A Perfect Cemetery

by Federico Falco, Jennifer Croft (Translator)

In the middle of a blizzard a widow is looking out at the ruin of her late-husband’s garden, when suddenly she sees a woman running naked in the falling snow. After telling her parents she is abandoning her Christian faith, a girl becomes infatuated with a Mormon missionary who reminds her of a boy killed in her village years before. When his family’s home is lost, a father desperately offers his daughter’s hand in marriage to anyone who will take them in. And a town’s mayor tries to fulfil his father’s dying wish: to design the perfect cemetery.

In a series of interlinked stories written in disarming, darkly humorous prose, Federico Falco explores themes of obsessive love, romantic attachment and the strategies we must find to cope with death and painful longing.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Spanish Literature, Contemporary, Latin American, Short Story Collection, Literary Fiction

125 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

Federico Falco is the author of four collections of short stories, a book of poems, and two novels: Cielos de Córdoba (Córdoba Skies, 2011) and Los Llanos (The Plains, 2020). He holds a BA in Communications from Blas Pascal University in Argentina and an MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish from New York University. In 2010 Granta selected him as one of the Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists, and in 2017 A Perfect Cemetery was finalist for the García Márquez Short Story Prize. During 2012 he was writer in residence at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. Falco currently is the short story editor at Chai Editora, dedicated to international contemporary fiction not previously translated into Spanish. His most recent novel, Los Llanos, was finalist of the Herralde Prize, one of the most prestigious fiction prizes in the Spanish-speaking world. He divides his time between Buenos Aires and the sierras of Córdoba, and this is his first print book to appear in English.

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘We’ve got more gossips in this town than Christians.’

Ideas of obsession, community, and tending one’s garden come alive in A Perfect Cemetery, a collection of short stories by Argentinian writer Federico Falco and brilliantly translated by . Set in and around the Córdoba mountains of Argentina, the five stories collected here are by turns humorous and ponderous as people find themselves suffocated by the societies around them and try to find ways of discovering their own. As Falco has said in interviews ‘as social beings, there is no way to live in solitude,’ and we find the lives of these characters chafing and bruising against the day-to-day of life. They often move in surprising ways, written in shades of Juan Rulfo and Juan Carlos Onetti though also fresh and distinctly his own. These stories unfold slowly but surely, almost more like a novel despite their short length, nestling you into the lives of these flawed but very human characters in ways that make this engaging and unforgettable.

Following the collection is a wonderful essay from translator Jennifer Croft (the award-winning translator for Olga Tokarczuk’s past few releases) where she discusses the difficulties in capturing place in translation. ‘Translation isn’t a system,’ she writes, ‘translation is an encounter between two human beings that takes place in words that belong to different systems,’ and something crucial to this novel is getting the sense of place across to English-speaking readers. The setting is so central to the stories with the land functioning nearly like an unruly character itself, as well as the community-at-large being an omnipresent character engaging with plot from social judgment to political maneuvering. Croft brings these elements alive and each word is carefully chosen towards that effect (she spends a page defending her use of the word ‘swell’ in a key line, for instance, so you know she has Falco’s best interests at heart).

Frequently we find characters at odds with the society around them, most notably in the opening story The Hares where a man described as King of the Hares has left his village and lover to live in the wilderness, returning occasionally to steal necessary supplies from his former neighbors. The interplay between society and wilderness is carefully embedded in the language here, such as when the King receives a visitor, Cristina, and upon his embarrassment of his living space he immediately reverts back to being named Oscar in the text. Only when she leaves does he become the King again, a clever tactic to show how social surroundings have an effect on the self.

In the blissfully comedic Silvi and her Dark Night we witness teenage Silvi reject the religion that so permeates her life (her mother has Silvi accompany her when delivering last rites, for instance) and becomes an atheist, only to immediately pledge to conversion of Mormonism. The conversion crumbles upon examination as her impetus was solely to gain access to Steve, the young Mormon missionary who reminds her of a beautiful boy she once watched die. Though this story also highlights another major theme of the collection: obsession. Silvi monomania for the Mormon is amusing, with her buying his brand of deodorant to smell while in bed, and her actions are so alarming to her mother that she consults a Priest. It becomes a beautiful idea, however, of going through a dark period to return home again. Here is a passage between Silvi and her father about his model airplane flying off:

‘How will it get back? asked Silvi when the plane disappeared, fully devoured by the light and the distance.
What if it gets lost? asked Silvi. How's it going to know we're here?
Helmut smiled. Then he opened his arms, wide.
Take a look at all of this, he said. Isn't it swell?’

The interplay of parental trust and love and the dangers of living and staying all come alive in the beautiful landscapes of Argentina, and this story is worth the price of the book alone.

