Episode 41: Argentina
Summary: Bienvenido a Argentina! In our fifth and final stop of the Summer Jetset Series, Holly and Devin spend some time in South America enjoying books set in Argentina. They both agree that South America is underrepresented in books for both their wheelhouses and advocate for readers to seek out books from the continent purposefully, especially in translation. The use of magical elements across genres and the horrors of Argentine history are key for novels from the country and they both agree if available, Holly and Devin would literally and metaphorically travel to Argentina again.
Topics Discussed:
The Dagger (3:34): Holly discussed Death Going Down by María Angélica Bosco, a 1950s whodunnit that begins with a young man stumbling home drunkenly in the wee hours of the morning to find a beautiful young woman in the elevator up to his apartment - dead. From there, detectives delve into the mystery of the victim and her death as well as the colorful lives of the building residents. Holly’s key takeaways were:
Bosco’s style is reminiscent of Agatha Christie or the Nancy Drew series; there’s a large cast of characters in the building that act as suspects and each has their own secrets and motives. Unlike Louise Penny, the novel focuses less on the detectives and much more on the residents of the building - all of whom Holly enjoyed greatly.
This book brought a strong sense of history and its place in time. Written in 1954, “Death Going Down” includes the fallout from WWII and the European (and nazi) escaping to Argentina and other South American countries. There’s a sense of suspicion around certain characters depending on where they’re from originally.
The novel lacks a strong sense of place and the reader shouldn’t expect to get a very good feel of Argentina as a whole. The focus remains on the apartment building and its residents, similar to the TV show “Only Murders in the Building.”
The Heart (16:34): Devin discussed Hades, Argentina by Daniel Loedel, an Orpheus retelling set during the Dirty War of Argentina, specifically 1976. Tomás Orilla is a young medical student in Buenos Aires who has been in love with his childhood friend Isabella for years. As tensions increase between the Argentinian government and young insurgents fighting the oppressive regime, Tomás does all he can to prove his love to Isabella until he’s forced to flee the country for New York City, living as Thomas Shore for a decade. But can he ever truly leave behind Isabelle and what he did in ‘76?
As Orpheus descended into hell to retrieve Eurydice, so too Tomás entered the underworld to save Isabelle and make peace with his choices. A magical realism ghost story, Loedel blurs the lines between modern reality and ghosts interacting with our protagonist. Usually this is to good effect, but occasionally leaves the reader confused about which world we’re in.
Tomas and almost every character in the book are plagued by guilt and shame over what they did to survive during the Dirty War. There are also descriptions of what many of those acts were, including torture and sexual violence. Please use caution as there are *trigger warnings* for the novel.
Loedel treats young love as simultaneously foolish and a force so powerful it brings back the dead. “Hades, Argentina” explores the extent to which someone will sacrifice their self-hood for love and how unrequited love can impact the trajectory of a person.
Hot On the Shelf (37:52):
What’s Making Our Hearts Race (42:31):
Devin: FIFA Women’s World Cup
Holly: The Bear Season 2 on Hulu
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