Original language: English
Original title: Razorblade Tears
Year of publication: 2021
Translation: Miguel Sanz Jimenez
Valuation: It is easy to read (although it is entertaining)
Tears like razors It is as entertaining and enjoyable as it is stereotyped and predictable. Although this definition does not do justice to SA Cosby’s crime novel; And even though it abounds in lightness and clichés, it also does so in moving scenes, protagonists who are likeable and a certain subtext related to racism or LGTBI discrimination that thickens its themes. Therefore, it is a “bestseller” of a somewhat formulaic genre that at the same time exhibits a little bit of ambition.
It’s about Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-convicts, one black and one white, who join forces to avenge the murder of their children, a gay couple who became involved with a powerful person. Over the course of the story, both parents will forge a close friendship and deal with their return to crime, the pain of loss, the remorse of having been disastrous parents, and the acceptance of alternative sexual orientations.
The prose of Tears like razors It is functional and effective. Likewise, it gives a good rhythm to the whole. However, at times it seems excessively shorthand, as it skimps on descriptions (especially of settings or atmospheres); To this we must add that he uses somewhat crude similes (a wound that “cried like a bride with a broken heart”, a car “green as money”, etc…).
On the other hand, the message of Tears like razors It’s not exactly subtle, but it doesn’t insult the reader’s intelligence either, given that it is linked to the character arc of Ike and Buddy Lee, in addition to establishing a parallel between their children and the elusive Tangerine.
As a curiosity: I have detected that Miguel Sanz Jiménez has taken a license on page 208 when translating the work. And while the original says “woman with the most severe I want to speak with the manager haircut he’d ever seen”, a passage whose meaning is difficult to translate into Spanish, Jiménez gets by with “the typical appearance of a boring lady.
Summarizing: Tears like razors It is the kind of genre “bestseller” that can be read in one sitting, but it is also a work whose qualities make it stand out from the average. I sincerely believe that, although it cannot be claimed as a memorable, complex or profound fiction, it exhibits more than enough merits to entertain us for an afternoon and even make us reflect briefly. Enough, right?
Source: https://unlibroaldia.blogspot.com/2024/01/s-cosby-lagrimas-como-navajas.html
