Overread and Understood - Literature Reviews from the NYC Subway #1

This is the first in an ongoing series where I will read what other people are reading on the subway and then write up a short review based on my assumptions.

Book: Las Cincos Personas Que Encontras En El Cielo/The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Spanish Language) by Mitch Albom

Train: F

Spot: Between 50th and 57th St.

Time: 7:30 PM

My grip on the Spanish language is loosening by the day. I took four years of advanced Spanish in high school and a semester in college, so right after that I thought I could hold my own. I wasn’t very comfortable with native speakers, but I had a decent vocabulary and could conjugate verbs like no one’s business. And my choice of “Por” or “Para” was also spot on.

Since that last college course, I’ve used Spanish only sparingly, usually in desperate Mexican food ordering situations. Coincidentally, my Spanish has steadily deteriorated at the same time.

But I can still read it well enough to get by, or so I thought.

I sat down next to the plump woman and casually glanced over her shoulder. The train was crowded on a Friday night. Although I didn’t see the the cover, I saw the name Mitch Albom at the top of the page and the Spanish language title on the opposite page. If I didn't understand the title immediately, the Albom name helped me along. I thought about how this text was definitely bullshit in any language and wished she were reading something better.

I didn’t understand as much as I thought I would. My Spanish desperately needs a refresher course. Or maybe I was just nervous since this was my first Overread, and I was glancing more than concentrating on reading.

I did pick up on a character named “Eddie"; apparently, the names are all still in English. I thought about how easy it would have been to change it to “Eduardo,” and found this choice discouraging, if not offensive. Are the publishers claiming Christianity for the white man? Or is Albom such a man of artistic principle that he could not bear to change his original vision of the “Eddie” character?

After a half-page of gibberish, the woman started waving the book around like a fan and making eyes in my general direction. Good thing it was time to get off the train.