JULIO ROBALO OPENS THE DOOR TO HIS MOUTH

Tewkesbury offers a speculative novel about one man’s struggle to find his voice in a dictatorship.

Julio Robalo, an educator, lives in a place, somewhereoutside the United States, where teaching is outlawed. It’s just one of the many strict, repressive rules of District One, which used to be an ordinary village; now, its residents live in constant fear in the wake of a pandemic. They’re ruled by a tyrannical leader known as “The Person in Charge.” To keep everyone in line, he changed a local school into a beauty parlor, ordered something to be put into the air to make electricity work at random intervals, and once poisoned the water supply so that everyone temporarily lost their voices. He also has the power to order abductions and murders.Julio, an aspiring poet, knows that he should speak out against these injustices, but he worries: “What happens if I open the door to my mouth and nothing comes out.” Tewkesbury’s lyrical prose offers readers beautiful and sometimes eerie portraits of citizens of the village, including Gloria, a woman who can see the future; Carmela, a 14-year-old girl trying to save an ancient tree; and Fatima Marie, Julio’s lover, who’s married to a man she hates. The story lacks a clear structure, however, and mostly ebbs and flows with Julio’s thoughts, sometimes drifting into random tangents, lists, or letters. This disjointed narrative strategy can create moments of confusion at times, and it leaves a few plot threads dangling at the end. Still, it’s a vibrant fictional world with a unique cast of characters that makes the novel come alive. Julio, in particular, is a likable protagonist, and his and Fatima’s love story is easy to root for.

A somewhat scattered but ultimately engaging story of living under authoritarianism.