Michel Nieva demonstrates real bravery in his debut novel, Dengue Boy. The Argentinian author was voted among Granta magazine’s Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists and Dengue Boy is evidence why. It’s a bizarre but utterly compelling short novel set in the dystopian future of Argentina in 2272 where much of the world is flooded and the remainder is plagued by disease and despair, most of which is brought on itself by humanity.
Into this world steps Dengue Boy, a humanoid mosquito ridiculed by his human classmates at school, who eventually takes horrible revenge on them, and that’s just the start of the weirdness. The narrative switches between disparate characters as the story takes in a stock exchange for gambling on pandemics and violent virtual realities that merge with the real world.
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The action moves from the Patagonian archipelago to the Antarctic Caribbean, and a final showdown mixes the personal and political, part body-horror, part ludicrous, over-the-top satire.
This is a propulsive novel with a relentless pace, throwing literary allusions and gory madness at the reader. Nieva targets ridiculous and exploitative late-capitalist practices; CEOs laugh as the world burns and people die in their droves. It’s not subtle, but it’s wonderfully entertaining.
Dengue Boyby Michel Nieva is out now (Serpent’s Tail, £12.99). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.
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