I might make my 20 Books of Summer (hosted by Cathy as always) with days to spare this year – I expect to finish reading my 15th book tomorrow, and then will get into my #WITMonth TBR reads which all qualify. I’ve just read two books for it which I’ll be reviewing for Shiny (Kala by Colin Walsh and Table for Two – I know the Towles was only published in May, but I got sent the proof before Christmas, so it counts!) and will link here.
Today I am returning to Mexico for How to be Nowhere, the second novel by Tim Macgabhann, an Irishman who lives in Mexico City.
How To Be Nowhere by Tim MacGabhann
MacGabhann’s debut novel, Call Him Mine, was so different! Critically acclaimed yet seemed to fall under the radar which was a shame. As someone living and working in Mexico, he used the popular writing form there of ‘crónica‘ which combines reportage with narrative fiction, so you can blur the absolute truth with a story. The novel followed an jaded reporter, Andrew and his photographer boyfriend, Carlos who get caught up in the wars between the cartels and the police when they come across the body of a young man. MacGabhann bravely has Carlos murdered by page 40, leaving a grieving Andrew to avenge his death.
How To Be Nowhere takes up Andrew’s story some time after Carlos’ murder. Andrew is able to function again, and is trying to pursue a life of drug-free sobriety in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he has a new partner – no details as yet, just a presence. They will soon be joined soon by Maya, Andrew’s feature writer friend from the first novel. Meanwhile, Andrew is going out to a meeting:
I went to the car and slid on Carlos’ jacket, the sleeves still bandy-armed from the memory of his shape. Death has a dozen different smelss: Carlos’ was oxter-sweat, Armani Code stale Delicados – a ghost trapped in the folds.
He talks to Carlos on the way, it’s as if he was there in the car with him. The meeting goes well, Andrew says his piece, full of emotion, remembering, when someone arrives late, and his blood runs cold. It’s Marco, the man who killed Carlos. He’s come to enlist Andrew and Maya’s help in finding the missing daughter of his boss, Puccini. Soon, the three of them are on their way back to Mexico. Things get very violent, and Andrew gets more sucked into it than we’d like. He’s been changed by what happened to him, not for the better.
Compared with Call Him Mine, this novel is rather rambling and unfocused. It’s often confusing who is talking to whom and where they are. Call Him Mine would be a fine standalone.
That’s not to say that How to be Nowhere isn’t an enjoyable read. I particularly loved MacGabhann’s descriptive passages setting the scene; they are like Tom Waits songs, here’s an example:
The first were a thin black cursive against the white fog. Red-bibbed degollados were hopping around the ruined fortress, and the sky was fishbelly-grey, with thunderheads massing in the east. The air stank, though, a dog-food odour of rotting sargassum weed.
‘Fishbelly-grey’, more poetic than the ‘dead salmon’ paint colour, eh?
To understand How to be Nowhere, you need to have really read Call Him Mine first. Although it’s not as good as the first, I will look forward to reading more by MacGabhann.
Source: old review copy – a belated thank you. W&N Hardback, 2020, 266 pages.
BUY at Blackwell’s in paperback via my affiliate link (free UK P&P)
So these are sort of literary thrillers, would you say?
Definitely. The first one is superb, the second OK.