The Jaguar's Children

Vaillant is best known for his non-fiction work and both The Golden Spruce and The Tiger have entered my TBR orbit. But my introduction is his first work of fiction. I felt unclear as to why Vaillant chose this route given that there would have been no shortage of experiences to fashion a compelling non-fiction narrative.

Instead we get a story that is unrelentingly grim and horrible. Trying to escape into America, Hector and Cesar climb into an empty water tank truck along with 13 other migrants. The occupants have been sealed inside, the doors welded shut. Things go south and it's as appalling as you might imagine. The writing is evocative and there's so much potential to be explored.

Instead we get Hector telling us the story of his family and his introduction to the United States through an improbable conceit of recording sound-files into his friends dying cell phone over the course of several days. There's also political thriller storyline surrounding Hector and genetically modified corn which felt misplaced here. Thrown together the elements didn't quite gel for me and I found myself wishing Vaillant was instead constrained to the truth, to tell a non-fiction story of migrants trying to escape into the US.

Great writing, but for whatever reason this book didn't do a whole lot for me.