Though obsession is also key to the title story—my personal favorite—about a man who designs cemeteries clashing with a city council and locals who don’t want one. The mayor has ordered it built to accommodate his dying father (who insists he A. won't die like that dude in Monty Python and B. doesn't want to be buried there) and to give the town a scenic spot as a testament to those who lived there instead of having their corpses sent to be buried in another town. The engineer finds politics hindering his artistic vision—a wonderful statement on its own about how politics and budgets are a deterrence to the aims of purity in art—embarrassed his peers will know he clashed with a blacksmith he suspects of sabotaging his gate before the interdiction against his crowning visual centerpiece: an expensive oak tree.

What is art when one does not want it, the story asks. ‘I’d rather you get me a wheelchair,’ says the dying father, ‘so I could go and see about my garden or visit my chickens, not to see some cemetery.’ Gardening, in fact, is central to many of these stories and is, in general, often a symbol of community. In The River a woman must watch as her late husband's garden is trampled and urinated on by the drunks from the neighborhood bar (a great statement on community as stiffling again) though in Forest Life the greenhouses become a place of refuge. Forest Life finds a middle-aged woman and her father stripped of their home when property developers buy the land and begin chopping down the pine forest her father has planeted and cultivated. To survive she decides to marry someone who will care for her father but her lifetime of living in the hills has been deemed antisocial behavior and marked her as an Other. She finds a Japanese man will take her, someone else outcast from society (even she resents his being foreign) and upkeeping a garden in a community of Japanese immigrants. This story has a boiling tension beneath that never bursts, something true to life that Falco excels in capturing.

These stories all examine grief in unique ways and while community is thought to be something to share grief, here we find those who need the comfort most pushed aside. This is a short collection but each story is so rich that it feels significantly larger than the sum of pages. Federico Falco is wonderful and I certainly hope Croft has more translations of his coming soon.

4/5

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writing in this collection of short stories by an Argentinian author. The stories are set in a sparsely populated area in the mountains around Cordoba in northern Argentina where forestry and farming and the main occupations. Because of this setting, the stories have an old-fashioned feel and the readers wonders if they were set in the late 1800s rather the modern times of the setting.



I read this book as a buddy-read with my good friend Ebba Simone and I thank her for her comments and insights.

It’s a short book, only five stories by the author and, at the end, an essay by the translator about issues of translation.

In the story Forest Life, a middle-aged woman and her father live in an isolated cabin in the forest. They will soon be evicted as the trees around them are harvested. They have nowhere to go. The woman gets the idea of having her father offer her as a wife to a man, any man, but her father must go with her. One man is interested but suddenly she is reluctant – she hadn’t considered this possibility: he’s Japanese.

In The River a lonely woman deals with grief over her husband’s recent death. She still sees the world, even in her dreams, through his eyes and his concerns. Suddenly she sees a naked woman running toward the frozen river through the falling snow.

The Hares is about a man who has abandoned village life to live in a cave. Has he abandoned human companionship for that of animals?

Silvi and Her Dark Night is the story of a girl who grows up helping her mother tend to dying people and shut-ins, as a priest’s assistant. The young girl is at an age of rebellion and she announces she’s an atheist. Then she has a crush on a young man who is a visiting Mormon missionary. Will she ‘get religion’ again?

The title story, The Perfect Cemetery, tells us of a landscape architect hired by a small-town mayor to design the perfect cemetery as a final gift to his dying father. Everyone’s on board with this except the 100-year-old man who doesn’t intend to die.

Death, love, aging, grief, loneliness, puberty and many other themes woven with lyrical writing. A good read by an up-and-coming author.



The Argentinian author, b. 1977, has written several collections of short stories, poetry and a couple of novels.

Top photo of the forests and mountains in La Cumbrecita, near Cordoba, by Matias Callone on flickr.com
The author from kenyonreview.org

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charco Press is an Edinburgh-based small UK press – they focus on “finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world”.

This is the second book of their fifth year of publication, and returns to their core country of publication – Argentina – but with a new author and a new (for Charco) translator, but one familiar I suspect to many readers (Jennifer Croft – co-winner of the International Booker Prize for her translation fro the Polish of Olga Tokarczuk’s “Flights”).

The book is a collection of five short stories (of 20-50 page length). The stories are not directly linked but share a sense of place (the Córdoba Province), but, apart from the last story – which I did not really enjoy – have a shared sense of theme and feel, a kind of melancholic feeling that the characters – not just the main character but side-characters are missing out on something which is just out of their grasp. This sense which I think is neatly reinforced by the writing style which gives just enough exposition to involve the reader but not so much that the reader ends in a more privileged position than the characters – but instead shares their idea of something complete being just out of grasp.

