(Image courtesy of Goodreads. “‘Hurricane Season’ speaks about some of the worst humanity has to offer.”)
Rick Dalton
Connector Staff
“Hurricane Season” is a novel by Fernanda Melchor, with elements of crime, mystery and horror. It was first published in Spanish in 2017 before being translated into English by Sophie Hughes in 2020. The story follows the murder of a local legend known as the Witch in the fictionalMexican town of La Matosa. Melchor composes a wall of unrelenting, nonlinear prose to comment on the issues of machismo and misogyny in society.
The tale begins when a group of boys discover the body of the Witch in a canal. Her body is badly decomposing, and her throat has been viciously cut open. The Witch is famous in the rural, poverty-stricken town of La Matosa. Local women flock to her for medicine and local men flock to her for sex. The town is completely fascinated by her brutal murder. Details of the Witch’spersonal history are shared before the story’s perspective bounces between several characters that have a connection to her death.
Following the story of the Witch, focus shifts to Yesenia, a young woman that was raised by her strict grandmother. Yesenia is constantly at odds with her deadbeat cousin Luismi, the favorite grandchild despite his history of drug and alcohol abuse. Then there is Munra, Luismi’s stepfather. He was left disabled after a car crash several years earlier but still works as a driver. He is constantly worrying about the whereabouts of Luismi’s mother Chabela, who is a sex worker that disappears for days at a time. Next is Norma, a young teen that runs away from her negligent mother and abusive stepfather. She quickly moves in with Luismi, a stranger, because it feels safer than continuing to be abused at home. Finally, there is Brando, a friend of Luismi. He struggles with his sexual identity as he tries to fit in with a wild crew of delinquents. This is a complex web of characters, and each person’s mind is explored in depth. Some of these characters are tragic and some of them are monsters. All of them are broken.
Each protagonist grapples with unfortunate circumstances as the details surrounding the Witch’s murder become clear. One particularly powerful story is that of Brando. His father is absent, and he rejects any advice his mother gives him. He is surrounded by a chaotic group of ne’er-do-wells that are the worst possible influences for a kid like Brando. Casual misogyny is not just accepted; it is a source of pride. Bullying and peer pressure lead to disturbing ideas about women, and self-gratification trumps morality at every turn. Brando’s story highlights thesusceptibility of young men without support networks of falling down the rabbit hole that is alpha male culture.
Another highlight in “Hurricane Season” is the atmosphere, which is absolutely oppressive. La Matosa is a town with no hope. It is in the middle of nowhere and opportunities appear to be limited to working in sweat shops, sex work or the drug trade. The local police are corrupt and violent, motivated by torturing suspects and illegal seizures rather than seeking justice for victims. Girls grow up with constant harassment from boys and men, with mothers berating them about trying to stay pure in an impossibly ugly world. The town is trapped in the eye of the storm, always under threat of destruction as the storm shifts and intensifies. The words on the page feed into this feeling of constant dread.
The prose is written in a unique style that makes the book very hard to put down. Each of the eight chapters are composed of one long paragraph, so natural stopping points are rare. There are no quotation marks for dialogue, and page-long sentences are common. The narration is nonlinear, bouncing between perspectives in a sea of stream of consciousness as each character’spast and present are thoroughly discussed. The language is blunt, profane and honest, regularly sharing the grim worldviews of ugly characters. At one point, a madam advises a pregnant teen that, “all kids are a burden, spongers, parasites that suck the life and all your blood from you.” It is certainly not for the faint of heart, but the words make for a challenging and satisfying read.
“Hurricane Season” is a thrilling and thought-provoking novel. It is incredibly dark yet very powerful. One of the novel’s epigraphs is a quote from “The Dead Girls” by Jorge Ibargüengoitia. It states, “Some of the events described here are real. All of the characters are invented.” Melchor proceeds to write unflinchingly about some of the most deplorable aspects of humanity.
Grade: A
