Random Things Tours: Never Tell Anyone Your Name by Federico Ivanier translated by Claire Storey

´At the end of the day, wherever you go, you always end up face-to-face with your future´.

Literature for young people is a valuable resource for adults as well. There are so many beautiful stories around, usually not reaching out a more ´mature´ audience due to the limits imposed by age. However, I am always delighted to get my hand on some titles and stories, especially when coming from geographical areas less represented within the English-speaking realm.

Never Tell Anyone Your Name - Nunca Digas Tu Nombre - by multi-awarded Uruguayan author and screen writer Federico Ivanier, translated into English by Claire Storey was one of the most surprising encounter with young literature in a long while. 

Missing his connection to Madrid on the way to meet his father, the unnamed 16 years character of the novella, ends up in a small town randomly thinking about his beloved whose absence is accompanying him along the way. He wants to play the tourist for a couple of hours, noticing the reality through the lenses of his camera. He meets a strange girl who almost kills him, but as a hero of the times to come, he wins over ending up in due time in the train. Was it an accident, an illusion or just an episode reminding him how limited is his knowledge about the world and himself?

The pace of the story is meditative and philosophical, reproducing the voice of a smart and intellectualizing 16 years old. It is told with an outsider authoritative voice, and this is how the story unfolds, with him looking to himself from outside, with the detachment and curiosity some of the young people may have at this age, trying to experiment with reality, predictably expecting something to happen without necessarily being curious about what exactly. At this age, it is in the nature of things to be unexpected, cruel or putting you on trial.

There is a crescendo in the storytelling and both the dialogues and the descriptions - sometimes, in a naturalistic way, the environment and weather are reflections of the inner turmoil of the character; there may be a risky move as it´s a stereotypical literary trick for this kind of literature, but in the case of Nunca Digas Tu Nombre it echoes the plot details and the representation of the character - with twists when you except less and a chain of images that may suit a short film as well.

It was a pleasure to read this book, that kind of pleasure that one may have as a young person delving into the pages of a book. It is a feeling that can be repeated at any age, in fact. I am definitely interested in reading more books by Ivanier, including in the original language.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own