The House on the Beach

As its title suggests, this novel by the Mexican writer Garcia Ponce makes perfect summer reading. The narrative describes a world in which everything and nothing happens at the same time and can be read either simply for the story, or, if a reader feels ambitious, for its insights into Mexican society during the 1960s. The narrator, Elena, a young lawyer from Mexico City, visits her school friend Marta whom she hasn't seen in years. Now married, Marta lives beside the ocean in provincial Yucatan with her husband Eduardo. Elena soon becomes aware of the deep tension and unhappiness between Marta and Eduardo and, to complicate things further, she falls in love with Rafael, Eduardo's oldest friend. Written in 1966, but translated into English for the first time as part of the Texas Pan American Series, the novel explores the pull of convention: each character is trapped in a web of family duty and tradition. Garcia Ponce writes simple, sharply edged sentences; and, though his characters sometimes seem overly disingenous, he consistently conveys the oppressive heat and erotic tension engulfing this foursome of friends and lovers. Garcia Ponce has a painter's eye for the surrounding landscape, and the cumulative effect of his meticulously described scenes is a little like scrutinizing a medieval Flemish painting--there are moments when every detail shimmers with crystalline elegance. (Aug.)