Vlad

by Carlos Fuentes, Alejandro Branger (Translator)

Where, Carlos Fuentes asks, is a modern-day vampire to roost? Why not Mexico City, populated by ten million blood sausages (that is, people), and a police force who won't mind a few disappearances? "Vlad" is Vlad the Impaler, of course, whose mythic cruelty was an inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. In this sly sequel, Vlad really is undead: dispossessed after centuries of mayhem by Eastern European wars and rampant blood shortages. More than a postmodern riff on "the vampire craze," Vlad is also an anatomy of the Mexican bourgeoisie, as well as our culture's ways of dealing with death. For--as in Dracula--Vlad has need of both a lawyer and a real-estate agent in order to establish his new kingdom, and Yves Navarro and his wife Asunci n fit the bill nicely. Having recently lost a son, might they not welcome the chance to see their remaining child live forever? More importantly, are the pleasures of middle-class life enough to keep one from joining the legions of the damned?

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Vampires, Latin American, Fantasy, Novella, Novels

122 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Carlos Fuentes Macías was a Mexican writer and one of the best-known novelists and essayists of the 20th century in the Spanish-speaking world. Fuentes influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.

Fuentes was born in Panama City, Panama; his parents were Mexican. Due to his father being a diplomat, during his childhood he lived in Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago, and Buenos Aires. In his adolescence, he returned to Mexico, where he lived until 1965. He was married to film star Rita Macedo from 1959 till 1973, although he was an habitual philanderer and allegedly, his affairs - which he claimed include film actresses such as Jeanne Moreau and Jean Seberg - brought her to despair. The couple ended their relationship amid scandal when Fuentes eloped with a very pregnant and then-unknown journalist named Silvia Lemus. They were eventually married.

Following in the footsteps of his parents, he also became a diplomat in 1965 and served in London, Paris (as ambassador), and other capitals. In 1978 he resigned as ambassador to France in protest over the appointment of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, former president of Mexico, as ambassador to Spain. He also taught courses at Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Penn, George Mason, Columbia and Cambridge.

---
کارلوس فوئنتس در ۱۱ نوامبر ۱۹۲۸ در پاناماسیتی به دنیا آمد. مادرش برتا ماسیاس ریواس و پدرش رافائل فوئنتس بوئه‌تیگر است. پدر وی از دیپلمات‌های مشهور مکزیک است. وی سفیر مکزیک در هلند، پاناما، پرتغال و ایتالیا بود.

دوران کودکی‌اش در واشنتگتن دی.سی. و سانتیاگوی شیلی گذشت. فوئنتس در دانشگاه مکزیک و ژنو در رشتهٔ حقوق تحصیل کرد. او به زبان‌های انگلیسی و فرانسه تسلط کامل دارد.

آثار
* مرگ آرتمیوکروز، ۱۹۶۲
* آئورا، ۱۹۶۲
* زمین ما،‌ ۱۹۷۵
* گرینگوی پیر، ۱۹۸۵
* ملکهٔ عروسک‌ها
* آسوده خاصر، ترجمهٔ محمدامین لاهیجی.
* مرگ آرتمیو کروز، ترجمهٔ مهدی سحابی.
* آئورا، ترجمهٔ عبدالله کوثری.
* سرهیدا.
* خودم با دیگران (به تازگی با نام از چشم فوئنتس) ترجمهٔ عبدالله کوثری.


---
Carlos Fuentes Macías fue un escritor mexicano y uno de los novelistas y ensayistas más conocidos en el mundo de habla española. Fuentes influyó en la literatura contemporánea de América Latina, y sus obras han sido ampliamente traducidas al inglés y otros idiomas.

Fuentes nació en la ciudad de Panamá, Panamá, sus padres eran mexicanos. Debido a su padre era un diplomático, durante su infancia vivió en Montevideo, Río de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago y Buenos Aires. En su adolescencia regresó a México, donde vivió hasta 1965. Estuvo casado con la estrella de cine Rita Macedo de 1959 hasta 1973, aunque era un mujeriego habitual y, al parecer, sus asuntos - que se ha cobrado incluyen actrices como Jeanne Moreau y Jean Seberg, su llevados a la desesperación. La pareja terminó su relación en medio del escándalo, cuando Fuentes se fugó con un periodista muy embarazada y entonces desconocido de nombre Silvia Lemus. Se casaron finalmente.

Siguiendo los pasos de sus padres, también se convirtió en un diplomático en 1965 y sirvió en Londres, París (como embajador), y otras capitales. En 1978 renunció al cargo de embajador en Francia en protesta por el nombramiento de Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, ex presidente de México, como embajador en España.

Reviews

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

To think of it, it's THE perfect novel to read on a rainy, rainy afternoon while sipping ultrahot but strong cappuccino at a posh Sanborn's in Mexico DF...

