Salvador Plascencia - The People of Paper

The People of Paper, the debut novel by Salvador Plascencia, is a unique and exciting pastiche of magical realism, autobiography and experimental writing. Much has been made of Plascencia's association with McSweeney's, which is enough for some readers to dismiss the book out-of-hand. Do not fall victim to this sort of literary prejudice, though; because Plascencia's stylistic and narrative talents approach the sublime. And if The People of Paper is stripped to its very core, what remains is a heart-breaking hymn to the idea of love. In rendering love in a rather absurd and fantastical way, Plascencia creates something close to a Greek myth.

Many odd and magical things occur during the course of the story, but Plascencia wisely refrains from explaining such oddities. An array of strange people and creatures populate the novel. There are people made of paper, mechanical tortoises, bed-wetters, lime addicts and an oppressive force symbolized by the planet Saturn, amongst other things. The story is ostensibly about Federico de la Fe, a hopeless romantic who wets the bed, forcing his wife Merced to abandon him and their daughter Little Merced. This abandonment convinces Federico that he and his daughter must move to El Monte, a city just outside Los Angeles. Once in El Monte, Federico recruits a colorful cast of neighborhood characters to make war against the omniscient Saturn. This story runs parallel to later autobiographical sections documenting Plascencia's own epic struggle with love. To reveal any more would surely ruin the story.

Visually, Plascencia plays with formatting, as chapters alternate between standard prose and columned first-person narratives (think newspaper columns). He also employs primitive illustrations similar to those found in Kurt Vonnegut's classic Breakfast of Champions. None of these experiments seem forced, though. In fact, after reading the novel, it is hard to imagine the story being told in any other way.

So, If you're a fan of authors like Marquez, Calvino, Queneau or Borges, definitely read The People of Paper--it is a truly magical and memorable trip through Plascencia's formidable imagination.