HURRICANE SEASON is the sophomore novel of Mexican author, Fernanda Melchor, and the first to be translated into English by Sophie Hughes. Shortly after its translation, it was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize. This book is one of the most gratuitously horrific (see Content Warnings below) volumes I have ever read, and yet, it put me in a chokehold from the first page and has continued to leave an impression well after the last.

The Witch is dead. Discovered one hot morning by a group of young boys floating in the river surrounded by black snakes, the central and most mysterious figure at the heart of HURRICANE SEASON is put into play. Told through varying perspectives of satellite characters, the story of the Witch and her murder quickly becomes a dizzying exercise in structured narrative. We learn that the Witch comes from a line of healers in the town of La Matosa. She lives in a crumbling mansion given to her mother who, according to some, made deals with the devil. Despite the stigmatism surrounding her existence, the Witch continues to look after the people of La Matosa by providing limpias, spiritual cleansing ceremonies and healthcare to the passing sex workers of the town.

Closest to the Witch is Chabela, her son Luismi, and his pregnant girlfriend Norma. Luismi is friends with Brando, a closeted and hateful character living with his uber religious mother. Depending on the context and which character is talking about the Witch, she is predominantly referred to by she/her pronouns, but also he/him, implying that the Witch might be transgender although this is never explicitly stated. The Witch is always just out of focus. Appearing like a macabre shadow in heavy black dresses and a long black veil, she is seen mostly on the edges of activity in the various timelines of the story. The relationship of the other characters to the Witch is torn between cautious respect, general wariness, outright avoidance, and complicated machismo. HURRICANE SEASON seems to be a story about how the characters are products of their society and their responses to the violence and cruelty therein all while looking for a better life or temporary relief.

Coming across as a heavily character-driven murder mystery, the reader is taken through brutal paces quickly absorbing the specific levels of hurt experienced by all in the story. Their actions are clearly motivated by hate, fear, and superstition and that clarity somehow makes HURRICANE SEASON that much more difficult to read and process. Everyone seems to be swirling around under a bell jar that will shatter under mounting pressure by the end of the book.

With a title like HURRICANE SEASON, atmosphere and this miasmic environment were very much on my mind while I read. Melchor talks about the coming of the stormy season, the building pressure, the lack of rain, the blistering heat driving people mad, the burning sugar cane, the overgrown jungle surrounding the town, mudslides, and the purity of the freshwater of the river that the characters bathe in and the Witch's body is later discovered floating in. The descriptions of place are heady and even beautiful in their promised danger.

I found HURRICANE SEASON to be a deeply sad book. One based on a real-life case of a murder enacted by superstitious beliefs and fueled by rumors. According to the World Population Review, Mexico has one of the higher rates of femicide and female-related violence in the world. However, it wasn't until 2012, the year Melchor began writing HURRICANE SEASON, that these numbers began being officially recorded. Melchor "has spoken about her time writing as being a ‘hard time’ in many ways; ‘the violence was over the top, especially femicide, the killing of women. They were discovering new mass graves every week… The only thing I could do was to write – to try to understand and explain the roots of violence.’" (quote from The Book Prize Committee).

A few final notes -

Format: The text itself on the page is incredibly dense with little punctuation. I eventually needed to switch to the audiobook because I felt like I was missing something critical in my reading. Accidentally skipping over implied dialogue and setting.

Film Adaptation: In 2023, Netflix released a film adaptation of HURRICANE SEASON directed by Elisa Miller and it is worth a watch.

Content Warning: Femicide, sexual assault and abuse, degrading language, homophobia, racism, miscarriage, birth trauma, transphobia, cartel and gang violence, gun violence, stabbing, torture, misogyny, incest, rape, sexism, ableism, toxic relationships, bigotry, child endangerment, hate crimes, murder...and I am sure I forgot a few. This book is a lot.

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Brand	N/A
Rating	4.1 (606 ratings)
Price	$14.98
Category	Literature & Fiction

Hurricane Season