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: Where, Carlos Fuentes asks, is a modern-day vampire to roost? Why not Mexico City, populated by ten million blood sausages (that is, people), and a police force who won't mind a few disappearances? "Vlad" is Vlad the Impaler, of course, whose mythic cruelty was an inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. In this sly sequel, Vlad really is undead: dispossessed after centuries of mayhem by Eastern European wars and rampant blood shortages. More than a postmodern riff on "the vampire craze," Vlad is also an anatomy of the Mexican bourgeoisie, as well as our culture's ways of dealing with death. For -- as in Dracula -- Vlad has need of both a lawyer and a real-estate agent in order to establish his new kingdom, and Yves Navarro and his wife Asunción fit the bill nicely. Having recently lost a son, might they not welcome the chance to see their remaining child live forever? More importantly, are the pleasures of middle-class life enough to keep one from joining the legions of the damned?

My Review: Well now. This is a later work by Mexican national treasure Fuentes, published (in serial form) in Spanish in 2004, as a book in 2010, and in English in 2012, the year of Fuentes' death. Here in abundance is the glorious, sensuous language of Fuentes' fearless imagination:

At night in our marital bed, Asunción is like the salamander of myth; cold that shall burn, burning that shall freeze; fleeting like mercury and stable as a precious pearl; devoted, mysterious, surprising, flirtatious; imagined and imaginative...No talk, all action.

This is a man discussing his wife, with whom he has made two children! Most men would barely be able to summon up that woman's hair color. Not Fuentes' husband, no indeed, he catalogs his wife's wicked sexy ways. Which, being wise to the source material of the book, lets the non-comatose reader in on the fact that all will soon fall to poo-poo in a big bad way.

Lawyer Navarro meets his senior partner's old schoolmate Count Vladimir Radu as soon as Asunción, in her role as real estate agent, delivers the required house; the scene of the meeting, a spacious and monochromatic modern villa in a fancy mountainside neighborhood, is more creepy and eerie than it would have been if Fuentes had gone the expected route and made Vlad ("all my friends call me Vlad" says the Count, in a bone-chilling moment of ersatz bonhomie) a slave to Old World notions of proper decor and architecture. Something about ancient evil in a Bauhaus-y minimalist setting, well, it made my neck hairs rise.

There sits relentlessly alive and ponderously restrained Yves Navarro (perhaps named so in honor of French writer Yves Navarre? a sensualist, like Fuentes and like Navarro, only gay), noticing the physicality of the repulsively ugly Count, taking inventory of his flaws and repulsed yet seduced by his demeanor:

His hands were eloquent. He moved them with disagreeable elegance, he closed them with sudden strength, and he didn't attempt to conceal the strange abnormality of his long glassy nails,as transparent as his windows before he'd had his house sealed.

I hesitate to use this phrase, but Count Vlad comes to life (!) in this description. It's economical and still replete with imagery that functions as subtext. Ethan Bumas, the lead translator, did good (if mixed, more on that anon) work capturing the dandyish archness of Fuentes' prose without spilling over into parody.

Yves is only at the tip of the stake, as we who have read Dracula know, he is on course to losing everything to the immortal evil Count. His beloved Asunción, she of the freezing salamanderly sexytimes, has fallen asleep after conjugal congress. Yves, in a moment that makes me want to smack him upside the head, is having straight-guy angst about whether Asunción has, errrmmm, achieved her desired completion. He frets about this for a good long while, uninterestingly enough (STRAIGHT GUYS: IF YOU HAVE TO ASK THE ANSWER IS NO, GET USED TO IT OR GET OVER IT), before slipping into a dreamlike state in which Vlad is under the marriage bed. Yves touches the glass-nailed corpse-hand as he reaches for his slippers. He is, understandably enough, flipped out; he convinces himself to go back to sleep, though. Next morning:

In my dream someone had been in my bedroom but then that someone walked out of it. From then on, the bedroom was no longer mine. it became a strange room because someone had walked out.

That...that right there, that short passage of simple sentences using simple words, that explains the heart of the horror of vampire novels. Vampires steal your life. They don't cause your death, unless you're lucky. They steal life and I do not know a more horrifying terrifying knee-knocking pants-pissing concept than that. The Weeping Angels of Doctor Who fame have the same effect on me that this retelling of vampire lore does.

So, of course, by the end of this short novella, Yves is utterly and abjectly alone, despite being granted his heart's secret desire. He is dead. His life was stolen in that awful moment above; he valiantly pretended not to notice, not to know, to deny; he fails, of course, and his failure leads him to a simple act now, in his new undeath, fraught with misery, horror, hellish cruel simulated joy:

He gets in his car.

Now why, with the positive statements I'm making about the effect of the book, did I rate it under 4 stars? Because of two things that annoy me, and one thing that I have no evidence to support but find plausible and therefore ohfagawdsake-worthy. Annoyance the oneth: Translate Spanish or don't. Mixing the two is Bad. For example, Vlad's house (which seems to be a famous one designed by architect Ricardo Legorreta, about which more anon) is first described as being in "Lomas Heights" *wince* which translates to "Hills Heights." Nuh uh. Lomas Altas is a specific house in the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood in Mexico City. "High Hills" or "Steep Hills" would work as a translation of that, but why bother? And later in the book, the house is described as being in Bosques de las Lomas, which name is not translated (means "Woods of the Hills"). Translate or don't! Don't shilly-shally!