That applies I think particular in the middle three stories:

Silvi and Her Dark Night – where Silvia suffers a crisis of faith (but also perhaps life direction) and stops joining her mother in administering last rights to dying people in their rural area – her crisis originating in a hospital visit to a dying but handsome young tourist, and then finding an outlet in a crush on a visiting Mormon missionary. The strongest aspect was the different reactions of her mother and father – the first involving the priest in a near hysterical reaction, the latter playing the long game.

A Perfect Cemetery – a famed cemetery designer is invited to a town by the mayor to design a cemetery – partly it seems as a hint to his estranged centenarian father to die, but all end up dissatisfied and the designer, in his obsession with perfect design passes up an opportunity for love and indulges in budgetary over-reaches which allow the mayor’s political and family rivals to frustrate his aims.

Forest Life – a story about a man and his spinster daughter coming to terms with the end of their live together due to a combination of deforestation and ageing; with the saddest story perhaps that of a local undertaker who refuses as something of a joke, a genuine offer for future happiness which he subsequently regrets.

The translation reads very naturally and, something I always appreciate, the book finishes with a translator’s note which interestingly explains the only part of the translation that read oddly to me.

Another strong publication from Charco.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Perfect Cemetery is Man-Booker-International-winning Jennifer Croft’s translation of Un cementerio perfecto (2016) by Federico Falco.

The book consists of 5 short stories, three of around 45 pages and two shorter ones of less than 20.

My favourite was perhaps the title story, where Victor Bagiardelli, expert cemetery designer, is invited by the Mayor of a small town, nestled between the prairie and the sierra, to design the perfect resting place for the townsfolk generally, and the Mayor’s 104 year-old father, stubbornly resisting death, in particular.

It has all the elements that distinguish the stories in the collection: an interesting and well sketched set-up, memorable characters and, in Falco’s prose in Croft’s translation, a strong sense of place:

Meanwhile the plantains on the central path, the cypresses, the casuarinas, the damson and ornamental plums, the gingko bilobas that would yellow up the gorge, they planted with their root balls and all, exactly as the nurseries had sent them. For the time being they were no more than sickly little trees tied to their stakes, just branches with hibernating buds, sleeping through their latencies. As soon as the cold released its hold and the roots discovered their new liberty, they would untangle and start to extend into the fertile earth, down, down, until they found the centre of the hill.Their stems would swell on the surface and their branches would be covered with new leaves. By the time spring was over the shapes that Victor Bagiardelli had imagined on his own would enrapture the inhabitants of Colonel Isabeta. And so, for years and years, as the trees grew to their maximum size and attained their ideal shape, as the colours of their foliage changed with the seasons, while always, in any month, just exactly as he had planned for it to happen, there would be some bush flowering, and summer after summer the fragrances of fresh pollen would inundate the whole. Every time a resident of Colonel Isabeta died and the cortege transported the body to the cemetery, the trees Victor Bagiardelli had chosen would bend their branches to comfort the mourners in their distress.

Of the other stories: The Hares had echoes of Benjamin Myers novel, but with more gender balance; Silvi and Her Dark Night is a striking tale of a girl’s sexual awakening provoked by her infatuation with a young Mormon missionary; Forest Life was a wonderful story of a father seeking a husband for his middle-age daughter (“I come with her”) after their family home in the pine forest he planted is threatened by loggers. The only story that didn’t really click for me is the last, The River, a more enigmatic tale, albeit one that plays to a key theme of the collection.

Landscape is key to the stories, often a landscape that is disappearing, both due to human intervention (most notably in Forest Life), and natural entropy (The River) and Falco has dedicated the book in part to his grandfather, who passed away while it was being written:

"La añoranza y la melancolía por un lugar que cambia o desaparece, el duelo por su muerte; y también la alegría, el amor por la vida, por la naturaleza con que mi abuelo vivía."

(Google translate: The longing and melancholy for a place that changes or disappears, the mourning for its death; and also the joy, the love for life, for the nature with which my grandfather lived.)

The author has also spoken about how he has rejected the classic short story form with its neat or twist ending, as Cortázar has described it “el que gana por knock out” (a story that wins by knock-out) and the stories leave the reader with a strong sense of melancholy.

[https://elcomercio.pe/eldominical/ent...]

Overall, a strong and very worthwhile collection and another winner from Charco Press. 4 stars

[Ebba Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have spent the entire Sunday on thinking about Federico Falco's stories. I do not recall the last time that I have thought about a short story so much! My favourite short story of this collection is "Forest Life". I have thought about this story the longest. Some (mental) work was needed on my part to read the opening story called "The Hares". I attempted to read that one on public transportation for a few days. Then I read it at home.

