Marcelo Cohen
Author of Donde Yo No Estaba
About the Author
Image credit: Photo
Works by Marcelo Cohen
Una chica en invierno 1 copy
Los Acuaticos: Historias del Delta Panoramico (Coleccion La Otra Orilla) (Spanish Edition) (2001) 1 copy
la canoa oscura 1 copy
ALGO MÁS 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Cohen, Marcelo
- Birthdate
- 1951
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Argentina
- Country (for map)
- Argentina
- Birthplace
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Occupations
- Translator
Writer
Members
Reviews
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 32
- Also by
- 6
- Members
- 106
- Popularity
- #181,887
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
- 45
- Languages
- 1
Vaguely Orwellian without being derivative, and offering a critique of neoliberal capitalism without being heavy-handed, Melodrome is set in an indefinable future. It’s the story of Lerena Dost, a successful woman in executive management, who undertakes a bizarre quest to thank an enigmatic benefactor. Lerena has lost her lover, her job and her home in short order but through quirky circumstances has won a major lottery. Uneasy about unearned income, she wants to thank Dona Munava, whose hint provided the winning numbers, but it turns out to be more difficult than she thought. So she enlists the help of her former lover, Suana Botilecue, a psychoanalyst who lost his job for having an unprofessional relationship with her and is now reduced to living among the homeless as their publicly-funded counsellor. (It is one of these homeless who narrates the story).
Lerena’s life has unravelled due to an unfortunate series of events. Her replacement lover dumped her because he thought she was manipulative, and she was so shocked that she wasn’t able to react with her usual assertiveness when her rental manager gave her notice to quit.
‘Panoramics’ and ‘bitcards’ (securely encrypted money cards) are two of the many words coined to create a disorientating sense of a world familiar yet not quite our own, and the translator Chris Andrews has done a splendid job of rendering these in English. Lerena drives a mincar, stops at ‘anytime eatchas’ for a meal, sleeps overnight at a ‘lodgitel’ and visits a ‘sanit’ when nature calls. There are Clearseers for surveillance and Guards who enforce checkpoints that no one, not even the Guard, can explain.
So, Suano joins Lerena on this bizarre road trip, where everyone they meet already knows about their quest.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/11/10/melodrome-by-marcelo-cohen-translated-by-chr...… (more)