Abyss (2023) by Pilar Quintana

 Book Review

Abyss (2023)

by Pilar Quintana

translation by Lisa Dillman

  Strong year for the finalists in the National Book Award for Translated Literature.  You've got the second novel by David Diop, a disturbing book of short stories by Bora Chung (Korean lit is so hot rn!)  Abyss, by Colombian author Pilar Quintana, who was nominated in 2020 in the same category for The Bitch, is another strong contender on the theory that multiple nominations for major literary awards increase the author's chance of winning each time.  Abyss is a familiar tale, told from a newish perspective, about the impact a parent's lives have on the inner life of their daughter, eight and a half, narrated by that daughter. This is an example of a child narrator for a work of adult fiction- nothing about Abyss is YA or children's lit. 

   The struggles of Claudia's parents, particularly her mother, who spends her days in bed reading celebrity gossip magazines, is hardly novel, but the location, Cali Colombia.  The time isn't specified but the gossip references in Claudia's mothers magazines: The death of Karen Carpenter, in particular, happens during the course of the novel.  The real star of Abyss, is Cali Colombia itself, which seems a quasi-idyllic place in the eyes of eight year old Claudia.  1983 was before the rise of the Cali cartel, and Abyss includes a distinct locations- a modernist vacation home built onto the side of the cliff.  This location proves significant in the development of the plot and gives the book its name. 

  Abyss doesn't feel like a prize winner to me- there isn't anything here that wasn't in What Maisie Knew in 1897, but the place and time of the book made it an interesting read, and I do like Quintana and her general style.  I'd like to see a bigger book from her, but I know that shorter pieces are all the rage these days, so I'm pretty sure she doesn't care about going big. Still, Cali...Colombia...historical fiction... lotta material there to mine.