In The Immortal Boy, Colombian author Francisco Montaña Ibáñez constructs a harshly authentic story of poverty tempered by sibling love and new friendship. Poet David Bowles (They Call Me Güero) contributes a smooth translation in this first of Ibáñez's books to be published in English in the U.S..
This haunting novel uses alternating chapters, told by a third-person narrator and a first-person narrator, to present two stories recounted in both languages using a double-sided binding. Five motherless children live alone in Bogotá, Colombia. Their father has gone to find work, leaving 13-year-old Hector and 12-year-old Maria in charge of their younger siblings. When their neighbor stops paying them rent and Hector loses his job, Hector falls in with a gang leader who gives him both money and a gun. Hector does his utmost to keep the siblings together while Maria attempts to quell their hunger with meager meals, but David, the next-to-youngest sibling, is always hungry. The second narrative takes place in an orphanage, a short time after Hector commits an unforgivable act; David is known in the orphanage as the Immortal Boy because he has convinced the other children he is immune to bullets. His only friend, Nina, is the first-person narrator, a new girl whose parents are both political prisoners. She hopes that, when her mother is freed, she will adopt David.
The orphanage is an old plantation, bucolic in contrast to the family's urban home. Nina and David's friendship offers welcome relief from the heartbreaking story of the siblings, but it is the strength of the two interwoven narratives that provides a special, albeit very sad, reading experience for mature young people. --Melinda Greenblatt, freelance book reviewer