Set in the Andalucia region of Spain, Juan Rodrigo is the gravedigger for his small village. His ability with a shovel isn’t his lot in life, but seeing and speaking with the dead. Although a caring and warm-hearted man, Juan’s revelations aren’t always exactly what the surviving members want to hear, especially when details turn…distasteful. It is this ability that has branded him by some as “the man of the devil.” Juan’s response is simply “I can only tell stories that have truth.”
The central story of The Gravedigger isn’t about the wealth of vividly told personal tales conjured up by those he buries, and the sometimes humorous outcomes. They are interspersed throughout the book, and each one holds one of Life’s lessons on the perception of truth. The real story is Juan’s life, told partially through his communications with his late wife, Carlota, who died in childbirth, and partially through the most distressing aspect of this novel. As sad as it may seem, it is not Carlota’s death and her unhappy first marriage, but that of the last grave Juan is digging – for his daughter, Esperanza. Hardheaded and reckless, she recounts her own life as a motherless child, alone except for a horse and Antonio, a Gypsy boy. When she falls in love with Antonio, at the time Juan’s warm-hearted nature was challenged but through his conversations with her, Juan learns his own set of truths.
Evocative of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magical realism, Grandbois’s brilliant narrative is not to be missed by fans of this genre. It is smart yet simple, nostalgic in the right places, and the characters are filled with an array of diverse traits. Told with humor and heart, The Gravedigger is a wonderful example of the art of storytelling.
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Peter Grandbois holds an M.F.A. in fiction from Bennington College and is currently a Ph.D. student in creative writing at the University of Denver. He has lived in Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, Malaga, and Barcelona, but presently resides in Boulder, Colorado.
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC (June 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 0811853500
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