Book Review: Good Offices by Evelio Rosero, tranls by Anna Maclean and Anna Milsom
on Sheila Ash (India), Unknown, 34 days ago
Good OfficesbyEvelio RoseroMy rating:3 of 5 starsA marvelous novella for reading around Halloween. Billed as a
satire on the Catholic Church I was a little concerned before picking
it up as I am not a great reader of the comical, quite often don't get
written humour of any form, but this is one that left me desperately
wanting #Guillermo del Toro to get hold of the movie rights. . Its
gothic, its surreal, its horror, its Bacchanalian, it reminded me of
Victor Hugo, of Robert Burns.It simmers towards its climax on
the night Father Almida and his right hand man the sacristan are off
visiting his church's benefactor vainly trying to keep their income
flowing, leaving the acolyte Tancredo (the Hunchback), Sabrina the
sacristan's niece (Esmerelda) and the church's cooks, the three Lilias
(the Three Witches) to host the last minute, last option locum priest
Father Matamoros (Auld Nick) who has come to stand in for Father Almida
at Mass. To their amazement this disheveled, drunken substitute sings
the mass with the voice of an angel and transforms the parishioners. Who
can blame them for not wanting Almida to return!Beautifully translated byAnne Maclean(in this case along withAnna Milsom- the two of them have also translated hisFeast of the Innocents) Maclean has also translated the other works by him (The ArmiesandStranger to the Moonand most recentlyTono the Infallible) which have so far appeared in English. It would be great to get this translated work available as audio recording.View all my reviewsashramblings