Full review will follow.

Ebba

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Perfect Cemetery comes to us in English from Charco Press and is translated by Jennifer Croft. On their website, Charco Press say: ”Charco Press focuses on finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world. We aim to act as a cultural and linguistic bridge for you to be able to access a brand new world of fiction that has, until now, been missing from your reading list.”

A Perfect Cemetery is a collection of five short stories. It is the first of Frederico Falco’s books to be translated into English. There is a fascinating essay by Jennifer Croft at the end of the book that discusses the challenge and the the influence of the translation process.

The stories themselves are all memorable in their own way. They are the kind of short stories that I enjoy because they leave plenty to the reader’s imagination. There are stories that see no reason to fill in all the background detail or to resolve everything before the end. In the initial story (The Hares) a man lives alone in the mountains tending to an altar and with hares bringing their young to him for food. He only visits the local community when supplies run low and he sneaks in to steal what he needs. The “action” of the story comes as a consequence of one of these visits. We finish the story with a lot of questions, but not because the story feels incomplete. This is indicative of the mood through the book. Personally, I really liked the ending to the second story (“Silvi and her Dark Night”), but no spoilers here.

This is a book I found myself getting more drawn into as I read. Normally, you would say that about a novel, I think, rather than a short story collection. I liked the sense of mystery that remained after the first story. But I wasn’t sure about the second story until the end and the way I then thought about it as a full story. From that point in, I felt much more engaged with the book and enjoyed reading all the stories.

An excellent collection of stories in what seems to me (with no knowledge of Argentinian Spanish) to be an excellent translation (Kirkus reviews refers to "translator Croft’s finely tuned ear to colloquial Argentinian Spanish).

[Milagros Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este autor es mi último descubrimiento y me encanta. Este es un libro de cuentos largos con tramas y personajes muy originales. Creo que me estoy acostumbrando a este tipo de escritura donde no pasa nada pero pasa un montón. Igual de él lean ya mismo Los llanos ah al final recomendaba otro libro

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Hares” ⇝ 4.5 stars
“Silvi and Her Dark Night” ⇝ 3.5 stars
“A Perfect Cemetery” ⇝ 5 stars
“Forest Life” ⇝ 4.5 stars
“The River” ⇝ 3.5 stars

Rounding it up, because I really liked the prose style, its rhythm, and the way the themes connect. It reminded me of Elmet.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished the last of the five stories in this collection late last evening (though not in order, of course), and went to bed. I awoke two hours later, which is not unusual for an old man. I was not drowsy, though. In fact, I was surprisingly clear-headed and had a very pointed thought: Damn, that was a good translation!

I thought that, even though I don't speak Argentinian-Spanish and couldn't compare the texts if I had them in front of me. There was something just so readable about what I had read. Awake, I picked up the book again, remembering that there was some short piece at the end of the stories. It was called On Conversation. It wasn't called an Afterword, but it was numbered in lower-case Roman numerals, so it sure seemed like one. It was only when I started reading that I realized it was a Translator's Note. The translator was Jennifer Croft who I've encountered often. She translates Olga Tokarczuk from the Polish and other authors from Ukrainian and Argentinian-Spanish. I read one of her novels which she wrote in Spanish, even though she's Oklahoma-bred. I can't even fathom the genius.

Croft wrote that the challenge of a translator is how to represent place in speech. Translation isn't a system, Croft wrote. Translation is an encounter between two human beings . . . The text, in other words, becomes hers. I have intuitively recreated on the page in English what I have seen in the movie version of these stories in my mind. Falco wrote the screenplay, but I was the director of these sweeping films, just as you have been -- as every reader will be.

She gives an example of the Spanish word hermoso which means "beautiful" but which she translates as "swell". Isn't it swell? a father in a story asks his daughter. Croft chose the word because it was one her own father was prone to. And because the word was hers now.

The stories? I won't detail all the plot-lines. I liked three of the five very much. Awake, past midnight, I thought, you know, the men in these stories weren't jerks. They were shy, perhaps uncertain. But they weren't brutal, even if the circumstances were. (One was a little rough.) So, the Japanese florist would say next time will be better, the handsome Mormon boy would go away, the undertaker would change his mind, the engineer who built cemeteries would tell Miss Mahoney that yes, he would come inside, for a little while.

Isn't it swell?

[Emejota (Juli) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Falco tiene la habilidad de explotar el atractivo de lo simple. En estos cuentos largos hay una gran presencia de espacios abiertos, paisajes montañosos, lagos, ríos y bosques. Es un libro que te lleva a otro lado a conocer personajes silenciosos con historias tranquilas pero potentes.

