AUTHOR: Xesús Fraga
PUBLISHER: : Editorial Galaxia
GENRE: : Fiction / Memoir
READER’S NAME: Isabel Domínguez Seoane
DATE: May 22,2022
I would like to recommend Virtudes e Misterios for its translation and publication in the United States.
First of all, it is a work of great literary quality in which the narrative style is fluid, the story is well constructed and structured, the pace is agile while taking its time to build the characters, and the events are well connected (despite the chronological and geographical complexity of the story). Also, the dialogues are realistic and contain certain humanity that any reader could empathize with. For example, the interventions of Virtudes in the first part of the book or those of the narrator's mother, Isabel, in the second part of the book: both characters have a subtle sense of humor that makes them real people and helps connect in a deeper way with them.
In addition, the text is well placed geographically, the number of toponyms is sufficient to locate the protagonists and contextualize the reader without overwhelming the reader unfamiliar with Galicia.
The themes addressed by the book present a perfect balance between the global (immigration, family relationships, the role of women in family structures) and the local, as the text is full of details that make it unique and transform a common experience shared by many potential U.S. readers into the specific story of a Galician family, justifying its translation and publication in the United States.
In this same sense, the American public seems to be interested in family stories, maternal-filial relationships and niche experiences or stories (or what would be niche to a U.S. reader). Think of the successes of Ocean Vuong's On Earth We Were Briefly Gorgeous or Michelle Zauner's Crying in H-Mart (both texts share the memoir genre with Virtudes e Misterios). The memoir genre is on the rise right now in the United States literary market (this may appeal to the Critic). For example: author Melissa Febos has just published a book of essays, Body Work, in which she vindicates memoir writing as a political act (and does so in The New York Times often).
Another element that may be interesting and recognizable to the American reader is the representation of related communities in the diaspora that in the United States shapes even the structure of cities (Chinatown, Little Italy...). The author describes how Galicians in London form a sort of family in which they help each other.
Finally, the presence of photographs is another plus for this novel that grounds the story and brings it closer to readers in a personal way. Even if a reader is browsing in a bookstore and skimming the book, watching the pictures might call their attention to buy the book.
Overall, I want to recommend the translation of Virtudes e Misterios as it continues with a genre and topics that are now mainstream in the United States but tells a story and speaks of spaces that are not very present in literature in translation in the United States.
