I wasn’t that impressed by Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and I’m not sure why. In theory it’s a book that I should enjoy but
there was something about it that just didn’t click for me. So, today’s blog is a laundry list of why I
didn’t enjoy my second foray into the world of Louis de Bernières and a bit
about the one part of the book that I did actually enjoy slightly. Speculation will feature highly. Strap yourselves in, folks, it’s going to be
a mostly negative and theory-laden read. If you’re looking for that standard fodder
with plot summary and so forth, look elsewhere.
Reason the first that I didn’t like Señor Vivo and the
Coca Lord is that it is part two
of a trilogy. I haven’t read novel
number one (The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts) and I don’t think
that I care to. According to what I’ve
read around the subject, all three books are separate and self-contained
stories with only odd characters crossing over.
To be honest, if I hadn’t read around the subject I’d have probably
ended up enjoying it more, because I wouldn’t have known about the first book
and the feeling I was missing the larger picture of a greater universe would
have been circumvented altogether. But
never mind. Hindsight’s always 20/20 and
all that. I think the problem with
knowing you’re only reading part of a trilogy is that, even if you’re not, you
feel like you’re missing something, especially as I wanted to like this
book. It’s easier to say that there were
bits I just didn’t get than to admit they weren’t there.
My wanting to like
the book brings me onto my second theory for my not liking the novel:
expectation. I love Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. It’s harsh and heart breaking and
wonderful. Better than that, Nic Cage is
in the film version. Naturally, I
expected great things from this book because I know that de Bernières can be great. Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord was never
going to be as good as I wanted it to be.
It’s probably not a bad book. I
think I’m just judging it very harshly.
It’s suffering from an unfair comparison. And it’s not just comparison to other de
Bernières books that it suffers
from. Again, in my reading around the
book I found a lot of people comparing the trilogy to Gabriel García Márquez’s
books. Gabriel García Márquez won a
Nobel Prize for the writing thing and Love in the Time of Cholera is
fantastic, despite the septuagenarian sex.
So my expectations were sky high and it’s just not a phenomenal book.
The last reason I
didn’t like the book is that it just seems that de Bernières is trying too hard to be funny. It’s a tale of magical realism with people who
have cats for daughters and angels. A
problem that I find with magical realism is that it’s always at risk of
straying into bullshit and nonsense.
It’s such a fine balance and de Bernières just misses. I found
it a bit awkward to read at times because I could tell the kookiness was meant
to be funny but it was just annoying. Admittedly,
the one part of the story I did like were the numerous assassination
attempts. The anger of drug lord El
Jerarca is actually pretty hilarious and the luck/ ingenuity that Señor Vivo
applies is kind of inspired. But it only
comes in patches before drying up completely towards the end of the novel.
Maybe it’s just
that I read this book at the wrong time, or that it just wasn’t for me- some
books aren’t, but I didn’t get what was so great about it. It’s an earlier novel than Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and it
shows. It’s not written with the same
confidence or style and, as loathe as I am to write de Bernières off as a one trick pony, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord makes
me think he is. On a positive side note,
the book also made me realise how many Spanish swear words I still
remember. It’s been years since I
learned the phrase “chinga tu madre” and reading it again was a quick blast of
nostalgia. So kudos to de Bernières for that.
Next time it’s the
turn of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.
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