A novel of nowhere, anywhere, with a little child running from someone at its center, in a dry, deserted environment, seethed by heartless characters; that is what "Intemperie" is about. A novel that is dry, unwelcoming, and not precisely naive, that suffers from Carrasco trying to bite more than he can.
Because this would have worked better as a short story, the plot losing steam as the pages turn around, our child's misadventures becoming a little bit too long in the tooth as Carrasco overwhelms us with as many words we haven't heard of as he can use. He does, though, create an amazing atmosphere, which could be anywhere in Spain after the Civil War as much as in a post-global warming-gone crazy near future. The story's setting, characters, plot is ambivalent by necessity, by desire, our journey the same as the child's, walking from one place to the other with purposelessness, just to stay alive. With violence, death, around every corner, with selfishness, lust, in front, behind, everywhere. Too bad it is not more tightly done, because this ends up being an exercise in mood creation.
The best: the use of language; the atmosphere; the dry violence; the way it makes the reader feel this is a world we could find ourselves in any moment in the near future
The worst: Carrasco gloats a little bit too much in his use of language, transforming the story in a 'search in the dictionary' quest; this would have been way better as a short(er) story; some moments are dragged on and/or are too repetitive
Alternatives: it reminds, as it says on the cover, to some of Delibes's stories (in atmosphere and writing, not as much in plot); and maybe also "For Whom The Bell Tolls" to add a little bit more options
6/10
(Castilian or European Spanish, whatever you want to call it)
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