PLANETA LINA

Debut author Vernieri presents a character-driven Spanish-language novel about an imaginative young woman.

ArgentinianLina Guzmán has always been introverted, but if she finds a quiet space, she can transport herself to Planeta Lina: an imagined fantasy locale that she finds far more interesting than her real life. She also ponders philosophical questions, such as “¿Quién dice qué es lo real y qué no lo es?” (“Who is to say what is real and what is not?”) The problem is that she can’t spend all her time on creative activities, such as writing and drawing. These are nice hobbies, she thinks, but not typically practical; her parents want her to study medicine or architecture. Her life’s winding journey eventually takes her to Europe and Africa. In a parallel storyline, readers meet Cuban-born, Florida-raised Johnny Barkley, who’s giving a speech in New York City. He’s developed a method to fight drug addiction that he discovered during a lucid dream. His technique has had good results, but despite his success, he’s troubled by his lack of a serious romantic relationship. But after he picks up a book in the airport titled El Hèroe, he’s so taken with it that he feels compelled to track down the author; this quest brings him into contact with Lina. Vernieri effectively portrays Lina as always open to new possibilities; even relatively small experiences can have an immense effect on her. A simple kiss prompts her to comment that “mi cuerpo temblaba como una hoja, mi alma vibraba en plenitud” (“my body shook like a leaf, my soul vibrated”). As with Johnny’s story, external events play their role, but it’s internal developments that generate the most intriguing questions. When Johnny has his dream, for instance, it involves taking an imaginary pill; its real-world inspirational effect may strike readers as simultaneously possible and impossible. Some of Johnny’s backstory feels long-winded (as when the reader is informed of his mother’s many struggles escaping Cuba); however, when the novel tackles the odder aspects of the mind, it does so eloquently.

A detailed tale of the powers of thought, chance, and love.