Velorio

August 1, 2021

An ACLS Emerging Voices Fellow at Dartmouth College, Puerto Rican-born and -raised Navarro Aquino portrays characters in crisis after Hurricane Maria sweeps the island. The utopian community Memoria springs up to help those in need, including Camila, who remains haunted by sister Marisol, lost in a terrible mudslide; a tough-acting but ultimately gentle woman named Morivivi; and on-the-verge-of-manhood Bayfish. Unfortunately, Memoria leader Urayo�n is becoming increasingly authoritarian. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

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October 25, 2021
Navarro Aquino debuts with an elegiac and fervent ode to Puerto Rico that opens in the wake of 2017’s Hurricane Maria, as people grow increasingly desperate for food, water, and gasoline. In the absence of effective government, a magnetic young man named Urayoán sees an opportunity to take power, and—supported by his red-shirted minions—founds a self-sufficient society called Memoria. Urayoán limits Memoria’s inhabitants to young adults and teens, and the novel follows several of them, first as they follow signs in search of Memoria, rumored to be “the center of all things,” and later as they contend with Memoria’s growing violence and instability. There’s tough, independent Bayfish; his happy-go-lucky friend Banto; and Camila, who wanders the island, trancelike, carrying the corpse of her older sister, who was killed by a mudslide. The ambitious, polyphonic first half takes a little while to build steam, but once the characters gather in Memoria, the narrative takes off as Memoria threatens to collapse. Graphic, unsettling scenes of animalistic violence orchestrated by Urayoán are studded with moments of emotional clarity and grace. Throughout, Aquino’s characters grapple with all they have lost and wrestle with the temptation to feed their nostalgia for a place and a past that never really existed. This lyrical and emotionally raw story will leave readers reflecting on the pain and promise of memory.

January 1, 2022
Set in the aftermath of Hurricane Mar�a, Aquino's debut blends magic with brutal reality. It's 2017, and the hurricane has struck. Throughout Puerto Rico, people are scrambling for food and water and--crucially--gasoline. There's no aid in sight. Deep in the forest, Urayo�n opens a little utopia he calls Memoria, where he offers gas and a place to stay. His henchmen--young boys in tracksuits--enforce loyalty and Urayo�n's arbitrary sense of order. Aquino's novel revolves around Memoria and the desperate characters who gather there. These include Camila, whose sister died in a mudslide and whose body Camila lugs around until Urayo�n interferes. There's also Bayfish and Banto, Cheo and Damaris. These characters narrate the story in alternating chapters. Unfortunately, Aquino has done little to differentiate their voices: They all sound the same, which makes it hard to tell them apart. So much of the novel takes place on a feverish, elevated plane that--in a similar way--it's not always easy to understand what's actually happening. Aquino sacrifices literal meaning to a lyricism that quickly grows dizzying. Sometimes his lines seem to point vaguely toward a meaning that dissipates under closer scrutiny. "There are more lives on this island," he writes, "divided by the millions left stranded overseas, shrieking back home to the sound of static." Just a little more restraint in his prose stylings would have gone a long way. Aquino's subject is rich enough; his prose threatens to overwhelm it. An intriguing debut that flounders under the weight of its own lyricism.

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Starred review from February 1, 2022

DEBUT Twelve-year-old Camila is the first narrator we meet in this searing story, set in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria tore through the island in 2017. Her older sister is killed by a mudslide, and for some time Camila carries the corpse of her sister with her, unable to process what has happened. Eventually, she arrives at Memoria, a dystopian community that a local youth named Urayo�n sets up by his own design; his followers are called Reds, and their leader's ability to commit violent acts has no limits. (The hurricane is called monstrua, a term suitable for Urayo�n as well.) The story of Memoria dominates the narrative, and it will remind readers of William Golding's classic Lord of the Flies. Other narrators appear throughout, particularly Cheo, a poet whose exquisitely beautiful verses go to the soul of one struggling to survive and longing for what has been lost. Meanwhile, Aquino offers an unforgettable description of Maria's wake ("velorio"). VERDICT A harrowing debut novel by a very talented natural storyteller, suitable for YA as well as for adult readers.--Lisa Rohrbaugh

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Starred review from November 1, 2021
Pulling readers into the story with an impending hurricane and a mother and her two daughters waiting in fear, first-time novelist Aquino sets a mood of charged and desperate hope. Inspired by Hurricane Maria's assault on Puerto Rico in 2017, Aquino presents a broader examination of loss, trauma, rebuilding, and even the notion of utopia. He constructs a tale on the edge of loss and trauma with a multiplicity of narrators: Cami, Moriviv�, Damaris, Bayfish, Banto, Cheo, and, at the center of it all, the complicated visionary Urayo�n. Ura's plan to restore the destroyed island results in his establishing Memoria, a place, tragically, of danger to those who make their way there. The rituals that Ura and his followers start in Memoria recall the ostracizing instinct of the stranded boys in Lord of the Flies, and raise questions about the warring instincts of humans in the face of disaster and societal breakdown. Aquino mixes Spanish into the English text and stacks up details and characters, trusting the readers to engage with the world he creates, which is richer for all that is implied and unexplained. This is a demanding read that rouses high emotions and offers no simplistic resolutions.

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