reading when i can

Title: The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters / Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos Author: Manuel Iris Translators: Manuel Iris and Kevin McHugh Publication Year: 2026 Publisher: University of Arizona Press Genre: poetry

I’m a little torn over how I feel about this bilingual edition of The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters, but I think the overall concept that Manuel Iris was going for outweighs some of my own preferences when it comes to poetry in general. What I loved about this collection was Iris’s innovative approach to blurring reality and fiction. At the start of the collection, he writes a note about the two main “characters” featured. First is Hieronymus Bosch and how despite being a real person, there’s almost an imaginary quality to him due to how much of an enigmatic figure he is in art history. The second is Juan Coyoc—later known as Juan Domínguez—who is a fictional character based on the biographies and lived experiences of migrants in the Americas, which, in a way, makes Domínguez a very real individual. After this note, two intertwining narratives emerge to reflect on art, migration, violence, religion/spirituality, and human nature. What I found most striking from this collection was the way Iris blurred what “hell” means to simultaneously be a biblical one and man’s own creation, as well as a philosophical contemplation of the ties between humans across time and space.

As much as I loved the way the lives of Hieronymus Bosch and the contemporary migrant worker were intertwined in such an original way, Iris’s writing style didn’t work for me, personally. I thought the language was a bit too simplistic for such an intricate concept, and so I found myself wanting a bit more from these poems. It also didn’t help that the collection was much shorter than expected! In addition (and possibly unrelated to Iris), I really wish the English and Spanish poems were published side-by-side as opposed to the English version first, then the original Spanish approach. However, there could have been a legitimate reason for the collection being published the way it was.

Even though this collection didn’t quite work with what I generally prefer in poetry, I still found it unbelievably thought-provoking that I think it was well worth the read in the end.

Manuel Iris, "Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos" de Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos ["The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters" from The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters]

[English translation by Manuel Iris and Kevin McHugh:

Manuel Iris, "Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos" de Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos ["The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters" from The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters]

[English translation by Manuel Iris and Kevin McHugh:

Manuel Iris, "Marginalia" de Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos ["Marginalia" from The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters]

[English translation by Manuel Iris and Kevin McHugh:

Manuel Iris, "Marginalia" de Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos ["Marginalia" from The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters]

[English translation by Manuel Iris and Kevin McHugh:

Manuel Iris, "Salir al desierto (Vida de Antonio)" de Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos ["Going Out into the Desert (Antonio's Life)" from The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters]

[English translation by Manuel Iris and Kevin McHugh:

Manuel Iris, "Linaje" de Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos ["Lineage" from The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters]

[English translation by Manuel Iris and Kevin McHugh:

Title: Death and the Gardener Author: Georgi Gospodinov Translator: Angela Rodel Publication Year: 2025 (first published in 2024 as Градинарят и смъртта) Publisher: Liveright Genre: fiction

I started Death and the Gardener not really knowing what to expect, only to finish the novel feeling deep admiration for the way Gospodinov so poignantly explored grief due to a loved one’s death. For me, it was something of a cathartic experience to see how he presented grief taking shape in quiet ways, as someone who also somewhat recently lost a person dear to me. Yet, there was a deeply personal aspect to the novel, as Gospodinov mentioned being inspired by real life (though the story itself being fictionalized and a reflection of his imagination). I do think this inspiration is an important one, though, as it pays particular attention to the relationship between a son and his dying father within the context of Bulgarian culture, as well as through the botanical metaphors found in a garden taken care of by the father.

I think what struck me about this novel was the fact that, in spite of the death of the narrator’s father shaking his world, there wasn’t a sense of time being suspended to sit and wallow in grief. Instead, I found the narrator’s awareness of the persistence of time to be refreshing—even moving—with how he thought about the past, present, and future.

I did feel the novel was a bit too meandering at times, yet at the same time, isn’t that precisely what it’s like to deal with grief and contemplating its presence?