The Shape of the Ruins
Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019
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- 34,99 lei
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- 34,99 lei
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019
"Like Don DeLillo's JFK-themed Libra, the novel is an intoxicating blend of fact and fiction" Glasgow Herald
"A masterful writer" Nicole Krauss
"Vasquez has succeeded García Márquez as the literary grandmaster of Colombia" Ariel Dorfman, New York Review of Books
"A dazzlingly choreographed network of echoes and mirrorings" T.L.S.
It takes the form of personal and formal investigations into two political assassinations - the murders of Rafael Uribe Uribe in 1914, the man who inspired García Márquez's General Buendia in One Hundred Years of Solitude, and of the charismatic Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the man who might have been Colombia's J.F.K., gunned down on the brink of success in the presidential elections of 1948. Separated by more than 30 years, the two murders at first appear unconnected, but as the novel progresses Vásquez reveals how between them they contain the seeds of the violence that has bedevilled Colombia ever since.
The Shape of the Ruins is Vásquez's most ambitious, challenging and rewarding novel to date. His previous novel, The Sound of Things Falling, won Spain's Alfaguara Prize, Italy's Von Rezzori Prize and the 2014 Dublin IMPAC literary Award.
Winner of the Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa 2018
Finalist for the Bienal de Novela Mario Vargas Llosa 2016
Finalist for the Premio Bottari Lattes Grinzane 2017
Finalist for the Prix Fémina
Finalist for the Prix Médicis
Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Colombian novelist V squez (Reputations) is author, narrator, and protagonist of this clever, complex novel about political crimes, cover-ups, conspiracies, and conspiracy theories. In 2005, V squez meets conspiracy enthusiast Carlos Carballo at a respected Bogot surgeon's home. Carballo voices suspicions regarding 9/11, Princess Di, and V squez's uncle. During their next encounter, Carballo reveals obsessions with assassinations, Orson Welles, and writing a novel. When the surgeon asks V squez to befriend Carballo in order to find out if Carballo has stolen assassination artifacts from the surgeon's collection, V squez makes a guest appearance on Carballo's talk radio program, then agrees to write the novel Carballo envisions, which will expose links between Colombian conservatives and two assassinations: presidential candidate Jorge Eli cer Gait n (1948) and General Rafael Uribe Uribe (1914). As he explores suppressed evidence, vanished witnesses, and distorted reports, V squez is left with more questions than answers. The novel, bolstered by humor and irony, includes photos, literary references, and intimate family moments, but the most memorable passages depict the assassinations and their aftermath. V squez's captivating, disquieting account of a writer's journey through the shadowy terrain of his country's past dynamically illustrates how violence damages survivors, lies erode society, and fiction can convey truths history omits.
