NOT A RIVER by Selva Almada

Translated by Annie McDermott

The heavy stench of death and impending violence hangs between each tightly-honed sentence in this slim book about two friends who take their dead buddy’s son on a fishing trip. The outing is supposed to be a bonding experience; Enero and El Negro feel they owe it to the boy, given they might have played a part in his father’s tragic demise. It probably wasn’t wise to bring young Tilo to the very spot his old man drowned, even if they seem intent on reclaiming it as a place of joy and adventure. Whether they like it or not, it’s hostile territory. The locals don’t want their type around.

Not a River is the third in a loose trilogy of books about masculinity gone awry. Almada’s sharp prose pares down each phrase to its bare minimum, exposing the misogyny, distemper and desperation that lies just below the surface of these seemingly regular guys. Scenes land like fists to the teeth, jarring the reader as they flit around in time and place. At times, it’s disorienting. Mostly, it’s terrifying. Think The Old Man and the Sea meets Deliverance. That nobody had to squeal like a pig was but a small mercy.

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Not a River by Selva Almada (Tr. Annie McDermott)
Charco Press, 2024
93 pages