Thing the twoth: Yves ponderously repeats his wife's name, his daughter's name, his employer's name, and all in 122 pages. If the book was 722 pages and chapters went by without these characters being mentioned, a little refresher wouldn't come amiss. In this space, it's an annoying rubber-headed hammer whacking my kneecap every fifth page. STOP! In the same more-is-actually-less vein, there is a longish and unnecessary recap of Vlad the Impaler's life and career. It served no purpose and is all stuff most readers likely to pick up a Fuentes book will either know or not want to fuss with. No padding needed, folks, when the story's already good.

As to the plausible-but-unproven detail, I return to that famous midcentury house, Casa Loma Alta. Fuentes was a highly cultured man, and likely knew Legorreta the architect and so would probably have known his work. The house was, I am fairly sure, owned most recently by a Chinese-born drug dealer whose 2007 arrest produced over $200MM in cash and an arsenal in some tunnels dug under the house. This set-up is ready-made for Fuentes, that inveterate myth-maker, to appropriate for his relocated vampire; and it provides that little roman à clef touch that haunted me (!) as I read the book. Drugs and drug barons stealing the lives and wealth of the bourgeois Mexicans, with neither party paying even the slightest mind to the millions of average Mexicans ground under their fancy car wheels and/or fangs. Listen, if it rang that bell in me, an American, how loudly must the whole carillon have rung for Fuentes' Mexican audience? That being said, there's the awkward sense in this book of is-it-or-isn't-it a roman à clef, never addressed and never refuted. It gave my reading a jarring neither/nor quality.

I'd still say it's worth a read, since it's short; but don't pay full price.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashamed to say that this is my first time reading a novel by Mexico's most celebrated author (I've read some of his essays). Vlad is imbued with humor and horror, a commentary on contemporary life. I was taken with the sensuality of Fuentes' writing and can imagine it would be even better read in Spanish.

[Scarlett Readz and Runz....Through Novel Time & Distance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragic and gripping!

I enjoyed Vlad by Carlos Fuentes quite a bit. He took Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, wrote a continuation and added a different flavor with a twist to it, and it so worked. I didn't realize right away how central the Hispanic influences were to this novel, but when they hit, they were so right and full of pasión.

Fuentes had a way to write most seductively. When Yves Navarro, a lawyer, and his wife Asuncion a real estate agent, take on Vlad as a client, it seems at first, that this is exactly what they need after the death of their son. After a long while in deep mourning, it seems like a wind of fresh air and Yves feels invigorated and simply happy about his younger wife's love, after meeting with his strangely isolated new client. He does have such a good life and marriage after all, doesn't he?

Vlad turns out to be a most peculiar client. When Yves becomes increasingly uncomfortable about him, his wife, in turn, is distancing herself while his daughter's whereabouts are at stake.

As talented as Fuentes was as a writer, he created some amazingly beautiful scenes about the relationship and love of the couple that Yves often salivates over in his thoughts. It is a stark contrast to Vlad who was depicted as a 'naked' lonely person with dark undercurrent's, who, once he had your mind in his grip, was difficult to escape.

There is just something about this novel that was so right and rich, undoubtedly written from experience and it spoke to me. From what I gather, Fuentes wasn't a faithful man in relationships, but he certainly transcends passionately into the mind of Yves. There also shines through a love for heritage and Mexican culture in this novel and I like the take on it. I've read several different novels depicting the enigma of Dracula and this was my first to read of this kind.

If you have a bit a spare time, this would fit nicely into a tight reading budget, since it isn't very long. Perhaps you too will enjoy this take on Vlad?

Happy Reading

More of my reviews here:
Through Novel Time & Distance

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fuentes serves up a vampire yarn in a minimalist style. Compared to many of his other works, this one is straightforward, short, and perhaps a departure from his ordinary fare.

What begins as a hilarious and subtly creepy familial tale, complete with comedic and eccentric descriptions of a Count morphs into psychologically disturbing territory. Culminating in a bleak and eerie crescendo of terror, the relentlessness of fate, the literary, utilitarian language and the dark humor will appeal to many brave readers.

The old theme of temptation, and the dread of death, in all of its embodiments drives the narrator. One of the character calls history "a garbage dump of lies." And one of the short chapters is devoted to criticizing the ill-wrought secrets of human progress.

If you're not ready for Terra Nostra, come savor the seamy dreamlike imagery of Vlad, nibble on the symbolism, sip at the bloody and noxious fountain of its perversion.

[Rachel Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dracula in Mexico. As soon as I saw the synopsis, I wanted to read it.

But, don't expect Dracula gallivanting around the city. This novel is mostly confined to Vlad's new home, which our main character (Yves), as an attorney, helped find and secure for him. The arrival of Vlad immediately disrupts Yves's habitual, loving relationship with his wife and daughter.

Disturbing events occur once Vlad arrives. The story is actually quite amusing at times, too. But yeah, this story isn't for people who don't want to read dark literature. There are some very creepy scenes, one involving children (well, one who is really an old vampire). Despite its shortness, there is quite a bit to unpack here.

