Loves That Bind

by Julian Rios, translated by Edith Grossman

Vintage, 256 pp., $12

Emil, a spurned lover, mopes around London in Loves That Bind. Each day he writes his wayward mistress a letter she will never read, in which he remembers lovers before her. After a fashion, however, we realize Emil has co-opted most of his experiences from literature. There’s Daisy Buchanan afloat in white linen, Sally Bowles making prairie oysters, Lolita lying in deshabille on the pillow. What is Emil truly obsessed with — loves he has known, or loves he hasn’t? Impressively translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman, Rios’ book is composed in a somewhat “challenging” style, relying greatly on wordplays, rhythms, and shorthand. You intellectual fellows: This is a liberal arts major’s tool of seduction. Grab this book, your American Spirits, and hie thee to the coffeehouse.

This article appears in December 10 • 1999.

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