Errata Naturae inaugurates the literary season with an original gamble on the narrative from American writer Carol Anshaw. Aquamarine, a novel that has just been published, opens at a decisive moment in the life of its protagonist Jesse: the final of the 100-meter freestyle at the 1968 Olympic Games.
After this opening unfolds the bewilderment that the author stirs in the reader, for through three extended stories she fashions a triad of what Jesse’s life could have been twenty years after the novel’s beginning: depending on how the protagonist interprets those thousandths of a second by which she was deprived of the gold.
Of course, this title delves into the psychology of a teenage girl, whose emotional burden from an international sports competition conditions her life and the lives of her family.
The novel escapes the linearity of other titles that trace the lives of their protagonists, and it also refuses to present these three realities as mere possibilities. In each of the three fictions the life of Jesse develops in a normal rhythm, embracing the imperfections of those around her (and, perhaps, even more than her own).
In the first of the tales, Jesse has continued with her life in her hometown. She is married, works in the family business of guiding cave tours, and is about to give birth. In the second narrative she is a teacher in New York and introduces her partner at a family event (her mother’s retirement party). In the third life of Jesse, she has divorced, and her present remains tied to the world of swimming.
The three lives of Jesse Austin, despite their evident differences, are tightly interwoven by strong, eccentric characters (such as her mother), plot twists, but also by a simple language that, on the one hand, equalizes the intensity of all these lives, smoothing the hardships, a language that makes visible the everyday life of the average American; and, on the other hand, plunges the reader into a deeper second reading of the novel, allowing a deeper exploration of the paths that have been worn by desire.
—————————————
Author: Carol Anshaw. Title: Aquamarine. Translation: Regina López Muñoz. Publisher: Errata Naturae. Sold by: Todos tus libros.