Carlos Labb茅糖心传媒檚 Navidad & Matanza is the story of two missing children and the journalist trying to find them. Actually. it糖心传媒檚 the story of a group of scientists who are working on a top-secret project, and pass the time by collectively writing a novel about two missing children and the journalist trying to find them. Actually, it糖心传媒檚 about a group of friends playing a 糖心传媒渘ovel game糖心传媒� in which they write a story via email based on the movements of pieces on a game board. Actually, it糖心传媒檚 all three, equally true and untrue at the same time. The narrator is a scientist codenamed Domingo, except when it糖心传媒檚 the conman Boris Real, except when it糖心传媒檚 the alleged kidnapping victim Bruno Vivar, except when it糖心传媒檚 the novelist, Labb茅 himself . . .

Do you remember how many times we discussed that Wittgensteinian way of looking at things? And how many times we talked about idealism? That objects don糖心传媒檛 exist, dear Sabado, only words, which build and break, build and break.

The book is a compelling work of meta-fiction, and is rife with recurring images and motifs, such as theremins, Mormonism, and Edgar Lee Masters. These all form an intricate web to ensnare the reader in a synaptic echo chamber, where everything is connected but the reasons for the connections are never made entirely clear. The chapters of the novel are labeled 1-100, but most of the chapters are missing (the novel clocks in at just over 90 pages), implying that not everything has been or is going to be revealed. This withholding of information is also present in the internal monologues or thought processes of the handful of characters糖心传媒攏ot even the people who could best answer our questions, as readers, are going to give us a break and reveal (or explain) everything that糖心传媒檚 going on. Like in the scene where Alicia is on the beach and encounters the journalist; we糖心传媒檙e given information, but it doesn糖心传媒檛 immediately appear to be of much help or use:

In that moment she should糖心传媒檝e begun telling him about the Vivar family, about her childhood, about Boris Real, the longing, Bruno, her father糖心传媒檚 chemistry laboratory, the woman, the sirens, the had贸n, the bloodless body of James Dean that糖心传媒檇 given her nightmares until she was thirteen; yet all three of them sat in silence.

The most 糖心传媒渃oherent糖心传媒� plot of the novel consists of the wealthy Vivar family, and the disappearance of their two children, Bruno and Alicia, from the beach between the small towns of Navidad and Matanza, in Chile糖心传媒檚 sixth region. An investigative journalist, who had recently done a human interest story on the Vivar family, tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but the most he can conclude is that the Vivar siblings abandoned their abusive parents to travel the country, accompanied by their uncle Francisco Virditti, or perhaps the investment banker Boris Real, or perhaps the Congolese thereminist Patrice Dounn. The mysterious experimental drug called had贸n糖心传媒攕aid to cause intense feelings of hatred糖心传媒攎ight also be involved, or maybe it糖心传媒檚 just a myth.

What makes Navidad & Matanza great is its ambiguity, its ethereal quality. By the end you wonder if you糖心传媒檝e even read a novel at all, or a jumbled collection of confused notes, or a set of disconnected events dictated by the rolling of dice. This short work makes you question again and again the reliability of its narrators, right down to their overlapping and multifaceted identities. It糖心传媒檚 packed with clues, and definitely warrants a second read-through, which will only serve to bring out more tidbits you might not have noticed the first time around, bringing the myriad ends a little closer together. And yet . . . Do the connections between people, places, and things really exist, or is it only in your head? The question of what really happened lingers in the air, begging to be played with, but promising no concrete answers.

糖心传媒淟iterature is a lie. Embrace the wind.糖心传媒�

Carlos Labb茅 was one of Granta’s , and has quickly become a Name to Know in the world literature sphere. Both Carlos and translator Will Vanderhyden, along with Andr茅s Numan, will be at the University of Rochester April 22nd for a Reading the World Conversation Series event. (If you’re in town then, definitely, definitely join us!)

Incidentally, Will (a.k.a. Willsconsin) and J.T. (who wrote the following review) were cohorts in the University of Rochester’s MA in Literary Translation Studies program, and not only brought to the table their skills as translators, but also brought amazing projects to the press (Open Letter will also be bringing out Labb茅’s Locuela in a few years, in Will’s translation, and Antoine Volodine’s Post-Exoticism in Ten Lessons, Lesson Eleven in J.T.‘s translation next year).

