Irene Solà is a Catalan poet and writer. When I Sing, Mountains Dance is a novel that takes place near a village high in the Pyrenees, with chapters narrated by storm clouds, mushrooms, ghosts, villagers, and visitors. To the extent that it has a story, it concerns the family of a farmer named Domènec who is killed by lightning in the first chapter.
As advertised on the cover, Solà's prose "emits light, hope, and vitality" even in translation. It celebrates the richness of life even when it's recounting a hunting accident or a tragedy from the Spanish Civil War. The best chapters use this bounty to deepen the emotion of an incident, such as Domènec's tragic demise (told from the lightning's point of view), the grief of his widow Sió, or the peevishness of a hiker who finds the town closed for a funeral. However, many chapters feel aimless, with little insight coming from its unusual perspective. The literal poetry in the one chapter narrated by a poet is rather pedestrian (perhaps the fault of the translation?)
In short, Solà has impressive technique, but it's not in service of much depth. The chapters I mentioned above show what's possible when she combines style and substance.
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