‘Un Amor’ by Sara Mesa (Review)

Despite recent outings to Thailand and Brazil, Peirene Press are best known for their works of European literature, and today’s choice is another prime example of that, taking us to Spain for a short, enigmatic novel.  We’re heading out into the country to spend some time in a village, our guide a woman running away from her old life.  However, as we’re to see, a change of scenery doesn’t always make for a quick fix, even if it does offer the opportunity of a new love – albeit one with a slightly unusual beginning…

*****
Sara Mesa’s Un Amor (translated by Katie Whittlemore, review copy courtesy of the publisher) is focused on Nat, a would-be literary translator arriving in the rural village of La Escapa.  Renting a ramshackle old house from a slightly sleazy landlord, she receives the ‘gift’ of a dog, one that isn’t keen to be too close to its new owner, and attempts to settle down into a new life.

Part of that involves getting to know the people, and she soon strikes up a friendship with a local man named Píter, as well as having occasional chats with the couple next door, who are only there at weekends.  However, it’s Andreas, a man known to the villagers as the German, who is to loom largest in her new life.  Theirs is a relationship with a rather unusual start, one that perhaps overshadows the rest of their time together.

Un Amor is the first of Mesa’s books I’ve read, and it was certainly enjoyable.  Moody and atmospheric, it does an excellent job of capturing the feel of life in a remote locale, with the slow pace of life and the curiosity felt towards newcomers, or anything different.  The book is often a little eerie and unsettling, even when nothing untoward is really going on.

Once she’s settled in, Nat struggles through her work, suspecting it’s not really for her, and as the weeks pass, she finds herself asking why she’s there, imagining what her family would say:

Is this where all that studying has got you? they would ask.  Waiting like a bitch in heat for a man she barely knows, bathing a half-mad old lady, sleeping alone, her only companion a dog she still has to tie up at night.  What kind of life has she chosen?  Was this the goal of all her supposed rebelliousness?
p.106 (Peirene Press, 2024)

All good questions…  There’s a less-than-subtle hint in the village’s name suggesting that Nat was less concerned with the ‘to’ than with the ‘from’ when making her move, but while the reasons for her new start are gradually revealed, whether they actually make sense is another matter entirely.

The focus of the story is the amor (love) at its heart, the relationship between Nat and Andreas.  Even here, however, things are slightly darker and more twisted than you’d expect.  The first step is made by Andreas, but it’s less a romantic gesture than an indecent proposal, one Nat initially refuses outright, only to reconsider later on.  Even when the pair are eventually in a stable relationship, there’s a sense that there’s something off about it, without any real spark between the couple outside the bedroom.

Un Amor is a book that rarely feels comfortable, and Nat never quite seems to have become a part of her new community.  Her dog, Sieso, is always wary and unwilling to allow its owner to get too close while the villagers are simply judgemental and nosy.  As for her landlord, well, he remains a menacing presence:

“You women are all the same.  You think this is all starry skies at night and little lambs baaing in the morning.  Then you’re on about the mosquitoes, the rain, the weeds.  Look, I already brought the price way down.  Did I bring it down or not?  Or don’t you remember now?  When you’ve had a problem, haven’t I fixed it?  Didn’t I fix the tap?  Oh, you thought that was horrible, too.  Can’t understand you women.  Look, I got a lot more important things to do.  Give me my money and get off my back.” (p.57)

Dropping round when he feels like it, ogling her, making himself comfortable in her home, he’s not someone to feel comfortable around, a bad accident waiting to happen.

It’s all nicely done, but if I have a criticism of Un Amor, it’s that it trails off a little towards the end.  The final part of the novel has several incidents occurring one after the other, but it all feels a little hurried after the measured pace of the rest of the book, and even if it all makes sense, it’s a little unsatisfying.  Other readers might disagree, but I’m not sure we really get the closure we’re looking for.

Nevertheless, Mesa’s novel is an accomplished work, if disturbing in places, a story of how running away from your problems rarely works out, given that you usually bring them with you.  There’s definitely enough here to make me try more of her writing – a well-crafted work with, like Nat’s four-legged friend, more than a hint of bite to it…