12 RANDOM WORDS / 12 PALABRAS AL AZAR

A bilingual collection offers a variety of literary short stories.

Martínez’s volume is made up of a series of unrelated tales, first in English and then, in direct translations by the author, in Spanish. The stories tend to be character-driven. In “Envy/Envidia,” the mother of a teenage daughter shows herself to be rather sinister. The woman explains that her daughter must “learn how to choke her hunger with something other than food!” “Quitting/ Renunciamiento”concerns a man living in Lima named Aldo Palando, who, at precisely 9:35 a.m. on April 27, 1953, decides to quit his regular routine. Aldo is a simple man (the Spanish version describes him as “no era un hombre cultivado,” “not a cultivated man”) who believes “whatever the news” is in the paper, “it merely described a faraway world too complicated to be understood.” In “Stories/Historias/Pisos,” a budding writer stays in a friend’s “microscopic studio in the Financial District” to work on a novel. “Highs/Alturas”involves the funeral of a violinist who could play “as if he were caressing the golden mane of a Greek goddess with his bow.” “Signs/Carteles”is about the unfortunate aftermath of an apartment building being overrun with the incessant “blare of rap,” courtesy of someone related to a government official. Taken together, the stories make for a useful bilingual learning tool. The language used throughout is not too obscure or too basic. This allows for meaningful comparisons for those looking to sharpen their comprehension. For instance, in “Stories/Historias/Pisos,” the narrator refers to a character in the English version as “Mr. Funny Glasses.” In Spanish, he is “Señor de los Anteojos Raros” (“Mr. Weird Glasses”). Readers see in the translation how the narrator is conveying that these glasses are more strange than humorous. The plodding pace of “Quitting/ Renunciamiento,” which involves Aldo’s normal routine, allows for an in-depth look at the character in both languages without overwhelming readers. As for the content, some of the works lack nuance. The mother in “Envy/Envidia”is cartoonishly dreadful, leaving the tale largely unsurprising. Yet ultimately, as the title suggests, the thoughtful stories provide circumstances as wide-ranging as the random words on which they are based.

Intriguing tales well suited for an advanced bilingual learner.