How a Mexican-Born Novel Writer Made a Beautiful Monster

“Monstrilio,” Gerardo Zamano Cordova’s debut novel, has an apt title — an extraterrestrial hybrid story with some horror. Part of it is literature about sadness. It’s partly a very entertaining story about being forced into the shadows of the deceased boy he replaces. This is a cross-cultural storytelling. Connecting villagers, sharp on the horrors of grief and the eternal debate about nature versus nurture.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Santiago was born in New York City with only one small lung deformed. It was not expected to survive the night. He lived miraculously for 11 years. When death finally arrived in Santiago, his mother Marcos used a kitchen knife to slash her son and slash his malformed lungs before moving back to Mexico. with her mother and leaving her husband Joseph behind.

Magos heard a folktale about a boy who grew up from the heart. and acted on intuition and despair Store the organs in a jar and feed them drop by drop of chicken broth until it wakes up. It grew eyes, feathers, and a tail-like appendage used to move around. Soon Monstrilio appeared, not Santiago, but a lump of fur that filled the area Santiago had left behind. Eventually, Monstrilio became M., similar to Santiago, but with patches of hair on the forehead and sharp teeth have a cruel instinct He had to fight for control if he could.

Most of the content of this development is covered in the first part. The four parts of “Monstrilio’s”, each with a different narrator. The second is told by Lena, a young surgeon and good friend of Magos, who falls in love with her for a time. She had trouble sleeping and had to rely on showers arranged by a sex worker. Her life ended when Magos came to live with her after Monstrilio attacked her mother. Meanwhile, Joseph quickly returned to Mexico and adopted Monstrilio. He tells the third part of the book. It started with a relationship with a man in New York. by describing the secret new love and the impossibility of changing

The first part is a great introduction. The second part explores love and loneliness. The third part is a slightly devious look at how we rebuild after a big loss. But the last part is the crown jewel of this unique novel, narrated by M. in impeccable language. closing part of “Monstrilio’s” takes readers deeper into the minds of creatures battling inhuman hunger—and all human beings too. It records M.’s first work and his first sexual experience with a young man who became his girlfriend. he also smokes

“Monstrilio” has a lot of content. And the author pulls it off brilliantly. It’s both dark and gentle. Sometimes it’s cool. But it’s balanced with a hilarious sense of humor (when Monstrilio attacks his grandmother Bleeding but also chaotic and unexpected hilarity) and a narrative that weaves through New York City. Mexico City, Berlin, and beyond, spawned a myriad of concepts in this mix of bloody horror and family drama. The prose is often beautiful despite its intense content. The sadness and constant threat of assault and murder.

Sámano Córdova’s work has the DNA of classic horror films, including Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, and the humor of films like Little Shop of Horrors, but his unique perspective and diverse cast of characters make him more involved with A growing movement of writers such as Carmen Maria Machado, Stephen Graham Jones, V. Castro, Maríana Enriquez, Eric LaRocca, and Erika T. Wurth — writers reinterpreted it from Horror movie insights into otherness Expanding the genre to include BIPOC and LGBTQ+ characters and their cultures and backgrounds.

“Monstrilio” In the interstitial space of a horror movie folktale literary fiction and strange stories Many cultures are often called magical realism for lack of a better word. New York City is in the heart. But at the core, it’s still Mexican. Full of magic, mezcal taquitos Alebries and tlacaches (opossum). The elements that make up a story are easily identifiable. but the sum of the parts It will become a floating symbol. refuse to freeze

Sámano Córdova made an outstanding debut. For all the twisted horror stories He is the most distinctive and exciting new voice in the novel. just like his character he knows things should be But he dared without compromise to explore these things as they really were.

Iglesias is a book reviewer, professor and author of “The Devil Takes You Home.”