*Las liebres
*Un cementerio perfecto
*La actividad forestal
*El río

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Perfect Cemetery is published by Charco Press, a publisher who specializes in translating South American literature into English. To date I’ve liked everything they’ve published and A Perfect Cemetery is no exception AND it’s a short story collection, a genre I don’t really get along with.

The five stories here are quite eclectic and yet there are elements which unite them. Usually I try a collective analysis but since there aren’t many stories, I can give a brief summary/teaser of each one.

Opening story The Hares is about a man who gives up his life to life in the woods. Obviously there’s much more than that but it’s always best to be as vague as possible. This story is quite crucial to understanding one major theme in this book which is how people interact with natural world and the urban one.

Silvi and her Dark Night is my favorite one of the bunch: A girl who is rebelling against her mother’s devout Christianity decides to become a Mormon, but for all the wrong reasons. The last few sentences contain a clever metaphor for Silvi’s attitude.

The title story is the big grand piece of the book. The mayor of a small town decides to build the most aesthetically pleasing cemetery as it is part of his dying father’s wish. Unfortunately while building the cemetery he encounters problems. Once again the nature theme crops up but it’s also an interesting look village dynamics.

Nature, again plays a big role in Woodland Life: A father who lives in the forest is going to lose his house and has to find a suitor for his daughter and eventually moves into an old age home. As one can guess, the pull of mother nature is a strong. An interesting minor theme is the Japanese communities in Argentina.

The concluding story, The River just hit me in the heart. A widow sees her husband everywhere, that is until a strange occurrence happens, which puts into some light, her husband’s past actions. It’s the only surreal one but it’s also a tender look on loss.

Nature, relationships , old age, grief and survival. All these stories feel like individual experiences. Some I reread for pure pleasure, some I went back and forth in order to see connecting themes. Reading A Perfect Cemetery was enjoyable and as for someone who does not like short stories, this means that this collection is special indeed.

[Ruben · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 - I loved this short story collection. Five perfectly crafted, moving and intriguing stories set in Argentina. Every scene is essential, everything has meaning.

After I finished the last story I read the back cover and was surprised to see it say 'interlinked stories' because they do not share characters, plot or even location. But thinking it over a bit more the stories have a lot in common. They are about our relation with nature (trees play an important role in all stories), about how to be part of a couple, and how to live once a relationship ends.

A perfect way to start the new year and fulfilling two reading objectives: more short story collections and more in the original language.

[Gisela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tercer libro que leo de Falco, tercero que es un placer leer. Destaco como siempre esa cadencia que tiene su narrativa que te hace sentir como en casa, con esa sensación igual a la vida misma: todo puede cambiar o permanecer, quién sabe.
De este libro en particular destaco la capacidad del autor para describir paisajes de las distintas estaciones, son realmente imágenes exquisitas. También la construcción de la psicología de los personajes, esa capacidad de meternos en su intimidad y sensaciones me deslumbra.
Quiero Falco para rato.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

'I’d rather you get me a wheelchair so I could go and see about my garden or visit my chickens, not to see some cemetery.'

The Hares – 5/5
Silvi and Her Dark Night – 4/5
A Perfect Cemetery – 5/5
Forest Life – 5/5
The River – 1/5

I’m gladly surprised by Falco’s collection of short stories – a very enjoyable read, left me craving for more. Fantastic translation work as well. Would’ve given it a full 5-star rating, but the last story lost me entirely. The third story, ‘A Perfect Cemetery’ is a personal favourite. Reading these stories reminds me of the paintings of Frida Kahlo and Dorothea Tanning – obviously weird but also very ordinary when perceived in a different light/angle. I am not familiar with Latin American landscapes, so reading these stories felt all the more surreal to me. I’d love to read more of Falco’s writing – really quite brilliant. Might post a more thorough review later.

[Cathy]

It seems this may be an unpopular opinion, but I was bothered by the fact that most of the time I didn’t know what the characters were thinking, and as I got into each story, it came abruptly to an end. Not a cliffhanger - I literally turned the page on the last story to find I had already read the entire thing. Every story felt unfinished! Frustrating. The stories were good but it would have been nice for them to reach some sort of conclusion.