[Mohammad Ali Shamekhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

نمره ی واقعیش با ارفاق سه ستاره است

داستانی است در حوزه ی داستان های مربوط به دراکولا. اما قضیه یک داستان ترسناک نیست. بلکه به نظرم شاید بتوان گفت نگاهی است به رابطه ی زناشویی شخصیت اول داستان و همسرش و تردیدهایی که مرد در مورد رضایت زنش از او دارد. آن بخش هایی که برای من جذاب بودند و خواندنی، توصیفات مرد بود از تردیدهایش - مثلا تردید از اینکه آیا لذت های شبانه از جانب همسرش تحمل می شوند یا او هم در آنها سهیم است. این زوج کودکی را از دست داده اند و این مرگ در رابطه ی این دو مؤثر افتاده است. گویی چیزی در ژرفا دیگر مثل سابق نیست و این همان امر ناشناخته ای است که در پس داستان خون آشامانه خود را آشکار می کند

اما سوای این پیش زمینه کلا با داستان دراکولا پیوندی برقرار نکردم - در حرف ها و ارجاعات دراکولا هم ابهاماتی بود که آزارم می داد؛ اما بدتر از کلیت موضوع مواجهه ی مرد شخصیت اصلی داستان با دراکولا بود، خیلی جاها هیچ جوره واکنش هاش برام قابل درک نبود - انگار نویسنده نتونسته احوال مرد در اون موقعیت ها رو طوری ترسیم کنه که رفتارهاش قابل فهم باشه

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short vampiric tale, perhaps Fuentes’s response to the Twilight phenomenon. Vlad the Impaler is back and seeks fresh blood from a stoic lawyer’s wife and daughter. Tongue-in-cheeky, and faintly horrific.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/5
Η νουβέλα του Φουέντες είναι ελκυστική και στα δυο επίπεδα που φιλοδοξεί να κινηθεί!
Αρχικά είναι μια αρκετά τρομαχτική ιστορία του Κόμη Βλαντ, αντάξιο sequel του Δράκουλα του Bram Stoker! Οι περιγραφές του σπιτιού, η ζωή του Κόμη Βλαντ, το ίδιο του το παρουσιαστικό! Σε συναρπάζει πως μέσα σε τόσες λίγες σελίδες καταφέρνει να δημιουργήσει ένα απόλυτα τρομαχτικο σκηνικό!
Από την άλλη ο Φουέντες αποκαλύπτει πως τρομαχτικοτερο από όλα αυτά είναι η μικροαστική ζωή και η αδυναμία αλλά και άρνηση θέλησης απομάκρυνσης από αυτήν! Ο άνθρωπος που ζει μια απλή, καθημερινή ζωή μέσα σε μια οικογένεια που όπως αποδεικνύεται λίγα γνωρίζει για τα μέλη της!
Σε προσωπικό επίπεδο το ευχαριστήθηκα πάρα πολύ, σημαντικό είναι και το μικρό μέγεθος του! Αρνητικό κομμάτι μόνο η σκηνή με τον σκίουρο, που κατ εμέ θα μπορούσε και να απουσιάζει!

[Jonfaith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman's hand in black gloves offered me the platter of organ meat. I felt revulsion, but my manners required that I take a bit of liver from here and a bit of tripe from there. . .

Yves Navarro finds himself a slave to class and upbringing throughout his encounter with the supernatural, this occurs to his detriment. Likewise the reader owes a debt to Fuentes and gives him a few passes. I know this reader did. There is a core of a good novel here. Details about the health and attentions of Fuentes at the time of Vlad aren't readily availible. Fuentes did more than most to inform my sense of history 20 years ago. I can forgive an afterthought of a novel devoted to one's homeland becoming a failed state. I know that disappointment if not the pain. There are few surprises here. There are also splashes of genuine color and history.

[Nicole Seremeti · Rating 3 out of 5]

... It could have been great if it wasn't for some weird sex related descriptions

[Δημήτρης · Rating 5 out of 5]

Κριτική για το Smassing Culture.

Ο Δράκουλας του Bram Stoker είναι κατά γενική ομολογία ένα από τα κειμήλια της σύγχρονης λογοτεχνίας, ειδικότερα δε της γοτθικής λογοτεχνίας. Θα μπορούσε λοιπόν ένα τέτοιο έργο να έχει συγγραφικό sequel; Ο Carlos Fuentes το πίστευε αυτό και το έκανε πράξη με τη νουβέλα του, Κόμης Vlad (Εκδόσεις Κλειδάριθμος, 2018), αν και η λέξη sequel δεν είναι ακριβώς σαφής για το έργο αυτό.

Πριν αναφερθούν τα της νουβέλας, πρέπει να ειπωθούν δυο λόγια για τον Carlos Fuentes. Ο Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012) λοιπόν αποτέλεσε έναν από τους μεγαλύτερους και πιο πολυβραβευμένους συγγραφείς του ισπανόφωνου κόσμου, εκδίδοντας τόσο μυθιστορήματα όσο και δοκίμια. Μερικά από τα πιο γνωστά του έργα είναι τα Ο θάνατος του Αρτέμιο Κρουζ, Ο Γερο-Κρίνγκο και η Αύρα.

Στην εν λόγω νουβέλα, ο Carlos Fuentes ουσιαστικά αποτίει φόρο τιμής στον πασίγνωστο χαρακτήρα του Bram Stoker και τον κάνει δικό του, αφήνοντας στην άκρη κινηματογραφικά στερεότυπα.

