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CM . . .
. Volume XII Number 18 . . . .May 12, 2006
excerpt:
Being bitten at eight years of age by El Niño, the “belligerent” yet adored pet badger of Nobel Laureate, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, is one of the childhood memories that Poli Délano remembers about the “things that happened in those days” when he and his parents lived for a while on an old estate near Mexico City with the “eccentric” poet and his wealthy Argentinian wife, Delia del Carril. When I Was a Boy Neruda Called Me Policarpo is Poli Délano’s memoir of some very unusual adventures he had as a young boy with the fun-loving man he called “my Tío Pablo.” In recalling their experiences together, the author, whose real name is Enrique Délano Falcón, surmises that, because Neruda was a poet, “maybe that’s why he was given to doing odd things,” notably, buying an embalmed kangaroo and a skull small enough to have been a child’s; serving ants under the guise of caviar to his wife (also known as Tía Hormiguita which means “ant”); and taking all-day trips on Sundays to a town called Cuernavaca to eat iguana at Neruda’s favourite restaurant. Délano, who still goes by “Policarpo” or “Poli,” the nickname that Neruda gave him before he was born, writes about growing up in the lavish and outlandish lifestyle that his parents and the Nerudas led as Chilean diplomats during the mid-1930s to mid-1940s. He remembers listening to adult conversations at parties and poetry readings about noted poets and how World War II was progressing; dancing to the music of marimba players; dropping in on friends of Tío Pablo, one in particular, a painter who had about fifty Pekinese dogs and served his guests juice made from the Jamaica flower; going someplace new every weekend with his Tío Pablo and Tía Delia to look at “weird junk” at the market; finding out that the “tastiest bit” of human flesh is the meaty part of the hand; and watching a spider fight (bets were made) between a “portentous walking stick” and a “pampered pet tarantula” named Renata. Délano also reminisces about what he learned from his Tío Pablo especially about eating. Neruda, who had “pretty strange tastes” and a “fondness” for such exotic delicacies as bear meat, roasted goat and monkey, fish eggs, Chinese snakes, Japanese insects, and quail eggs suggested to his “Poli” that “it is good to try everything,” even fried worms and grasshoppers which Délano says he found disgusting, “but only a little.” Although Tío Pablo taught him other fun things, for instance how to swim; how to catch bugs and insects; and how to look for flora and fauna in the sea, perhaps the most important lesson the author learned from his mentor was that not all children were as privileged as he was. In the final chapter entitled, “Like Taking a Bone from a Dog,” Délano talks about being bullied and getting beaten up by several boys for invading their territory when, wanting to earn some spending money to buy a fountain pen and a watch, he stole their idea of selling chewing gum in front of the local cinema and looking after the cars of theatre goers. He remembers Tío Pablo telling him, “If this had happened among gangsters, they would have killed you without a second thought” and then Tía Delia further explaining to him that the other boys were trying to make money out of necessity to support their families not to buy “possessions” as Délano had intended to do.
Overall, it is doubtful that Délano’s memoir has enough appeal to hold the interest of, or to make the cultural connection with the publisher’s intended North American young audience. One wonders if Délano wrote this book for children in the first place. Is the voice of “Poli” that of a young Chilean boy sharing his experiences with other children, or is it the adult voice of Délano remembering his boyhood adventures? When I Was a Boy Neruda Called Me Policarpo seems to be a trip down memory lane for “baby boomers” who can reminisce with the author about cowboy and Indian movies and the news reels that preceded them, Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger, the Lone Ranger, Tarzan, Adams gum, Scheaffer fountain pens, and Omega watches. Children who have or have had a special relationship with a grown up may relate to “Poli,” and perhaps they may think his adventures with his Tío Pablo were neat and cool. However, they never have a chance to be part of “Poli’s” life and sadly, in the end, they are left out. Not recommended. Lois Brymer is a former publicist and recent graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Master of Arts in Children’s Literature Program.
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Visually the book has “pick up” appeal. The cover illustration, which looks like an acrylic painting, captures the “joie de vivre” of the characters with Délano as a boy sitting in the middle of his parents. Eyes are focused respectfully on and toasting a standing Pablo Neruda. All are oblivious to the mischievous badger, El Niño, who is in the background eating his way through a book and a rug. There is a playfulness to Mexican illustrator Manuel Monroy’s folk art style that reflects the intended spirit of the book and the characters’ lifestyle.