BookDragon Blog

*STARRED REVIEW
Not until the last of this ingenious seven-story collection do readers get the most intimate glimpse of Don Henrik, and even then, only through the lens of his not-quite stepson. Henrik, however, is the single connecting character in Rodrigo Fuentes’s U.S. debut, Trout, Belly Up; he appears as employer, son, brother, husband, lover – and that rare white man in Guatemala trying to live his life in peace and beauty.

In the titular opening story, Henrik finances the trout farm where the manager’s philandering wreaks destructive havoc. “Dive” reveals the tragic demise of Henrik’s brother, Mati. Henrik owns the hacienda in “Out of the Blue, Perla,” in which a rejected calf becomes a local celebrity until she’s brutalized by vigilante gunmen. Mati reappears in “Whiskey,” attempting sobriety. Henrik’s associates deflect violent threats in “Ubaldo’s Island.” Henrik’s not-quite stepson gives Henrik the chance to reminisce about his late wife in “Terrace,” just before further exposing Henrik in the ending “Henrik.”

Guatemala-born Fuentes teaches at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts. Originally published in 2017, Trout, Belly Up was shortlisted for the Premio Hispanoamericano de Cuento Gabriel García Márquez, one of Latin America’s highest literary honors. Ellen Jones’s adept translation, too, has garnered recognition. For savvy audiences, piecing together Henrik’s life will require a deliciously double-layered reading – to sift his trajectory through seven impressive stories in which different characters maintain narrative control. While each of the shorts could stand alone – and do, rather successfully – deciphering and connecting the overlapping threads provides enhanced literary pleasure.

Discover: In seven interlinked stories, Rodrigo Fuentes ingeniously reveals the life of an enigmatic white man in Guatemala through the eyes of others.

Review: “Fiction,” Shelf Awareness, January 29, 2021

Readers: Adult

Published: 2017 (Colombia), 2021 (United States)