(#gifted @thebookerprizes) Who is up for a queer retelling of José Hernández’s epic poem Martín Fierro? Who, like me, is severely under-read when it comes to Latin American classics and has never heard of Martín Fierro before now?? Well never fear because this book is still amazing even if you have zero context of this epic poem! I wikipedia’d it a few times but I think The Adventures of China Iron stands well on its own, and if you ARE familiar with Martín Fierro you’ll just have an even better time with it!

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Set in the Pampas of Argentina, this is Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s reimagining of an epic poem, told from the perspective of Fierro’s young wife who he left behind while he went off doing gaucho things. We journey with China (pronounced Cheena, and referring to a woman, wife, servant or girl, and not really a name at all but what China is used to going by) both physically and mentally as she traverses the Pampas with her new companion Liz, a Scottish woman and discovers her sexual awakening along the way.

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The translation was undertaken as a team by Iona Macintyre and Fiona Mackintosh and they have done an incredible job. The language in this book is so rich, filled with references to Argentinian nature, and then smatterings of Guaraní vocabulary later, not to mention they had to tackle translations of poetry. Needless to say they pull it off spectacularly, transporting the reader to the scene, discovering a whole new world alongside China Iron.

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This book just proved to me that @charcopress are out here publishing the most cutting edge books in the industry. You need to check them out if you’re at all interested in contemporary Latin American lit!

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A sensual, subversive novel that just begs to be reread and analysed. Seriously, there are so many layers to this book and so many lenses it could be read through - you would read it differently every time I think, and gain something new each time too. I’ve rated it 4 stars for now but I do think the more times I read it, the more I would get from it and the more I would love it!