Temporada de huracanes

Fernanda Melchor

4 ideas

1. The Murder of La Matosa's Witch

   Children in La Matosa, Veracruz, find the rotting corpse of the Witch, a reclusive healer who took over her mother's trade, in an irrigation canal. The villagers' accounts show how she died. Norma, a 13-year-old pregnant after abuse by her stepfather, nearly dies after taking an abortion remedy from the Witch, and her partner Luismi, his friend Brando and the driver Munra then go to the Witch's house, lured partly by a rumored hidden treasure, where Brando kills her.

2. Gossip as the Community's Collective Narrator

   The novel tells its story through the voices of rumor, hearsay and the private thoughts of implicated villagers, with no neutral authority. Truth dissolves into what everyone 'says' happened. When talk is the only record, a community can share knowledge of violence while no one holds responsibility for it.

3. Repressed Desire Converts Into Lethal Violence

   Brando is humiliated by his sexual longing for Luismi and by the rumor that Luismi slept with the Witch. His rage builds from that shame and turns against whoever embodies it, in this case the Witch. Machismo forbids men certain desires and then makes violence the only acceptable way to discharge them, so the most marginal body pays for the repression.

4. The Needed and Despised Village Outsider

   The Witch is useful to the village: women come to her for abortions and cures, and men come to her parties. Because of that use, the village treats her as disposable.

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