Reviewed by Tara Betts
Jorge Franco picks up the mantle of the “McOndo” movement taken from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ words, but does not borrow the poetic language of his forerunner in his second novel Paradise Travel. Franco is one of a host of writers who are shunning magical realism as the main vein for Latino authors. Instead, writers like Mario Mendoza, Santiago Gamboa, Juan Carlos Botero and Hector Abad are choosing real situations in a less ethereal or supernatural fashion than Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa or Carlos Fuentes. “McOndo” is a made-up word that spoofs on condos and McDonald’s and the commercialized, materialistic world that expects a less than realistic fantasy world from brown writers.
Franco does stay true to this tenet in Paradise Travel. After girlfriend Reina promises him sex and a better life in an American city, the Columbian protagonist Marlon Cruz loses himself in New York. When they arrive with no money, no way to really communicate with other people and no job prospects, Marlon loses control and dashes off into the streets. By the time he stops running, he cannot remember or find the building where he has left Reina behind.
While lost, he is dogged by delirium, homesickness and borderline insanity until a restaurant proprietor’s wife takes mercy on him. Slowly, Patricia weans Marlon back to his saner self in spite of resistance from her husband Don Pastor. Marlon befriends Giovanny and the other waiters and starts off cleaning toilets and lives in the basement at a restaurant in Queens. When he finally begins to understand what’s going on and speaks to his family, he realizes that it will be much more difficult to find Reina than he anticipated, but he is relentless.
The novel flashes between the present and the beginning of their journey in Medellin, Columbia, where Marlon grows from childhood to manhood, falls in love with Reina and her different-colored eyes, their parents, Marlon’s band of friends, and the beginning of this couple’s dangerous, illegal journey to the United States. In light of protests against recent immigration legislation like HR 4437, travels such as the one covertly arranged by the agency in the novel’s title seem even more harrowing, nerve-racking experiences endured by people who want to work for a better life. Most of them willing to endure risks at the hands of their transporters and manage to hide during travel in the most stifling conditions.
Marlon is realistic as the voice of this story. Perhaps, he is plainspoken because he is piecing together English for the first time, but readers may yearn for Marlon to feel more than longing and lust for Reina. His language is far from being steeped in metaphor or lush imagery, but tells readers directly what happens and how he experiences the world. Again, this would be true to the intent of realism in the writing, but more imaginative use of language could create a more intimate understanding of Marlon and his situation, maybe draw out more compassion for Marlon as he leads his listeners through his travels.
His friendships with Giovanny and Roger Pena help develop his personality more, as does his reuniting with fellow traveler-turned-stripper Calena and his brief relationship with Milagros, an aspiring singer who wants to be the next Celia Cruz. His experiences adjusting to life in New York reveal his awe of the city, but he is always holding back for Reina, until Calena gives him a phone number. When he calls this number and hears Reina’s voice on an answering machine, he knows his only course of action is to take the bus to the Miami address listed with the number and find Reina.
As far as Reina, she seems to be a fairly predictable, manipulative woman who uses whatever she can to reach her goals. This very quality makes her interesting, but it’s the only characteristic about her that stands out. The other women in the book seem to weave in the background so far that they seem inconsequential. Patricia, as one who saves Marlon from the streets, receives the most attention, but she is also the only woman who is not sexualized. Then again, this would be the true voice of some men, and Marlon Cruz is no exception.
As the journey with Paradise Travel concludes, readers may ask how this type of journey changes so many lives every day, and where do the Marlons and Reinas of the world rest their heads so far from home, yet even further from paradise.