The woman from Uruguay

Argentine novelist Mairal's latest, La uruguaya in the original Spanish, won Spain's Tigre Juan Award for best novel in 2017. Now beautifully translated into English by Man Booker International Prize winner Croft, it is told in the second person by the narrator, Lucas, as an apologia to his wife, Cata. Lucas is a writer living off his wife in Buenos Aires with a dull teaching job, a kid, and a full-blown midlife crisis. While bumbling toward finishing his next book, he builds an elaborate fantasy surrounding his advance for the book deposited in his account across the Río de la Plata in Montevideo. This planned day trip to game the exchange rates in his favor will put his life back on track with plenty of cash to engage in a decadent tryst with Guerra, the intriguing young woman of the title. Of course, nothing goes as planned. Into this brief novel, Mairal fits the humor and pain of being human, especially male, fully on display. In vivid prose that turns grotesque moments sublime, as in the description of Lucas' flight of fancy while he pees in a filthy public restroom, this is a luminous and witty work of literary fiction.

This introspective outing from Mairal (The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra) follows a writer's eventful day as he travels from Argentina to Uruguay to game the exchange rate and collect advances on two books. Lucas Pereyra hopes the money will solve all his problems, including his marital strife with Catalina, who may or may not be having an affair. While in Montevideo, Lucas plans to meet up with Magalí Guerra Zabala, a woman he recently met at a festival, whom he has built up in his mind as another source of salvation. After securing the money from the bank--"a whole year in my pocket"--he rents a hotel room to pursue his "hormonal agenda" with Magalí, though, as is to be expected, nothing goes as planned. Instead, Lucas has run-ins with a pit bull, a tattoo artist, thugs at the beach, and his old mentor. While Lucas's objectifying of Magalí wears thin, the story ends beautifully and judiciously, as Lucas must decide what he wants and who he wants to be. It adds up to an intimate and mostly fresh look at middle age. Agent: Katie Grimm, Don Congdon Assoc. (July)