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

along with the original bogotá39 list (2007), granta's 2010 best young spanish-language novelists issue (a new collection is forthcoming this year) has proven to be the one of the most impressive resources for english readers looking to immerse themselves in new fiction from latin america and spain.

at long last, argentine author federico falco (included on the granta list) finally has a full-length work in translation. a perfect cemetery (un cementerio perfecto) is a 2016 collection of five stories, several of which are much longer than traditional short stories (thankfully so). with confident prose, storytelling verve, and remarkable consideration for both character and landscape, falco writes impressively well. though plights of fancy embroil each of falco's characters, they are conveyed with a compassion and authenticity that make them seem utterly lifelike.

a perfect cemetery is a solid collection of short fiction and the first three entries, "the hares," "silvi and her dark night" (finalist for the garcía márquez short story prize), and the title story, are the work's strongest. hopefully falco's three other story collections will soon be rendered into english, along with his two novels, one of which, los llanos, was recently a finalist for the prestigious herralde prize (in 2020).

you'll see what i mean down the road, he said. it's all a matter of time. you'll see.

*translated from the spanish (and afterworded) by jennifer croft (tokarczuk, et al.)

[Francisco del Amo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Falco es un cuentista supremo!
(Me enganché alguna vez con el cuento del elefante de circo de pueblo)
Este libro tiene 5 cuentos excelentes, porque se te pegan, pero el mejor es el Cementerio Perfecto del pobre Víctor Bagiardielli (y el viejo sorete inmortal de Giraudo). Todos los cuentos tienen personajes fuertísimos (el rey de las liebres, Silvi y su noche oscura, Víctor y el viejo, Mabel y su padre y la señora Kim) y terminan con finales perfectos.
A pesar de no reconocer ni la mitad de las flores y las plantas que menciona Falco, logra meterte en la geografía de donde transcurre cada cuento y así poder estar más cerca de sus personajes.

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

These five, fairly long short stories are set in the Córdoba mountains of Falco’s native Argentina. They have simple plots but are enlivened by rich and ambitious prose.

One of the best comes first, The Hares, in which a man, known only as ‘the king of the hares’, has abandoned the usual life to live basically in the forest, surviving by hunting and foraging, until the wife he had left, finds him.

The title story is also one of the strongest. A meticulous architect is hired to construct a magnificent cemetery in a small town whose miserly inhabitants are aggressively against the idea.

The other one I’d select is Silvi and Her Dark Night, though there aren’t any weak ones; a young girl rejects Christianity to her devout family and stumbles into an unlikely infatuation with a Mormon missionary who reminds her of a village boy whose slow death she recently witnessed in the local hospital.

[Professor Weasel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! God, Argentinean fiction is such a soothing balm for my brain. I really like the tone of these stories, and how they invited me to participate in what they meant (without being overtly obscure), which is a quality I really like in short fiction.

The three longest stories in the middle are the strongest.

"The Hares" - wow, this was weird. An interesting tale of isolation (a common theme in the book). I liked the king of the hares character, and the point in the story when he stopped being called by that title. Again, this story made me remember my GENIUS idea of writing a PhD about rabbits in South American fiction. This story, along with pieces by Cortázar and Bolaño, would have been a great addition!

"Silvi and Her Dark Night" - arguably the star of the collection. The sordid closing sequence is pretty unforgettable. I don't think English-language writers would be this daring for fear of offending (except for Garth Greenwell, maybe). A really strong tale about a young girl who falls in love with a Mormon missionary.

"A Perfect Cemetery" - I really enjoyed this one! I loved the humorous tone. Any time a chicken appeared was really comical to me. This story is about a man hired to build a perfect cemetery in a small town. It could easily be read as a parable for writing - for seeking perfection. This story made me think of Onetti's novella A Tomb With No Name, which I wrote my undergraduate thesis on. I feel like the cemetery in this story represents similar themes as in Onetti: tradition, community, continuation.

"Forest Life" - Wow, I found this one really sad. It reminded me of the movie Leave No Trace. Strong environmental theme in this one. A girl and her father living in a pine forest that's being deforested come up with a strange way to survive. The presence of Japanese characters in this was interesting.

"The River" - Probably the most minor of the stories. I kind of wish the blurb on the back hadn't spoiled the 'twist' in this. Another character in isolation. I really liked the discussion of the husband's gardening. Again, I read this as a story about continuation, and survival - what we choose to carry forward with us; how we decide to take action.

All in all, a really enjoyable read that left me feeling inspired, refreshed, and rejuvenated, as fiction from this region often does. God. Sometimes I really do wonder why I bother reading anything else...

[Facundo Hisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Un libro sencillamente magnífico! Son cinco cuentos, los cuatro primeros, largos, y el último de unas 15 carillas aproximadamente, y todos logran atraparte sin recursos excepcionales que apunten (especialmente en los cuatro largos) a fijar la atención después de haber leído varias hojas y con varias hojas más por delante hasta el final. Este libro es simplemente perfecto. Sus cuentos son sinónimo de lectura atrapante y placentera, aunque a la vez angustiante o inquietante en determinados momentos, todo esto de principio a fin. Leer a Federico Falco en su formato de cuentista (todavía no he leído sus novelas, que ya tengo preparadas para hacerlo) es uno de esos regalos que algunas lectoras y algunos lectores encontramos —solas/os o por obsequio (recomendación) de alguien más— cada tanto.

