Claire's Reviews > Trout, Belly Up

A man named Don Henrik is the connection between the stories, and though he is not the centre of the story until the end, through the tales narrated we get to know the hardships he has encountered as he struggles to run his various business ventures, we learn about the equally difficult path his brother took, and how that contributed to his father's financial difficulties.

Don Henrik seems like a man who wants to live an ordinary life, he has the fortitude to create something out of nothing, he is kind, but he lives in a society where men give in to temptation, and are lead astray by a desire, by greed, by revenge, addiction and so always there are situations to be dealt with.

It's set in the Guatamalan countryside and forest, a place that offers rest and tranquility and yet is beset with an undercurrent of hostility and violence, infiltrated by merciless entrepreneurs, hitmen, father's desperate to go straight, endangering their daughters and their dog, and the plain stupid, caught in a web of thinking they can make easy money, only to meet premature death.

Some will relate to it's Hemingway-esque style, for me, it was an interesting and easy read, though I quickly began to feel like I was reading a book written for men (and yet what is it that is missing that would have elevated it for me), as we launch quickly into a tale of infidelity, of a man with a loyal wife and daughters distracted by a young shop girl, willing to sacrifice everything for a few moments of pleasure; men arriving with guns intent on teaching a lesson to other men, taking out their violent intent on an innocent animal, the bond between two men, their lives and friendship endangered by their descent into drugs and recklessly pursuing an activity (involving a boat and diving) while under the influence.

Don Henrik isn't the cause of any of this, he has bad karma perhaps, he is a good man, he donated a kidney to his wife, he is tired, he's found another good woman and just wants peace, but he's a land owner, there are those who covet what he has, his desire for tranquility in this world he inhabits, observed by so much dysfunction, is an impossible ask.