The Invention of Morel | Book Club

It is hard to write about books (or movies) I really love. I can sometimes talk to folks about them when sufficiently outside my own head. In person my enthusiasm and lack of self-consciousness can override my general concern with being completely cogent. In writing though, I can't hide behind exuberance and physicality to make up for any lack of erudition on my part. 

Historically, my sci-fi book club had been focused on some pretty heady stuff... books that often require a lot of focus and energy, which is great. A very good thing to do for ones brain. But this tendency to skew into the "hard" sci-fi realm is often exhausting and left me needing a bit of a break from all that. For our club, me and the boys do a loose sort of rotation of choosing books. It's very unofficial but everyone does seem to keep the selection frequency in mind, which I appreciate! Having not really chosen a while, and needing a break from our usual fare, but with little real pre-thought I went with one of my favorites.

After recommending The Invention of Morel I hedged a bit and threw out some mumbled caveats as it is not strictly sci-fi and a bit more "literary(?)" than previous selections. I even insisted that the group didn't have to read it... as one does after embarassing mistakes. But it is also not a slog to read, conflicting with our previously established vibes. LOL. So I was secretly pleased that everyone agreed, come what may of their reactions. Even in translation, it is a wondrously concise and a breezily poetic read. Sorry hard sci-fi! I love you but you aren't always super pretty. 

The basic gist is a fugitive is looking to escape Venezuela for unnamed crimes. He tries to flee to a toxic island that a nice person tries to dissuade him from. Het gets direction help from the same nice person to this mysterious island. He promptly and miraculously gets there... lickidy split even. With little (No) fanfare he he arrives and makes himself at home (The book also provides a handy map). He settles in a bit and assumes he is alone but one morning he discovers he is surrounded by tourists! visiting the compound. Terrified of being discovered he hides and details all his actions and fears to us with only somewhat questionable accuracy. As men on the run from the law do (I suppose even ones not on the run from the law), he becomes fixated/infatuated/obsessed with one of the women of the tourist group. He follows her around planning how to approach her. 

After some entertaining hemming and hawing he does approach her but is quickly ignored. More lamentations and then some more stalking of the island guests, led by the Doctor who the story is named after, Morel. The twist is truly one of my favorite in all the books I've read. Book club was torn on what actually transpires but we mostly agree on the basics. I was incredibly tickled everyone seemed to love it. Not just like it. Love it. They were beside themselves that it hasn't been turned into some other media or was/is more well-known. I am too. Last Year at Marienbad has some themes and maybe borrows a few things but it is definitely not a straight up adaptation. (Later, after being energized by my book club friends, I went down a rabbit hole of wikipedia and it turns out there is a movie that I'll now have to try to find. 

So anyways, in conclusion or whatever, go read The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares. Read it on a short flight or the beach or in bed or on the run.