Mexican writer and journalist Juan Villoro has become widely known after he received the Herralde Prize for his novel El testigo. (Photo credit: Embassy of Mexico in Vietnam)

“Few things interest me as much as the adventure of reading and people’s relationship with books. I have spent my life searching for, losing, lending, and trying to recover books. Living with books leads you to think that they have a life of their own, not only because inside them dwells the voice that wrote them, but because they seem to approach or move away from readers as if to reward or repudiate them. Suddenly, the book I have been looking for years appears in front of me as if only now it considered me worthy of reading it. My peculiar relationship with books led me to imagine a book that has never been read and is running away from readers, hidden in a library. That was the seed of ‘The Wild Book’.”

Juan Villoro, one of Mexico’s most prolific, prize-winning contemporary writers, recalled how he began writing “The Wild Book”.

Villoro has authored nearly 50 works across diverse genres including fiction, nonfiction, essays, theatre, and literary journalism. He is the recipient of 16 major Spanish-language literary awards, including the prestigious Herralde Prize in 2004 and the King of Spain International Journalism Award in 2010.

Talking about “The Wild Book”, Villoro admits he had long overlooked young adolescents, the middle ground between children and adults, until a publisher commissioned him to write for younger readers. He took on the challenge as a game, wrote “The secret candies”, and thought it would be his only foray into the genre.

But in 1992, with the novel “Professor Zipper and the fabulous electric guitar”, he was captivated by reaching out an audience that accepts fantasy but wants it to happen in a rigorous way. And by that way, “The wild book” was born, said the writer. 

Aimed at readers aged 10 and up, the book follows the story of 13-year-old Juan who confronts a harrowing summer: his parents’ divorce, his mother lost in smoke and drink, and his father exiled to Paris.

Exiled himself to his uncle’s house, a lone eccentric surrounded by towers of books, Juan expects boredom. Instead, he finds the volumes alive, shifting when unobserved. Even more mysterious is the legend of a manuscript never read, never completed, never published: “The Wild Book”.

“The Wild Book” is said a magical tribute to reading and written for young readers but resonating far beyond age. (Photo credit: Embassy of Mexico in Vietnam)

Although the protagonist of “The Wild Book” is a 13-year-old boy, it doesn’t mean the book is only for young teenagers, said Villoro.

“Indeed, the protagonist is 13 years old and, in principle, that’s the age of most of the readers of ‘The Wild Book’, an age at which many things can be discovered, such as loneliness, the distance of a loved one, or a passion for books,” said Villoro, adding, “But adult readers have also enjoyed this story. In Spain it was published in a collection titled ‘The Three Ages’, which alludes to the fact that a good book can be appropriate for any age.”

The novel’s blend of adventure and magic gives a deep value to reading, imagination, and literature’s power to heal wounds. Its universal resonance explains its global success, and why Vietnamese readers, too, are poised to embrace it, the author added.

“Readers connect with a story where the protagonist is looking for a fugitive book. The protagonist is the same as the reader, who is looking to find out what the book in his hands is about. Reading becomes an investigation, and the reader participates in the same adventure as the protagonist,” according to writer Villoro.

He went on to say the addition the book is being adapted into a feature film and he is much looking forward to it.

“The actor Gael García Bernal, one of Mexico's best-known actors, read the book when he was a teenager and never forgot it. Over the years he also became a film producer and director. He bought the rights to the book and already has a script ready to be filmed soon,” the author recalled.

First published in Mexico with 1.5 million copies sold, the book has been translated into German, Russian, French, Turkish, Chinese, Arabic, Italian, English, Portuguese, and even Braille. Now “The Wild Book” has arrived in Vietnamese. From now on, you can look for “The Wild Book” at bookstores and online retailers nationwide.