Good Fortune: A Review of Souvenirs from Mar del Plata by Marina Caamaño

Cover designed by María Ortiz Byrne

I was delighted when Nate Perkins at Trident Press reached out to me about reviewing Souvenirs from Mar del Plata by Marina Caamaño.  Trident puts a lot of care into what they publish, offering readers a unique blend of thought provoking, fun, and creative works. It’s probably because they have a strong community reputation in Boulder, Colorado.  They are not a press that exists only on the internet.  Trident began in 1980 as a bookstore, run by a couple of Buddhists.  Then they added a coffee shop and in 2017 they began publishing books.  Today they are an employee-owned business. Souvenirs from Mar del Plata is the English translation of Marina Caamaño’s book Recuerdos de Mar del Plata, released in 2020. The translation was done by Nate and Marina.  I have not read much by Marina.  She lives on an island off the coast of Brazil and most of her work is published in Spanish and English.   

  The cover of this book is quite striking.  It is a cartoon drawing of a yellow rubber duck with long eyelashes splashing in blue water.  This duck is set against a backdrop of a pink sheet of LSD.  The LSD sheet has the same yellow duck image repeating all down the cover except those ducks are splashing in red water.  I love this cover because once I finished the book, I felt the image could be interpreted in different ways.

            Souvenirs from Mar del Plata is a story about four women in their early twenties on a weekend trip to the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina.  It begins with Carolina planning an LSD trip with her friend Romina.  Romina is going to a film festival that weekend with two other friends, Naty and Sol. She turns Carolina down and instead invites her to the film festival with the group.  Carolina accepts and brings the LSD with her in case a moment arrives for them to trip.  They share the car ride to the festival and a weekend apartment there.

            The plot has little to do with what films they see.  Told through Carolina’s observations, it’s about the interpersonal dynamics between the four women, and highlights the socioeconomic differences in Argentina.  Not everyone in the group is as free-spirited as Carolina, who is there to have a fun weekend getaway.  There are encounters with fortune tellers (gitanas), many liters of beer and wine drank, and some karaoke.  Through all this, a sense of camaraderie is achieved.  Carolina’s narration is funny and sharp witted.  Filled with relatable scenes like being locked out of an apartment after a long night of partying, awkward conversations with strangers, or dealing with a friend who is sick on vacation.  The story culminates in an unforeseeable circumstance that tests their friendship and questions their maturity.       

              Throughout this book I felt like I was watching an indie film, the type bound to be added to the Criterion Collection.  It is comedic and sincere, I enjoyed every page.  Marina’s descriptions of the people and settings with small details made it feel like I was in Mar del Plata.  That, and the fluid shift between Carolina’s internal monologue and the group dialogue, make this book a fun read.  Marina’s writing style reminds me of writers such as Ann Beattie, Fredrick Barthelme, and Raymond Carver.  It is a great combination of realism and minimalism.  I look forward to reading more of Marina’s work.

The book is not very long, 100 pages, and like any weekend getaway it comes to an end quicker than you want.  The best part is not the physical souvenirs from the trip, but the lasting memories made from it.  This book can be preordered now from Trident press at tridentcafe.com  It will be released on April 22.