Title: The Infatuations
Author: Javier Marías
Genre: Novel
Year of Release: 2012
Review: A chilling and brutal murder appears at first glance to be a random act of violence, but over time a more sinister explanation emerges. This writing trope is the premise for The Infatuations, where a man is slaughtered in the streets of Madrid by a stranger. Surprisingly, I wouldn’t classify this novel as a murder mystery, as it tries to diverge from other works in this vein by removing all the suspense and instead going philosophical.
Disappointingly all the originality in this book is done to the death with needless repetition. There’s no action to drive forward the plot – although the writing is pleasant enough, it’s dreary to read half a dozen consecutive chapters of the protagonist self-analysing. And that’s what The Infatuations is – a muse drawn out over 350 pages concerning human nature.
It’s near impossible to relate to the kind of overwhelming love that can allow people to overlook the worst elements of humankind, meaning that a character who we are obviously supposed to empathize with is unfortunately alienated. It feels a lot like the kind of book I might try and come close to writing if I get pretentious and philosophical enough (i.e. drunk enough).
Despite myself, I enjoyed stretches of the story, but the thing is, I don’t know why. On paper, it’s got all the makings of a great short story, but there’s just not enough happening for it to work as a novel. I do think that’s true, yet somehow it’s got a feel that goes a long way in making up for its faults.
Rating: 7 stars
Quote: “[…] murder is something that happens, an act of which anyone is capable and that has been happening since the dawn of time and will continue to do so until, after the last day, no dawn comes […]”