Customer Reviews

Delirium: A Novel

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A great piece of literature. A master at her best. A female writer who understands not only human behavior but the effects of society on people and the power of memory. A great read for anyone looking for something different. This book is not only a representation of Colombia but a representation of Latin America.

From the opening quote by Gore Vidal, attributed to the great Henry James, to the end of Delirium, we are forced to piece together a life that Aguilar-who is an unemployed literature professor that now sells dog food for a living-is immersed in by being married to Agustina, who is, quite literally, mad. While the narrative is initially spotty with the point of view moving between each of the married unit, you can follow with great ease since they have completely different inner and outer monologues.

The action takes place in Bogóta, Columbia, where there is an immediate disdain for Americans as Aguilar fills in town and family history. Anyone with a physical ailment-and money-can go to Houston to be cured, however may come back to Columbia more messed up than they left (a minor commentary on the States' health care conundrum). Out of the blue, Aunt Sofi shows up at Aguilar's flat to take care of Agustina, although he isn't sure who this aunt really is and why she is at his apartment. Sofi seems to be able to calm Agustina's obsessive-compulsive side, but also works with her in persistently cleaning and lining water buckets all over the flat. This is an interesting portrayal of a woman's madness as well as the heated political environment in Columbia, which is why Aguilar is no longer teaching, as the university shut down because of the political unrest.

Author Restrepo explores the reality of madness and how it affects every societal caste system, government and family. While some things are ambiguous, such as the reason for Agustina's breakdown, the novel is an interesting look at insanity.

This is translated eloquently and is an exceptionally written book that looks at the demons we all have to face, in one way or another, it just depends on whether we can survive them.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Delirium drops us into the high-end world of modern Bogota, Columbia. These particular folks are families who hang out in fitness centers and travel to the United States. One main character is an unemployed professor who has hooked up with the daughter of a prominent drug family. She is more than he can handle and even if she weren't crazy, he'd be out of his league. (I'm reminded of the modern Italian novel The Natural Disorder of Things: A Novel which has a similar set-up.)

One day she disappears for a week and then suddenly reappears in a hotel deranged and distraught. A good part of the tension in the story is what happened to her? Thus, the title, Delirium. But the title could equally apply to just about every other main character in the book: the woman's mother who ignores all the infidelities around her and refuses to acknowledge that her son is gay; the professor who thinks this relationship is going anywhere, and the various drug-dealer characters. There is lots of local color of modern urban Columbia but also reminisces and flashbacks of the family's rural origin in German immigrants. Restepo also wrote The Angel of Galilea a story of a saint-like character in a modern drug-ridden Columbia slum.

I have been travelling through Colombia for the last few weeks and deliberately went about reading as many Colombian writers as possible (without the appellido "Garcia Marquez") before I left. Restrepo was a real revelation and I was very impressed by this novel. It deals quite movingly with a husband's attempt to keep on top of the "madness" consuming his wife --- in fact, a severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. (I haven't come across anyone in contemporary literature writing about the subject of OCD which blights the lives of millions of people -- a brave and valuable insight in itself. Restrepo describes it as the "fear that won't stay still ... a growing beast that must be fed and that swallows everything up."

Aguilar's great labour of love is set against a number of related dysfunctional family histories which provide context for understanding Augustina (and Aguilar's) condition and conundrum. There is also the backdrop of Colombia sliding into social and political chaos -- the madness of its politics in the 80s and 90s -- which provides another fascinating dimension, especially for a reader fortunate enough not to have had to live through such traumatic times and social circumstances.

This is a really brilliant book. I look forward to reading more of Restrepo's work. A great, sadly unheralded, voice of Latin American literature (in English at least).

I read this novel in Spanish and it was one of the best I have read in years. Restrepo is an amazing novelist and journalist, and her understanding of Columbian contemporary history shows through in all of her novels, but especially in this one. Delirium should be read for it's literary value, but also as a tool to better understand Latin America.

I cannot agree with the "Bookmarks" reviewer who called the book "superbly written." I don't care for writing that consists mostly of run-on sentences and uses no quotation marks for dialogue. Such writing loses my interest faster than a speeding bullet. However, if the story had been fascinatingly spell-binding, I could probably have tolerated the hideous style, but it wasn't even interesting.