The Bitch

A highly memorable novella written in sparse, almost hard-boiled prose, which renders its intensity all the more forcefully. Although the work focuses on the trials of a poor woman raising a dog in a remote village in Colombia, this is just the framing device for Quintana to explore a much bigger set of more complex themes. The jungle is arguably the novel's main character. The context or debate, therefore, is about the perennial struggle between the forces of nature and humanity. Credit to Quintana to evoke nature's power in so few words. The depiction and storytelling undoubtedly owes something to the legacy of García Márquez. Beyond this debate, a broader discussion about what it is to be human unfolds. The inability for Damaris (the main protagonist) to have children reflects itself in her general anger and disillusionment about the world. The adoption of a dog is evidently proto-mothering, but when she fails at this too, it's not just disillusionment but guilt too. The legacy of her role in the death of her neighbour's son many years ago. The culmination of the novel with the murder of the dog by Damaris and her subsequent disappearance is just superb prose. I want to see more from Quintana.

By Pilar Quintana