The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck (Harper 2004)
An interesting but frustrating book: a novelization of the life of Ella Lynch, a beautiful Irish woman who meets the future dictator of Paraguay in Paris and follows him to South America, where she bears him five sons and stands by him in the face of both great splendor and hardship. Ella is smart, independent, and brave, and it is hard to understand what keeps her so devoted to the loutish, belligerent, cruel, and violent Franco. The fact that the narrative is comprised of many different elements (letters, journal entries, governmental records, etc.) and is told from many different points of view doesn’t help the book present a coherent Ella. Tuck seems to be going for a sort of intimate epic, and it doesn’t really work. Much of the book deals with the pointless and hopeless war Franco wages with Brazil and Argentina, the logistics and details of which never become very clear or engaging. But there are many beautifully rendered scenes and characters, and many indelible moments and images. Tuck is a good, smart writer, but I think this interesting book falls somewhat short.
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