Rio San Pedro is an odd and fascinating autobiographical novel, a tale of pining and loneliness, based on the author’s experiences in the El Petén jungle of Guatemala in the 1950s. Stranded and almost destitute in this remote and abandoned corner of the world, the author has turned to an unusual pursuit in order to survive: the hunting of the Central American crocodile, Crocodylus moreleti.
Rich with the sights, sounds and smells of the jungle; sometimes comical, sometimes sad and melancholy, the narrator alternates between pensive reflectiveness, wry self-deprecation at his youthful folly, and regret at a way of life lost forever. Additionally, there is a genuine historical value to the novel. Of late, oil companies have penetrated into the region, as well as guided tours to the many Mayan ruins that until recently had remained covered by the jungle growth for over a thousand years. The El Petén so vividly described by the author, with the way of life of its inhabitants and the way of life of a crocodile hunter, perhaps no longer exists.
“There is a wonderful sense of presence in this novel…”
Jonathan Galassi, of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
