They say the heat’s driven the locals crazy, that it’s not normal – May and not a single drop of rain – and that the hurricane season’s coming hard, that it must be bad vibes, jinxes, causing all that bleakness: decapitated bodies, maimed bodies, rolled-up, bagged-up bodies dumped on the roadside or in hastily dug graves on the outskirts of town.
Hurricane Season is a cultural horror novel depicting the grim realities of poverty in Mexico, and the attitudes of the inhabitants of the slums. At the centre of the community is the Witch whose decomposing body turns up in the irrigation canal. But nothing is as it seems and Melchor takes us on a literary journey that will shock, disgust, and challenge us as a reader.
She would just lock herself in her room and chant her litanies, almost shouting them to block out Brando’s raging and bashing against her door, the kicking and thumping that he would have happily aimed at her rotten mug, to see if that way she’d get it through her thick skull, to see if she’d just die and f**k off once and for all to her motherf**king promised land and stop banging on at him with her prayers and her sermons, her moaning and snivelling, all that: Lord, what have I done to deserve this child?
The narrative follows a group of friends from a small community, with each chapter focusing in on one person, their family, and their perception of events. As the book advances so does the lore around the community, and with that the truth is slowly exposed. The characters are all written with stark, raw intentions. There is no sugar-coating. The dilapidated landscape, the vulgarity of its residents, are presented in extended paragraphs comprised of long running sentences. Paragraphs that run the length of multiple pages. The written-style is certainly not conventional in modern literature, but absolutely engaging. It is refreshing to be more challenged as a reader.
Hurricane Season is a phenomenal book, but certainly only for the open-minded reader. There is nothing celebratory or positive. The group of friends are caught up in drugs, theft, violence, underage activities, exposed through the disconnect and dysfunction of the different families in the village. This is a clever but stark reality of poverty. At the time of writing this is competing to be my book of the year. It was disturbing and sad but I couldn’t put it down and in turn have put Melchor’s Paradais on my to read list. I have purposely written a vague review because I didn’t want to give anything away as the unveiling is equally as important as the climax, but do read with caution.
TRIGGER WARNINGS
- Physical Violence
- Sexual Violence
- Drugs
- Beastiality
- Very strong language