Η ιστορία τοποθετείται στην σύγχρονη Πόλη του Μεξικού, μια πόλη που κατοικείται από δέκα εκατομμύρια λουκάνικα αίματος. Αφηγητής και πρωταγωνιστής της ιστορίας είναι ο Ιβ Ναβάρο, δεύτερος τη τάξη στο δικηγορικό γραφείο του Ελόι Σουρινάγα, ενός ισχυρού και γνωστού ατόμου στην τοπική κοινωνία, που σιγά σιγά αποχωρεί από τα κοινά. Ο Ναβάρο είναι παντρεμένος, έχοντας μια μικρή κόρη και ζώντας μια ήρεμη αστική ζωή, βολεμένος στη συνήθεια και στη ρουτίνα αυτής. Η γυναίκα του, η Ασουνσιόν είναι κτηματομεσίτης, και σε συνδυασμό με την ειδικότητα του Ναβάρο, αποτελούν τον ιδανικό συνδυασμό για τον Βλαντ, έναν μυστηριώδη πελάτη και γνωστό του Ελόι Σουρινάγα από την Τρανσυλβανία. Ο Βλαντ έχοντας επιλέξει την Πόλη του Μεξικού για να εγκατασταθεί ζητάει ένα σπίτι με κάποιες ιδιαιτερότητες και μέσω του Ναβάρο και της Ασουνσιόν το βρίσκει. Με την εγκατάστασή του σε αυτό, η φρίκη ξεκινάει και έρχονται τα πάνω κάτω στους δεσμούς της οικογένειας του Ιβ Ναβάρο.

Ο Carlos Fuentes φροντίζει με την γραφή του να δημιουργεί σκηνές ανατριχιαστικές. Η φρικιαστική όψη του Κόμη, οι περιγραφές του σπιτιού, καθώς και κάποιες ιδιαιτέρως περίεργες σεξουαλικές σκηνές, αποτελούν μερικές από αυτές.

Πέρα όμως από την δημιουργία τρόμου και φρίκης, ο Κόμης Vlad περιλαμβάνει κάποια ενδιαφέρονται μηνύματα, τα οποία ίσως είναι περισσότερο εμφανή με μία δεύτερη ανάγνωση. Ο Ιβ Ναβάρο για παράδειγμα, φαίνεται να αντιπροσωπεύει μια αυτάρεσκη, αστική τάξη, επαναπαυμένη στη βολή της χωρίς να μπορεί και να θέλει να δει τι συμβαίνει τριγύρω, μέχρις ότου κάτι πάει πολύ στραβά και διαταράζει την καλοκουρδισμένη ρουτίνα της. Σε αυτό το σημείο έρχεται ο αναγνώστης να αναρωτηθεί, μήπως τελικά δεν είναι ο Βλαντ το βαμπίρ αλλά ο βολεμένος αστός

Εν κατακλείδι, αυτό που καταφέρνει μέσα σε μόλις 123 σελίδες ο Carlos Fuentes με τον Κόμη Vlad είναι να αποτίσει φόρο τιμής σε ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα έργα της σύγχρονης λογοτεχνίας, βάζοντας την σφραγίδα του σε αυτό. Ταυτόχρονα όμως κρίνει και σχολιάζει την αστική βολή, κάτι που ίσως αποτελέσει τον μεγαλύτερο τρόμο για τον μέσο αναγνώστη.

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ennesima rivisitazione del mito del conte Vlad l'Impalatore, altrimenti detto conte Dracula. Qui però vi è un elemento nuovo: il luogo. Siamo a Città del Messico ai giorni nostri. Vlad cercherà dimora e bla bla bla...

I primi 3/4 del racconto sono una profusione inutile e tediosa di presentazione dei personaggi. Mi è parso di leggere il compitino che ci davano a scuola, quando dovevi imparare a descrivere ciò che vedevi e gli interpreti, soprattutto. Proprio una fredda elencazione di luoghi e tratti dei personaggi. Nulla di più noioso e soprattutto per nulla coinvolgente. Per fortuna nell'ultimo quarto, la storia prende una piega più interessante, vi sono alcune discrete rivelazioni e l'atmosfera si fa più cupa e tetra, anche se ci sono alcune scene troppo morbose che mi hanno allontanato subito dalla storia. Qualche momento di riflessione sociale, ma buttato lì come un sasso in un'oceano che si perde dopo poco.
La frase finale poi... lasciamo perdere va!!

[Payam Ebrahimi · Rating 2 out of 5]

سلیقه‌ی من نبود
به‌نظرم شروع داستان خیلی کُند و تا حدودی حوصله‌سر‌بر بود. توضیحات و توصیفاتی که هرچند بعضی در ادامه به‌کار اومدن، اما برای آغاز داستان مناسب نبودن و باعث می‌شدن دو به شک باشم که ادامه بدم یا نه.
حجم اطلاعاتی که نویسنده در پایان داستان یکهو به خواننده منتقل می‌کرد هم به‌نظرم خیلی منطقی نبود.
در حقیقت نویسنده به خودِ ماجرا اشاره‌ای نمی‌کرد و اتفاق اصلی داستان جای زیادی در روایت نداشت. بلکه توضیح شخصیت‌ها و شخصیت‌پردازی مساله‌ی اصلی بود و چیزی بود که باعث می‌شد اون قصه و اون ماجرا رقم بخوره. قسمتی از شخصیت‌ها رو در ابتدا معرفی کرد و در مورد باقی هم در انتها توضیح داد و همه‌ی این‌ها به اتفاقی که در داستان افتاده‌بود معنا می‌داد. هرچند نه سلیقه‌ی من بود و نه خیلی باورپذیر.
ترجمه هم تقریباً ضعیف بود و خیلی جاها اشتباهات فاحش و جملات عجیبی توش دیده می‌شد
تیغ سانسور هم احتمالاً قسمت‌هایی از کتاب رو سلاخی کرده.

