Season of the Swamp (2024) by Yuri Herrera

 Book Review

Season of the Swamp (2024)

by Yuri Herrera

Translated by Lisa Dillman

    I checked out the e-book edition of Season of the Swamp by Mexican author Yuri Herrera based on the New York Times description- not necessarily the review, which was mixed, but the description, which promised a book about Mexican nationalist leader Benito Juarez and his time in exile in New Orleans- of all places- a time about which he spoke little and truly is one of those historical episodes which provides a nucleus for a potentially great work of fiction.  I read it a while back but wasn't compared to write this post until I saw this book was named as a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize "best fiction" category, alongside James by Percival Everett, All Fours by Miranda July, Headshot by Rita Bullwinkle and Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capo Crucet. 

     As it turns out, Juarez doesn't get up to much in New Orleans, which is why the LA Times nomination surprised me, surely "something happens" is a prerequisite for a best-book of the year award.  Here, little happens except Juarez experiencing various aspects of life in New Orleans with his buddies.   The character of Juarez is of course sensitive to the vagaries of race in ante-bellum New Orleans.  He was the first indigenous President of a North American country and at several points he or a companion is forced to explain to an on-looker that Juarez is not "just" an Indian (in the parlance of the times).   Despite being set in the mid 19th century, Juarez has all the characteristics of a modernist artist-in-exile character and if you had told me Season of the Swamp had been set in the early 20th century I might not have been able to tell the difference.