Die, Lady, Die
Alejandro Lopez
Reviewed by Barb Radmore
Die, Lady, Die is a deceptive title for this multi-level glimpse of a
life lived in the adoration of pop culture. It examines the horrific
effect of mass media on one unstable girl. This is an
almost comically over blown story of what happens when the daily grind
of a dysfunctional life becomes becomes too much for one teenager. .
When imagination and dreams collide with reality for Esperanza Hoberal
the results are never what she expects. As an over weight girl who is
an only remaining twin, fatherless and estranged from her mother, she
is consumed by the desire to have Ricky Martin's baby. Her life
is lived on that premise- from Menudo to adulthood, Ricky has,
unknowingly to him, controlled her life. This adoration and absence of
a solid base in her life causes a trail of death as reality explodes
Esperanza's dreams. The beat of a butterfly's wings or the rip of
a picture can be the end of life for those around her when they
interfere with her plans.
It is a look at the common perception of beauty that takes an
appearance focussed teen age girl from a sympathetic character to
monster. The role media's portrayal of beauty becomes twisted as
Esperanza proves herself to be ugly, inside and out. The extremes of
the story are what give it strength. Lopez takes what could be a
commonplace dissertation on the evils of pop culture and turns it into
a powerful, hard hitting speech on the dangers of our modern
fascination
with the famous, with the popular.
Published by Aliform Publishers who specialize in Latin American
literature, Die, Lady, Die is a translation of the debut work of
Argentinean author Alejandro Lopez. It crosses all cultural
boundaries with its hard hitting look at the effect of mass media as it
permeates every day life.