- خطر لو رفتن پایان داستان-

پایان داستان برای من کمی گنگ بود. نمی‌دونم حدسم در مورد بازگشتن پسر، درست بود یا نه و اگرچنین بود، چرا نویسنده خیلی واضح و شفاف در موردش حرف نزده بود و در یک کلام اسمی از پسر نیورده بود.

[Nantia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ερωτικό, ποιητικό, σκοτεινό. Με δόσεις εσωτερικισμού και με ερωτήματα που ίσως ταλανίζουν το μυαλό κάθε άντρα που αγαπάει, ο συγγραφέας δημιουργεί ένας από τους πιο αληθινούς ήρωες που έχω διαβάσει ποτέ. Το μεταφυσικό στοιχείο σε βυθίζει στο σκοτάδι και σου παρουσιάζει μια άλλη εκδοχή του μύθου του δράκουλα. Πιο διεστραμμένη, πιο ενοχλητική, πιο σκοτεινή. Το τέλος με άφησε να αναζητώ περισσότερα καθώς το δικό μου μυαλό εκρύχθηκε σε αναρίθμητα πιθανά σενάρια εξέλιξης.

[Trike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoilers ahead, but I'm not going to hide the review. You have been warned.

...

I get what Fuentes was trying to do with this story, but it was far too obvious.

The story has an old-fashioned structure and presentation combined with a more modern sensibility of not shying away from frank depictions of sex, as if H.G. Wells and Anne Rice had a creepily precocious baby who wrote novels in crayon. That combination is sometimes interesting because of the uneasy contrast in tone and subject matter... which is exactly what Fuentes is going for.

Navarro, our narrator, is a lawyer who likes his life. An entire chapter of this short book is devoted to a description of the languorous Mexican breakfasts he shares with his wife and daughter. He speaks of his mannered life, of the pleasant routine he and his wife follow each day, their passionate lovemaking at night, the satisfaction each takes in their work. He at the law firm, she as a real estate agent. They have a devoted cook and housekeeper, and he takes pride in his BMW.

But shadowing this tidy little life is the death of their 12-year-old son, a marvelous young athlete pulled out to sea and drowned by an unseen undertow, an invisible killer lurking beneath the lovely waves.

Which, come on dude, I GET IT. A beautiful scene with dangerous undercurrents? Gee, how will this play out in a novel titled after the most famous vampire of them all?

Exactly as one would expect, of course.

Navarro is charged with facilitating the move from Europe to Mexico City and finding a home for a school chum of his elderly boss. Said friend being Count Vlad who has a 10-year-old daughter, which raises some eyebrows, since the boss is in his 80s. They jest of Viagra. Good thing Navarro's wife is a real estate agent.

So things are creepy as hell and Navarro is uneasy when he finally meets the Count, and he dreams of the monstrously deformed Count Vlad hiding under his bed as he makes sweet, sweet macho love to his devoted wife. He thinks the old guy is odd, what with his insistence that all the windows in his house be blocked off, and a tunnel dug from the cellar to a secret entrance, and drains cut into the marble floors, a photo of his wife and daughter in Count Vlad's armoire... Warning signs best ignored, Navarro seems to think.

After his heroic sexcapades, Navarro uncharacteristically sleeps in until noon. His wife already off to work and their daughter at a friend's house for a birthday party.

None of which is true and unravels quickly (because this is a 112-page novella) and Navarro discovers there wasn't any birthday party and his wife never came home and it probably wasn't a dream that Count Vlad was under his bed. He confronts his elderly boss who reveals that Vlad lied to him, promising eternal youth in exchange for relocating him.

His devoted wife, it turns out, was likewise in cahoots with the Count. She never wants to go through the grief she experienced with the death of their son, so she has offered their daughter as eternal playmate to the Count's immortal "daughter", and offered herself to the Count, escaping from the prison of her boring life with her boring husband. Because the Count knows a woman's weaknesses and exactly how to hurt her in just the ways she loves.

Ugh.

In the hands of better craftsman these revelations would come as a surprise, but they're telegraphed so early that the book feels twice as long as it is. Hitting the gong repeatedly of how naive and dull-witted Navarro is just accentuates that tediously, even through the disguise of the first-person narration.

The revelations hinge on the fact that Navarro is oblivious to his wife's real needs, which would be fine except the idiot never asks the obvious questions. Like, "Why is there a photo of my wife and daughter in your closet, you fucking creep?" This book reminds me of all those bad horror movies where the issue would be solved if any of the people involved would behave sensibly. Don't go outside wearing only a negligee. Don't go into the darkened basement without a flashlight. Don't leave your daughter in the ravine with the child molester and freaky little girl who puts squirrel in their panties.

