Synopses & Reviews
From one of Colombia’s leading novelists, a tragicomic story of unrequited love and a view of New York through the wide eyes of an illegal immigrant.
Paradise Travel recounts the adventures of Marlon Cruz, a naïve young man from Medellín, Colombia, who agrees to accompany the beautiful, ambitious woman he loves to New York. On their first night in Queens, Marlon and Reina lose each other, thus initiating Marlon’s descent into the underbelly of our country.
A leader of the gritty-realist movement known as McOndo, Jorge Franco evokes the follies and pains of unrequited love at the same time that he explores deeper inequalities between North and South America. Moving between lower-middle-class Colombia and immigrant New York (specifically, the Jackson Heights neighborhood seen recently in the movie Maria Full of Grace), Paradise Travel is an exciting work from a rising star, celebrated by Gabriel García Márquez as “one of those to whom I should like to pass the torch” of Colombian fiction.
Review
"Paradise Travel may not be magical realism, but it is picaresque and romantic, reminding one of Dante and Cervantes." Los Angeles Times
Review
"With Franco's nimble prose, full-bodied characters, and portrayals of the undocumenteds' travel and living conditions, ranging from near horrific to humorous, this is something special." Booklist
Review
"Franco's characteristic McOndo-style realism is balanced by delightful bursts of humor." Libray Journal
Review
"Colombian novelist Franco offers a nuanced account of the immigration experience....High-octane storytelling sad and funny and real." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
With stolen cash and tickets booked through a shady travel agency, Marlon Cruz and his girlfriend, Reina, have smuggled themselves out of Colombia and into the United States. But on their first night in New York City, they lose each other, and Marlon finds himself cast into the city's immigrant underworld, alone. As he searches for Reina in the bars and boarding houses where illegals congregate, the story of their harrowing cross over the border is retold, mapping the arc of a relationship that has transformed him into a reluctant immigrant.
About the Author
Jorge Franco was born in Medellín, Colombia. His books include Rosario Tijeras, Moldito Amor, and Mala Noche.