Synopses & Reviews
"Since they shot her at point-blank range while she was being kissed, she confused the pain of love with that of death."
Rosario Tijeras is the violent, violated character at the center of Jorge Franco's study of contrasts, set in self-destructing 1980s Medellín. Her very name-evoking the rosary, and scissors-bespeaks her conflict as a woman who becomes a contract killer to insulate herself from the random violence of the streets. Then she is shot, gravely wounded, and the circle of contradiction is closed.
From the corridors of the hospital where Rosario is fighting for her life, Antonio, the narrator, waits to learn if she will recover. Through him, we reconstruct the friendship between the two, her love story with Emilio, and her life as a hitwoman.
Rosario Tijeras has been recognized as an admirable continuation of a literary subject that was first treated by Gabriel García Márquez and then by Fernando Vallejo. A work in the Latin American social realist tradition, Rosario Tijeras is told in fast and vibrant prose and with poetic flourish.
From the Hardcover edition.
Review
"An intense, raw portrait of lamour fou." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Undeniably powerful." Timothy Peters, San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"An important addition to literature in the Latin American social realist tradition, and the authors fluid and vibrant prose will surely capture readers of all backgrounds." Carmen Opsina, Criticas
Review
"This is one of the Colombian authors I would like to pass the torch to." Gabriel Garcîa Mårquez
Synopsis
Since they shot her at point-blank range while she was being kissed, she confused the pain of death with that of love. So begins
Rosario Tijeras, Jorge Franco's eponymous novel of a violent, violated woman on the run in 1980s Medellin, Colombia. Her name evoking the rosary and scissors bespeaks her conflict as a woman who becomes a contract killer to insulate herself from the random violence of the streets.
Winner of Colombia's Dashiell Hammett Prize (2000), Rosario Tijeras is a work in the Latin American social realist tradition, possessed of fast and vibrant prose and poetic flourish. It has sold over 100,000 copies in Colombia alone. Translation by Gregory Rabassa, winner of the National Book Award for his rendering of Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch.
Synopsis
"This is one of the Colombian authors I would like to pass the torch to."-Gabriel Garcia Marquez
About the Author
Born in Medellín, Colombia, in 1962, Jorge Franco studied film at the London International Film School and Literature at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. He began his career as a writer in 1991 and was awarded the Pedro Gómez Valderrama National Narrative prize for a collection of short stories entitled Maldito Amor. His first novel, Mala Noche, won the Ciudad de Pereira National Novel Competition. His latest book is Paraíso Travel. Franco is considered one of the youngest writers of note in Latin America, and one who has already earned a prominent place alongside several world-renowned Colombian writers.