of this relationship made me suspicious that he might only be with her because he thinks she'll be useful for his research (especially once it was revealed what their fight on that Uruguayan beach was about), but happily he turned out to be genuine, because like I said, I couldn't have taken much more tragedy. Everything in Perla's life was already so miserable that I really wanted him to be a good guy. (hide spoiler)] The "big question" in the novel is about identity, and what it is that makes you who you are. At times the author pushes this idea that it's something genetic or inborn; at other times she acknowledges that your life experiences make you. In the end, the novel doesn't really answer its own question, just leaving it open.

The other thing about this novel is how beautifully it evokes Buenos Aires. I fell asleep on Friday night after reading the first four chapters and I dreamed about Buenos Aires. I remember commenting on Carolina de Robertis's wonderful depictions of place in 
  The Invisible Mountain
, and it's the same here. Of course there's a kind of contradiction between the romanticised modern city and the dark past whose presence still lingers, but I still really liked it.

Four stars then, because much as I loved this book, I can't bring myself to give five stars to something with such pretentious tangents. I do think her previous book was just a bit better; more happened, for a start, so there was less space for pretension. Still, once you've read that (and I found it way easier to get access to, anyway – I had to resort to buying Perla in paperback!), this is an adequate follow-up. Here's hoping Carolina de Robertis has a third book out before too long.

Perla

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