Oh, wait, that last one happened in this book.

Plus, the ending, which is left unresolved but hints at the fact that the Count brought their dead son back to life. Which is impossible, since he was sucked out to sea, so there's no body to be had. Maybe it's something about wanting to believe in something despite the horror of it, but at this point who cares?

Side note: why do they call bats "blind rats"? Is that a Mexican thing? Some sort of mistranslation? Whatever.

Well, the good news is that I knocked off a book whose title starts with V for my annual reading challenge.

[Renee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, this is going to be brutal… So fair warning. I hated this shit.

If I could give this book zero stars I would have…. So let’s get this over with.

1) This book is supposed to be a version of Dracula taking place in Mexico… I was super intrigued… I mean I read that dumb ass book where it was teeny boppers with cell phones retelling Dracula… How much worse could it get?


2) So much friggin worse!!! This novella was 112 pages long. ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE! The story didn’t even start until I was half way through the damn book.


3) I had to spend at least five pages on hearing about the MC and his sex life with his wife, including a rather nasty description of her vagina and their combined public hair YUCK

4) I had to spend another two pages hearing the MC drabble on and on about how once you are married and having sex with a woman you can no longer ask her if the sex was good because eventually she will get tired of hearing about it…. Blah blah blah blah how do you know if the sex was as good for her as it was for you? DRIVEL

5) Dracula was just… well nasty every description of him was unpleasant and nothing like he is really supposed to look. I know this was supposed to be horror but nothing in this novel scared me, it just grossed me out. Apparently his ears are shaped like bat wings and he cuts them off every day….And wear fake hair….


6) The ending was seriously rushed. Everything wrapped up in the last maybe five or ten pages and made no sense.

7) The author called bats BLIND RATS for this statement alone I dropped the rating. They are not blind and they are not anything like rats. Do some fucking research you ass hole.

8) Uh…. Good point- The writing style was good… The author is a fairly good writer, the characters, storyline and conflict all sucked.


9) I couldn’t connect with ANY of the characters. AT.ALL. They didn’t inspire love, hate, sympathy… Nothing. Half the time I was just like, “Is this fucking over yet?”

10) And here is the big kicker and the huge SPOILER ALERT There is a scene where the MC’s daughter is playing in the back yard with a child vampire and they lift up their dresses and put live squirrels down the front of their panties!!!!! WTF. I couldn’t even figure out how this was relevant to the story. Then the man servant comes out and starts sucking the nipples of the child vampire and the MC stands there sickened but doing NOTHING. My mind can barely wrap around the images this book gave me. They were disturbing and completed thrown in for an ick surprise factor and nothing else.

Do not read this book. In fact boycott its very existence. I will be putting this piece of trash up for sale on amazon asap. And it’s a Dracula novel… I usually keep them, even when they are bad… But this one… no way.

[Farnaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

این کتاب که آخرین رمان فوئنتس محسوب میشه، داستان درگیری بین یه دراکولا و یک خانواده‌ی معمولیه. من اصلا کتاب رو دوست نداشتم، پلان به قدر کافی بسط پیدا نکرده بود و ترجمه هم خیلی بد بود.
در مجموع توصیه نمی‌کنم براش وقت بذارید اما شاید برای نوجوونا کتاب جالبی محسوب بشه که اونم با توجه به ترجمه‌ش نمی‌دونم چقدر بشه توصیه کرد.

[Ana Olga · Rating 4 out of 5]

No lo pude soltar en todo el día ! Hasta que lo terminè!
Muy entretenido y de fácil lectura .
Por cierto… me gustó mucho su portada .
¡Recomendable !

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dracula will never be the same for me. I've been reading Fuentes since the late 80s, and I'm so sorry that there won't be any more to look forward to. But on the other hand, what an incredible body of work. This is not an afterthought book, or a gimme for the publisher. This is the real deal, and I enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed his previous novels.

[Ben Loory · Rating 4 out of 5]

starts out fun, like a César Aira book, like we're just gonna be messing around with the old story... then plunges right on through and comes out the other side, completely convincing and harrowing.

never read any fuentes before. have a feeling this is the tip of a pretty amazing iceberg.

[Elentarri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonathan Harker and Co. apparently didn't do a very good job at permanently killing Count Dracula. What is a vampire dispossessed of his war torn Eastern European estates and his necessary "blood sausages" to do? Move to Mexico City, vibrant city of ten million plus "blood sausages", of course! And he will need a lawyer and an estate agent. Enter Yves Navarro (lawyer) and his wife Asuncion (estate agent). Count Dracula, "call me Vlad", is hard on his lawyers/estate agents and their family lives' (as usual). This is a delightfully dark, semi-erotic, creepy and twisty vampire novella. Feuntes writes beautifully.

[Jorge Morcillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muy poca cosa para ser de Fuentes. Se lee de forma muy sencilla y contiene algún párrafo de buena literatura, pero nada más. Una curiosidad vampírica.

Supongo que incluyó alguna escena tórrida para escandalizar. Yo recuerdo que las críticas televisivas a las escenas de sexo de otro de sus libros (mucho mejor que este) consiguió el efecto contrario: disparar sus ventas.

