The Dream of My Return

Moya’s (Senselessness) lyrical meditation on memory and loss tells the story of Erasmo Aragon, an exiled journalist in Mexico City who suffers from ambiguous medical symptoms. Aragon visits an acupuncturist and holistic doctor named Don Chente, who prescribes hypnotherapy, with the side effect of producing vivid dreams. As the status quo of his life is disrupted, the narrator of this Bolañoesque novel dreams of leaving Mexico and returning to his native El Salvador. His plans to return, however, are repeatedly interrupted, and he finds himself twisted up in a state of fear and vulnerable paranoia. Further complications arise when the mysterious Don Chente himself flees to El Salvador without telling Aragon what he said while hypnotized. Yet Aragon’s dream is worth the risk of retribution, because it is the dream of all exiles: the return to a new life in a familiar setting. Stories of political turmoil, communism, love affairs, friendships, and family drama weave in and out of Aragon’s quest to escape his own “psychic mechanisms.” In this taut, mesmerizing story of the brain’s far-reaching functions, Moya once again proves to be a master storyteller. (Mar.)