[Julio César · Rating 3 out of 5]

No me impactó para nada como La hora de los monos, me pareció una escritura más convencional; profesional, de calidad, pero no disruptiva. "Silvi y la noche oscura" me gustó más en su versión anterior, la de Granta en español, que se llamaba "En Utah también hay montañas."

[Gema Moratalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cinco cuentos que son cinco joyas. Personajes peculiares en espacios sorprendentes, tomando decisiones que ni ellos mismos esperan. Todo ello con un estilo impecable. Habrá reseña en librosenvena.com

[Milena - Bosque Literario · Rating 2 out of 5]

Las liebres: El protagonista pasa los días deambulando por el bosque, todo cambia cuando decide explorar el pueblo. No lo disfruté del todo, tiene un plot twist bastante predecible, lo único que rescato es el tono irónico y absurdo.

"A su alrededor, el sonido del río en las piedras se esparcía entre los arboles y la claridad escasa de las estrellas apenas si le secaba destellos al agua"

Silvi y la noche oscura: Una adolescente de dieciséis años atraviesa conflictos existenciales, para lograr encontrarse transita por varias experiencias. En menos interesante para mi gusto, la trama consiste en la secuencia de los problemas de la joven.

"Después fue parecido a despertarse. Un escalofrió y Silvi volvió en sí como si hubiera pasada muchísimo tiempo

Un Cementerio Perfecto: El intendente de Coronel Isabeta contrata a Víctor para diseñar un cementerio, mientras, el experto se obsesiona por construir su mayor obra, el político lidia con su padre debido a una relación tensa. Me resultó aburrido por tener demasiadas descripciones del paisaje y escenas reflexivas.

"No busco una belleza que cuelgue de las paredes, yo prefiero otro tipo de belleza, esa que conforta, que envuelve, que acompaña y consuela"

La actividad forestal: Mabel y su padre, Luego de vivir en el pinar, deben abandonar el hogar. Ella contrae matrimonio con alguien desconocido para que la ayude a pagar el geriátrico del padre y solucione su vida, por otro lado él desea volver a su amado bosque donde plantó los arboles. Una historia cruda que refleja los sacrificios de alguien para salir adelante Al igual que los demás la descripción trasporta a uno al sitio y acompañan al contexto; sin embargo el cuento carece de algo novedoso.

"El viento jugaba entre las ramas de los pinos, pero arriba, en la parte más alta; debajo de las copas entrelazadas, todo era calma...El borde del pinar dibujaba una línea recta sobre la montaña, una pared verde...Al pie de la pared de pinos el viejo Wutrich alzó la cabeza y miro hacia arriba, para ver cómo se recortaban las ramas contra el cielo sin una nube"

El río: La señora Kim observa en una tarde de invierno a la vecina quien realiza actividades, las acciones de la señora le hacen recordar a su marido fallecido y un sueño extraño con él. A diferencia de los otros me gustó por tener un final abierto de esos que uno no sabe si creer o no lo sucedido.

"Desde el río llegaba un viento helado una delgadísima corriente de aire silbaba en el dormitorio, ...Pensó en todas esas nevadas lejanas, las grandes nevadas de cuando ella era chica y vivía en la casa amarilla, rodeada de pinares, del otro lado del rio"

En resumen fue una desilusión, no logré contactar con ningún personaje (son sufridos, acomplejados o solitarios), el ritmo lo percibí denso, ningún relato tiene algo deslumbrante y las historias de vida de los protagonistas recaen en situaciones simples ya leídas en otros relatos. Destaco la prosa al momento de describir la ambientación de los pueblos.

[Flavio Güell · Rating 5 out of 5]

La prosa de Federico Falco roza la perfección. Su ritmo es acompasado, sereno y contenido. Incluso en los instantes en los que la emoción de la historia desborda, su estilo atenúa el ímpetu del episodio. Una sensación de paz se transmite al lector, no abandona… Hay una sutil tristeza que impregna todos los relatos, mas no atormenta: al contrario, guarda en sí misma el germen de una esperanza latente. “Un cementerio perfecto” es una lectura placentera y colmada de profundidad. Lo coloco junto a “Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego” en el estante de los mejores textos que he leído este año.

[Jesica Taranto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buenos cuentos. Mi preferido es sin dudas "Silvi y la noche oscura". Gran descubrimiento Falco, me dan ganas de leerlo más.

