This book has been sitting in my shelf since I bought it. I’m not really sure why I didn’t read it before, maybe lack of time, or not enough curiosity, that doesn’t really matter because it was a terrible mistake. This book is glorious, I can say Carlos Fuentes made a terrific job with this story that I understand what it has such a great recognition, this is probably one of his best narrations and so beautifully written that it just blows me away with every single word. In Aura you lose yourself in the line that divides reality and fiction, though a better description would be that there is no line between them. It’s more than a fiction book, or a story about supernatural stuff, it explores the deepest obsessions of the human beings and love.
The story is told in a way that makes you part of it, it makes you think that you are Felipe Montero. The plot starts with him, or well—you, sitting on a cafe while reading a newspaper, surprised by a classified ad that seems to written specifically for him. At first he doesn’t think too much of it, having in mind that with such a good salary someone else might have applied for it, but the next day he saw it again, and with a much better pay than his actual job, Felipe shows up to the interview and discovers that his potential employer is a decrepit old woman. Her dead husband was a general who knew Napoleon III, fought with Maximilian and was later exiled in France. His widow, near death, wants the general’s surviving journals turned into a publishable manuscript. With few questions or formalities, she hires Montero, but there one single condition he must live in there and finish the manuscript in that old house infested by rats and so dark that candles are
necessary to make one’s way from the bedroom to the
dining room.
This makes Felipe feel a little uneasy, but everything changes when he sees Aura, a young woman with green eyes so beautiful that the young man is instantly attracted to her, and with that it all starts, a story with an aura of mystery, that tells the mystery of Aura is something worth reading.
Now that I think about it, it has some sort of vibe similar to Poe’s books, yet it is still full of Fuentes’ essence and way of writing. With that being said, it’s right to tell every single one of you that even the final page, the story’s closing lines, merely pretend at closure, and just as easily could serve as entry point into a different tale. Or perhaps a return to the beginning of this one.
Sorry for this sort of lame review, but I’m still in awe after reading it. I hope you actually read it, even just for curiosity and enjoy this unconventional book. If you do I hope you like it, and happy reading!
