The Sky Over Lima by Juan Gomez Barcena : Book Review

The Sky Over Lima
by Juan Gomez Barcena
Translated by Andrea Rosenberg
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016
Print Price: $25
Ebook: $11.99

Carlos Rodriguez and Jose Galvez are aristocrats playing at being poor, young Romantic poets in 1904 Lima, Peru. Jose's family is part of the centuries old nobility living on its past glories while still retaining enough money to be a dim shadow of its former greatness. Carlos comes from newer money, being the son of a wealthy father who runs a prosperous rubber company. Both of the young men are studying law at university but neither has any particular interest in it. They're going because that's what expected of someone of their stature and wealth. Carlos and Jose are much more interested in writing and reading poetry. They even have a garret right out of 19th century biographies of poor unappreciated poets where they play at being poverty stricken.

They are having trouble finding the latest book by famous Spanish poet Juan Ramon Jimenez in the bookstores of Lima. They think about writing a letter to the poet himself and asking him to send them a copy of his book. But who are they? Why would such a revered poet give a crap about two spoiled rich kids an ocean away in the new world? Believing that Jimeniz might be more inclined to send his book to a female fan, the two friends then hatch a plot to deceive the poet by inventing an imaginary woman, Georgina Hubner, who will play upon his romantic nature.

The plan succeeds beyond their wildest dreams. What starts out as a means to get a book of poems develops into a weird friendship and love affair conducted through letters between one of Spain's most important poets and a fictionalized woman who only truly existed in the minds of two young men in Lima.

The thing that really strikes you as you read this book is that even though it's set in early 1900s Peru, the plot would basically make a good episode of the tv series Catfish. I was amazed at how many echoes of our current world were in the book. With the internet, anyone can essentially be anyone they want to be. Any age, any sex, any personality. You can invent any persona you want and nobody will ever be the wiser. In some ways, back in the time of the book's setting, it would have been even HARDER for a person to verify info about someone you didn't know. No Google searches or online databases.

Of course, if the novel played out like an episode of a reality show, it would never have been worth reading. The motivation of the two lead characters was totally fascinating. I think both Carlos and Jose realized very early on that both of them were hacks and were going to have to live the lives dictated by their social class and have very little spiritual or creative fulfillment. To them, poetry is something NOT imposed by their parents. It's something that they get enjoyment from just for the sake of enjoyment. While Jose is a main character, as the book progresses, it really becomes more and more Carlos's story. He's so much more invested in fleshing out and making Georgina more and more real due to some events in his past that are revealed later in the text.

One of the important recurring ideas in the book is that Jose and Carlos believe that all people in this world are divided into two classes: protagonists and secondary characters. Protagonists are people whose lives are important, who stand out, who have interesting stories. Secondary characters are the run of the mill. The people who live average lives never realizing anything deeper than eating, fucking and dying. They are just the window dressing of the protagonists. It's really important to Jose and Carlos that they are protagonists. Realizing that they have no talent to become great poets, they set as their goal to INSPIRE a great poem to prove that they matter, that they helped create something in this world. Their plan is for Georgina, the made up character, to bring about the creation of a new Jimenez poem.

This book was beautiful in so many ways. I would say it was one of the best books I've read this year. Even though there were occasional omniscient narrator metafictional asides, this novel FELT like a w work of late 19th century literature. I highly recommend it.

My Grade: A