Staff Pick
A dark, foreboding novel of shadow, insinuation, and institutional depravity, Sara Mesa’s Four by Four (translated from the Spanish by Katie Whittemore) is the tale of fictional Wybrany College, where the progeny of both the well-to-do and the needy comingle — and where everything seems just ever so slightly off. With its eerie tableaus, perfect pacing, and suspenseful storytelling arc, Mesa’s story is at once deeply unsettling and uncannily realistic. Exposing it all for the world at-large to see, Four by Four reveals the thin veneer of venerability to be hiding something altogether menacing and utterly unforgivable. Recommended By Jeremy G., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Set entirely at Wybrany College — a school where the wealthy keep their kids safe from the chaos erupting in the cities — Four by Four
is a novel of insinuation and gossip, in which the truth about
Wybrany's "program" is always palpable, but never explicit. The
mysteries populating the novel open with the disappearance of one of the
"special" scholarship students. As the first part unfolds, it becomes
clear that all is not well in Wybrany, and that something more sordid
lurks beneath the surface.
In the second part — a diary written by an imposter who has
infiltrated the school as a substitute teacher — the eerie sense of
what's happening in this space removed from society, becomes even more
acute and sinister.
An exploration of the relationship between the powerful and
powerless — and the repetition of these patterns — Mesa's "sophisticated
nightmare" calls to mind great works of gothic literature (think Shirley
Jackson) and social thrillers to create a unique, unsettling view of
freedom and how a fear of the outside world can create monsters.
Review
“With short, propulsive chapters, Sara Mesa creates an unforgettable gothic landscape, centered on the mysterious and menacing Wybrany College, that twists in ways that unsettle and thrill. In Four by Four, Mesa’s sentences are clear as glass, but when you look through you will be terrified by what you see.” Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel
Review
“The atmospheric unraveling of the mystery will keep you turning the page; the ending will leave you stunned — Mesa’s Four by Four is a tautly written literary thriller that juxtaposes the innocence of children with the fetish of control; a social parable that warns against the silence of oppression and isolation through its disquieting, sparse prose.” Kelsey Westenberg, Seminary Co-op
Review
“Very few authors evoke a visceral reaction with prose in the way that Sara Mesa does... Four by Four sounds an alarm on the dangers of power, privilege, and the self-delusions told in order to hide complicity. A work of high gothic art, Four by Four solidifies Mesa as one of the strongest female voices in contemporary Spanish literature.” Cristina Rodriguez, Deep Vellum Books
Review
"This is a linguistically
precise, stylistically spare and emotionally devastating look at the
corrosive effect of abuse and power imbalance, perfect for fans of
Shirley Jackson and Samanta Schweblin."
Cindy Pauldine, Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)
Review
"Mesa presents a painful exploration of inequity, cruelty, and the immeasurable cost of belonging." Terry Hong, Booklist
Review
"A meticulously constructed and chilling study of desire and influence."
Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Like Buñuel's
Exterminating Angel, or even Bong Joon-ho's
Parasite, the rich are left rotting in a swamp of their own design....Four by Four is an uncomfortably real look into the absurd world
of the bourgeoisie. It is so complex and layered that, to reach a full
understanding, one may have to read it two or even three times. Not a
single character, after all, is what they seem."
Noelle Mcmanus, The Women's Review of Books
About the Author
Sara Mesa is the author of eight works of fiction, including Scar (winner of the Ojo Critico Prize), Four by Four (a finalist for the Herralde Prize), An Invisible Fire (winner of the Premio Málaga de Novela), and Cara de Pan. Her works have been translated into more than ten different languages, and has been widely praised for her concise, sharp writing style.
Katie Whittemore is graduate of the University of NH (BA), Cambridge University (M.Phil), and Middlebury College (MA), and was a 2018 Bread Loaf Translators Conference participant. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Two Lines, The Arkansas International, The Common Online, Gulf Coast Magazine Online, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail, and InTranslation. Current projects include novels by Spanish authors Sara Mesa, Javier Serena, and Aliocha Coll, Aroa Moreno Durán, and Nuria Labari.