Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Spanish (Guatemala) by Ellen C. Jones

Publishing writing from countries that have rarely had English translations is one of the many strengths of Charco Press, and this collection of linked stories from Guatemalan Rodrigo Fuentes is a good example.

Here, the focus is on the contrary nature and insecurity of rural life in the country.

The first story, the title of the book, sets the common theme, starved by a lack of oxygen and floating belly up in their farm pool. Don Henrik is a well-travelled plantation owner who seeks to supplement his income with a rainbow trout farm. He employs an assistant, the narrator, to run the operation, but he is distracted by an affair and disaster strikes.

It may be a slim collection at just a hundred pages, but as a result there are no weak stories. They are tenuously linked to each other only, but Fuentes’s style becomes evident; something dark lurks as a twist in the final paragraphs, but he stops short of describing violent acts themselves.
Very enjoyable.