‘Dengue Boy’ Is the Weird, Fleshy Novel You Need Right Now
1 min read
Summary
Dengue Boy, a new novel by Argentine author Michel Nieva, is set in a possible future where Antarctica’s ice caps have melted, leaving much of the planet underwater.
The protagonist is a mosquito-human hybrid who may be the result of a genetic experiment or corporate atrocity; in the novel’s version of Argentina, such monsters are not uncommon.
The few remaining humans are divided into those who try to live in the wreckage of the natural world and those who escape into virtual reality, whose inhabitants are known as “snowbirds.”
The book draws on a range of genres, including body horror, climate fiction, and surrealism, and is full of vivid depictions of bodily transformations and evolutions.
It also offers a critique of the kinds of people who profit from, and vie for power in, a deeply unequal and unsustainable world.
Although the book is translated from Spanish, the translator himself admits that it’s hard to know what to call the book, and it resists straightforward classification.