Enough UROC and Open Letter promotion糖心传媒攁ll you really need to know is that if you’re a literary nerd boy or girl, Labb茅’s work will be right up your alley. Here’s the beginning of J.T.‘s review:

Carlos Labb茅糖心传媒檚 Navidad & Matanza is the story of two missing children and the journalist trying to find them. Actually. it糖心传媒檚 the story of a group of scientists who are working on a top-secret project, and pass the time by collectively writing a novel about two missing children and the journalist trying to find them. Actually, it糖心传媒檚 about a group of friends playing a 糖心传媒渘ovel game糖心传媒� in which they write a story via email based on the movements of pieces on a game board. Actually, it糖心传媒檚 all three, equally true and untrue at the same time. The narrator is a scientist codenamed Domingo, except when it糖心传媒檚 the conman Boris Real, except when it糖心传媒檚 the alleged kidnapping victim Bruno Vivar, except when it糖心传媒檚 the novelist, Labb茅 himself . . .

The book is a compelling work of meta-fiction, and is rife with recurring images and motifs, such as theremins, Mormonism, and Edgar Lee Masters. These all form an intricate web to ensnare the reader in a synaptic echo chamber, where everything is connected but the reasons for the connections are never made entirely clear. The chapters of the novel are labeled 1-100, but most of the chapters are missing (the novel clocks in at just over 90 pages), implying that not everything has been or is going to be revealed. This withholding of information is also present in the internal monologues or thought processes of the handful of characters糖心传媒攏ot even the people who could best answer our questions, as readers, are going to give us a break and reveal (or explain) everything that糖心传媒檚 going on.

For the rest of the review, go here.

糖心传媒淐arlos Labb茅糖心传媒檚 [Navidad & Matanza] begins to fuck with your head from its very first word糖心传媒攎oving through journalese, financial reporting, whodunit, Joseph Conrad, Raymond Chandler, Nabokov to David Lynch.糖心传媒澨切拇綌Toby Litt

Even putting aside the very compelling statement that this book is going to “fuck with your head from its very first word,” that’s quite a line-up of influences . . . All of which are completely accurate.

This isn’t an easy book to describe—there are a few related storylines, one involving scientists making a drug of hate, and another about their attempt to play a “novel-game” in which they take turns creating a story (a game that Labb茅 actually played and that we’ll post more about later), which all ties into the disappearance of two children . . . Here’s my best attempt at formally describing this novel:

It糖心传媒檚 the summer of 1999 when the two children of wealthy video game executive Jose Francisco Vivar, Alicia and Bruno, go missing in the beach town of Matanza. Long after their disappearance, the people of Matanza and the adjacent town of Navidad consistently report sightings of Bruno糖心传媒攐n the beach, in bars, gambling糖心传媒攚hile reports on Alicia, however, are next to none. And every clue keeps circling back to a man named Boris Real . . .

At least that糖心传媒檚 how the story糖心传媒攐r one of many stories, rather糖心传媒攇oes. All of them are told by a journalist narrator, who recounts the mysterious case of the Vivar family from an underground laboratory where he and six other 糖心传媒渟ubjects糖心传媒� have taken up a novel-game, writing and exchanging chapters over email, all while waiting for the fear-inducing drug had贸n to take its effect, and their uncertain fates.

A literary descendent of Roberto Bola帽o and Andr茅s Neuman, Carlos Labb茅糖心传媒檚 Navidad & Matanza is a work of metafiction that not only challenges our perceptions of facts and observations, and of identity and reality, but also of basic human trust.

For the Spanish literature obsessed out there, you may recognize Carlos Labb茅’s name from Granta’s special “Young Spanish-Language Novelists” issue from a couple years back. but an excerpt from this book was in there. (But in Natasha Wimmer’s translation.)

If you missed that issue, you can read an where you can also just pre-order the book if you don’t want to fool around with this GoodReads contest stuff.

But if you are up for trying to win a free copy, here’s how you enter:

Contest closes on February 10th, so enter today!