[Miguel Gómez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desde que por recomendación de un compañero de taller conocí la narrativa de Federico Falco, no he perdido ninguna oportunidad de leerlo. Este es el tercero de sus libros de cuentos que acabo y, como siempre, la experiencia es grata, satisfactoria, alucinante. Se dice que la Argentina es la tierra de los cuentistas y, en cierto modo, Falco lo corrobora.

A diferencia de sus dos libros anteriores, 222 patitos y La hora de los monos, este libro cuenta con solo 5 relatos: Las liebres, Silvi y la noche oscura, Un cementerio perfecto, La actividad forestal y El río. Cuentos extensos y cuyas líneas narrativas siempre proponen fugas y fracturas, es indudable las destreza del autor para combinar registros y personajes tan diferentes. Así, nos encontraremos a un personaje tan peculiar como lo es el protagonista de Las liebres, una especie de ermitaño que se ha exiliado voluntariamente de su pueblo para vivir en el bosque y realizar rituales; a Silvi, una adolescente que experimenta su despertar sexual al enamorarse de un joven mormón; a Bagiardelli, un diseñador solitario de cementerios a quien se le encarga el que será posiblemente el trabajo más importante de su vida en un pueblo cerca de la llanura; al viejo Wutrich y su hija Mabel, quienes son expulsados de su vida en los pinares cuando comienzan a talar el bosque donde viven; a la señora Kim, quien durante una tormenta de nieve será testimonio de una revelación que cambiará su vida.

En una entrevista, el autor aseveró que una de los principales objetivos de este libro era aprender a narrar el espacio. Un ejemplo de esto está en el cuento Un Cementerio Perfecto:

"Frente a él, el horizonte era una línea neta que a cada paso se escapaba para adelante, una línea deseada e imposible de alcanzar. Hasta que la noche ganaba la distancia; en el confín, cielo y tierra se disolvían en negro y el horizonte desaparecía en la oscuridad. Entonces, Víctor Bagiardelli volvía al pueblo. Sobre su cabeza brillaban las primeras estrellas; restos de luz diurna fosforecían más allá de las montañas y las recortaban en contraluz. Desde los potreros podía contemplar su majestuosidad. Veía los faldeos suaves, las quebradas, las abras, el filo y las cumbres más altas. Y, al pie de ellas, el cerro del cementerio, telón de fondo del caserío lejano. Victor Bagiardelli se lo imaginaba ya verde, arbolado, calmo y soberbio. Su obra maestra, un cementerio perfecto".

Falco sabe, definitivamente, narrar el espacio y hacer que este no se limite solo a ser un telón de fondo sino que influya en los mismos personajes y lo que experimentan: mundo interior y exterior colindando. Falco sabe, definitivamente, narrar historias de forma majestuosa, manteniéndote siempre al vilo, expectante. Solo queda seguir leyéndolo. Una voz extraordinaria.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is beautiful and the short stories are deep, moving and somewhat sad with bittersweet tones

Well worth the read

[Justine Kaufmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Perfect Cemetery by Federico Falco (tr. Jennifer Croft).

This is a collection of five short stories that aren’t explicitly interconnected but share themes, atmosphere, and rhythm. They follow the lives of characters who are often lost in some way, searching for something, but we, as the readers, are never know quite what they are searching for. Falco sets us up the scenes, pushes the stories along with just enough plot and information, while still leaving a sense of mystery and ambiguity, particularly at the end of a story. All of this leaves a slight melancholy feel without making the atmosphere too gloomy.

For me, the recurring theme of nature took center stage of this collection. Set in Argentina, most of the stories take place in rural settings, up in mountains, amidst the trees. Even in the story least set in nature, there is still an understated pull of nature at certain moments such as in dreams. The prose is full of these beautiful descriptions of nature that make way for introspection and admiration, at times, even reminding us of the landscapes that are disappearing right before our eyes.

In addition to the short stories, there’s also an excellent note/essay by Jennifer Croft on translation and particularly translating conversations definitely worth reading.

Another excellent @charcopress release that I was excited to get for the @asymptotebookclub April pick!

[apropositodicamilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splendida raccolta di racconti, molto particolare. Con uno stile delicato ed evocativo l'autore ci porta alla scoperta di cinque "micro universi" abitati dai protagonisti di questi brevi racconti. Qui trovate la mia recensione completa: https://apropositodicamilla.wordpress...

[Carolina Estrada · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Está es primera lectura de Federico Falco, un libro de 5 cuentos en los que la naturaleza es de alguna forma también antagonista de los personas de la historia.

Mi favorito fue Un cementerio perfecto, fue emotiva la soledad del protagonista, de hecho en muchos de los personajes hay una relación intensa con la soledad, el desarraigo, la nostalgia de tiempos pasados que fueron felices.