Menos mal que escribió libros maravillosos y que he tenido la suerte de leerlos y disfrutarlos con el paso de los años, porque si este fuese el primero difícilmente volvería a reincidir.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's everyday horror in a retelling of a medieval legend. Wicked!

[Andy Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across Carlos Fuentes in César Aira’s wonderful novel, The Literary Conference. It seems he is a contemporary, and I suppose rival, of Aira’s; they both appear at the literary conference in question, vying for the same award. It’s very entertaining. As a huge Aira fan, I was at once keen to read his work.

And duly rewarded here. Though on the face of it, a contemporary story of a vampire in Mexico City, this is far more than just that. Works of horror, when done well, tell us as much about life and society as they do about death.
The opening may seem formulaic, Yves Navarro is a middle aged lawyer with a sound career, happily married on the surface of it, with a young daughter, when he is tasked by his elderly boss to find a house for a client, an old friend of the boss from eastern Europe who wishes to emigrate..
Though we know the skeletal structure of this short book; the mystery set, the sudden realisation and catastrophe that we expected, the concluding showdown; it is what is unsaid that appeals the most, it’s fable-like composition.
Ruthless capitalist bloodsucking is intertwined with the more literal kind, showing the gruesome cost to all involved.
Media reviews are mixed, claiming generally its not Fuentes best; I’m keen to read more.

Here’s a clip..

I had never before been so tortured by the slowness of the Mexico City traffic; the irritability of the drivers; the savagery of the dilapidated trucks that ought to have been banned ages ago; the sadness of the begging mothers carrying children in their shawls and extending their calloused hands; the awfulness of the crippled and the blind asking for alms; the melancholy of the children in clown costumes trying to entertain with their painted faces and the little balls they juggled; the insolence and obscene bungling of the pot-bellied police officers leaning against their motorcycles at strategic highway entrances and exits to collect their bite-size bribes; the insolent pathways cleared for the powerful people in their bulletproof limousines; the desperate, self-absorbed, and absent gaze of old people unsteadily crossing side streets without looking where they were going, those white-haired, but-faced men and women resigned to die the same way as they lived; the giant billboards advertising an imaginary world of bras and underpants covering small swaths of perfect bodies with white skin and blonde hair, high-priced shops selling luxury and enchanted vacations in promised paradises.

[Peiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

خیلی سخته برام یه خلاصه از شروع داستان بگم بدون اینکه چیزی رو لو بدم! ولی داستان اینطوری شروع میشه که رییس یک دفتر وکالت که پیرمردی سالخورده هست به یکی از کارمندانش میگه برای دوستی که قراره به زودی به مکزیک مهاجرت کنه یه خونه پیدا کنه چون همسر کارمندش، مشاور املاک بوده. ولی درخواست ها برای خونه خیلی عجیب به نظر میرسه مثلا تمام پنجره های خونه باید مسدود بشه و با اومدن اون شخص یا همون کنت ولاد ماجرا ها و اتفاقات بین ناوارو (همون کارمند) و همسرش و ولاد شروع میشه...ه

داستان رو دوست داشتم و برام جذاب بود و احتمالا اگه پایان کار یکم هیجان انگیز تر بود 5 ستاره رو میدادم

[Alberto Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drácula en México...

[Madeline Knight-Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this may be one of my favorite re-imagined versions of Dracula since the original. The book is incredibly short, only about 100 pages as opposed to the Stoker version which is somewhere upwards of 500. But in that incredibly short space of time, Fuentes manages to create a story more chilling than the original. It’s a must read for the Halloween season.

The story takes place in present day Mexico city, and though a lot of the story is cut out, the elements that remain are absolutely terrifying. It’s the small things that Fuentes kept which helped retain the terror. The creepy aspects of the Count’s appearance the main character couldn’t explain or rationalize, the terrifying sidekick of the Count’s, the oddly sexualized moments the stand in for Harker couldn’t contend with, subtle things like the lack of mirrors.

However Fuentes takes it a step further, and in a modern day Dracula’s house adds subtle touches that both make the Count seem more technilogically savy, as well as more terrifying. At one point something so gruesome happened I thought I would be sick, but in very much the same way Stoker handles it.

All together I love this book, which is published by the Dalkey Archive Press; An non-profit publisher that operates out the University of Illinois. Definitely go check them out, because they publish a lot of international books like this one that get overlooked by major publishers.

[Newly Wardell · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's not my cuppa. Its a retelling of the vampire origin story but instead of it being all Vlad's fault. It's a little "girl's" who saves him from death's fault. The guy loses his family but it's not the Vlad's fault it's the mom's fault. Because she has already lost a child and she whores herself to a monster. I'll say one thing for Mr. Fuentes he doesn't seem to like women. He is kinda bent on his female characters being of low to no moral value. It seems cruel to in any way ridicule any parent's lost of a child.

[Arantxa Rufo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un relato de vampiros muy clásico, evidente discípulo de los grandes maestros góticos del género. Quizá por esto ofrece pocos elementos nuevos más allá de la localización, una ciudad de México en la que jamás hemos visto al famoso conde, y algún detalle realmente original al final de la historia.

Un relato que se lee rápido y con gusto.