Jorge Consiglio

Not Much Fate
Review of the Charco Press English translation paperback edition (March 2020) of the Spanish language original "Tres monedas" (Three Coins) (2018)

I confess that I wasn't very engaged by Fate and did not really feel it was living up to its new title in translation. The original title, Three Coins did not seem to relate either (I may have missed the 3 coins reference, I'll admit). There are two couples involved and one is in a marriage and the other is in a new relationship. The partners did not seem very passionate at all and everyone goes through the motions of falling in and out of love. It all felt somewhat clinical, which was perhaps symbolised by one of the characters being a taxidermist i.e. seeking to portray life when in fact it no longer existed.

I read Fate as part of the Translated Fiction Online Book Club (TFOBC) which has been organized by Charco Press and 5 other UK independent publishers for an initial 6 week period (March 26 to April 30, 2020) during this current world pandemic situation. There is a possibility of the Book Club continuing past its initial 6 books based on the enthusiastic response.

As I live in Canada, I wasn't the best candidate for the Book Club as it was UK-centric in its publishers and international parcel shipping under the current world circumstances seems to have been almost completely stopped depending on which postal services you are dealing with. Although I ordered all six of the book club selections roughly at the same time around the start of the club, only Fate from Charco Press has been delivered from the UK since that time as of late April 2020. I dislike reading eBooks on screen so could not read all the selections in time to actually join in all of the online meetings. It was still possible to catch up to them after the fact as the audio was recorded and archived on Soundcloud and Author and/or Translator Q&As were distributed via email.

Trivia and Links
The archived audio from the TFOBC Week 3 conversation with Charco Press publisher & translator Carolina Orloff of Charco Press can be heard on Soundcloud.

The Q&As with writer Jorge Consiglio can be read here (in pdf format).… (more)