Dengue Boy: A Novel

Yeah, so, this is absolutely the weirdest fucking book I have read to date. I just literally minutes ago finished it so I'm still reeling, but I expect I'll be reeling from it for a very long time. Absolutely dizzying, but in a downright fantastic way. This book obviously has a lot to say about things like capitalism, colonialism, and others, but I can only barely begin to parse those on a single read, I'm definitely going to have to come back again later.

Dengue Boy (or rather Dengue Girl since only female mosquitos bite) unleashes a new kind of bloodshed and terror on an already broken world. Ravaged by the effects of climate change and capitalism, the world is different to the one we now know. The world is hotter than ever with large areas underwater. While the majority struggle the rich back viruses on the stock exchange, value fragments of long gone glaciers and buy up land and resources in the Antarctic Caribbean to build or experience their own pieces of (overpriced) paradise.

This was an incredibly strange book in the best way and I have no idea how to describe the experience of reading it. It was definitely as strange and possibly more horrifying than the cover suggests. I loved show more the exploration of the dystopian elements of the world that Nieva created. I do, however, wish it had been a bit longer. Between all the violence and all the elements of what the world and its people have become, there really aren't that many pages for how many ideas are explored. I would definitely like to read more books that about similar topics and ideas!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own. show less