A review by jaykeim
The Gods of Tango, by Carolina De Robertis
5.0
“Every person has a story as long as the ocean.”
“Yes! You’re right! I’ve crossed the ocean —“
“I’ve never seen it.”
“It’s beautiful. It’s terrible. It goes on and on. That’s the version of your story I want.”
Carolina de Robertis’ The Gods of Tango tells the sensual, queer story of tango - the dance and the melody between surviving and living, promise and secret, longing and surrender, outcast and belonging, pretending and telling your truth, hiding your body and showing your soul. The beautiful language was my leading partner while reading Lepa’s/Dante’s story and left me in tears after the music faded.
“She buried her desire but couldn’t kill it. The urge sat beneath her skin, like the urge to tear a scab off and damn how it heals, damn the scar it leaves, better to let the broken flesh hit air, to tell the truth of your life no matter the cost so that even if it kills you, at least, after you die, the story of your days won’t completely disappear from the earth. Just one person can do that, can, by listening, make your story exist beyond your skin.”
“Yes! You’re right! I’ve crossed the ocean —“
“I’ve never seen it.”
“It’s beautiful. It’s terrible. It goes on and on. That’s the version of your story I want.”
Carolina de Robertis’ The Gods of Tango tells the sensual, queer story of tango - the dance and the melody between surviving and living, promise and secret, longing and surrender, outcast and belonging, pretending and telling your truth, hiding your body and showing your soul. The beautiful language was my leading partner while reading Lepa’s/Dante’s story and left me in tears after the music faded.
“She buried her desire but couldn’t kill it. The urge sat beneath her skin, like the urge to tear a scab off and damn how it heals, damn the scar it leaves, better to let the broken flesh hit air, to tell the truth of your life no matter the cost so that even if it kills you, at least, after you die, the story of your days won’t completely disappear from the earth. Just one person can do that, can, by listening, make your story exist beyond your skin.”