The Private Lives of Trees
by Alejandro Zambra

Translated by Megan McDowell

It is late and Verónica, Julián’s wife, is not yet home from art class. Julián, a professor for six days a week, a writer on Sunday, lulls his stepdaughter Daniela to sleep with improvised stories about the unlikely friendship and surreal conversations between a poplar tree and a baobab. As the night progresses, Julián becomes increasingly convinced that Verónica will not be returning home. He muses on their relationship, their past, but also Daniela’s future – which might very possibly be without her mother.

Alejandro Zambra’s novella, beautifully translated by Megan McDowell, is based on a banal premise which, in a world of smartphones and instant messages and chats, is also rather difficult to believe. Yet, this is a strangely intriguing work, propelled by an underlying sense of playful humour.  Consider this passage, which is a good example of the gently ironical narrative voice:

Then came the phone calls back and forth, Verónica’s recriminations, Fernando’s convoluted explanations and the friendly maneuverings of Julián, who, as usual, found himself obliged to act as their mediator. He said to Fernando in a conciliatory tone: You know how Verónica is. Which wasn’t true by any means – Fernando knew how to confront difficult clients, he knew how to negotiate good prices and he even knew how to play a little Heitor Villa-Lobos on the guitar, but he certainly didn’t know how Verónica was. He never got to know her, since their marriage lasted barely three months, or almost a hundred days, as Fernando often specified...

The novella’s “playfulness” is also evident in its meta-literary structure.  This is a novel about stories – not just the stories about the “private lives of trees” which Julián makes up for Daniela, but also the personal history/ies of the protagonists, the unfinished novel which Julián wants to write, and the imagined story of adult Daniela, which starts off as Julián’s fantasy as he waits for Verónica to come home, but ultimately threatens to derail the narrative. 

I found this an enjoyable book and an appetising introduction to an author whose works I will look out for.

First published January 1, 2007

Expected publication

February 7, 2023 by Fitzcarraldo Editions