Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Described as "a literary atomic bomb" (Luisan Gamez), the Mexican literary star Emiliano Monge's English-language debut is the Latin American incarnation of Cormac McCarthy: an artistically daring, gorgeously wrought and eviscerating novel of biblical violence as told through the story of a man "who, unbeknownst to him, was his century." "This is the story of a man who, unbeknownst to him, was his century, and of a place gathered under the name of German Alcantara Carnero. A story of violence both uncontainable and natural--one that demands to be told as a nonlinear biography, and which should not have begun here."
These lines open The Arid Sky, the story of German Alcantara Carnero, of the men and women who lived by his side, and of the plateau where Mexican literary rising star Emiliano Monge distills the essence of a ruthless Latin America. This is an arid land whose only constants are loneliness, violence, loyalty, and the struggle to create an ethical code that will return some small measure of meaning to life.
Narrating the signature moments of German's life--the escape of men to other countries, the interminable war, the disappearance of a young girl, the disenchantment of believers, the confrontation between a father and his son, the birth of a sick child, the loaded chamber of a gun, and murder--The Arid Sky is a journey to the core of humankind and a challenge of the kind only great literature can pose to its readers.
"Whoever nears these pages would do well to follow the advice Dante famously encountered as he passed through the gates of hell: 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here'"--Fernando Castenedo, Babelia
Synopsis
"This dark, sprawling novel is the English language debut of Emiliano Monge, a Mexican writer who is often compared to the US literary superstar Cormac McCarthy. Written in a tone that evokes McCarthy's unrelenting classic Blood Meridian, the novel tells the story of Germ n Alc ntara Carnero, a dangerous campesino fighting to survive in rural 20th century Mexico, and also a metaphor for the spiraling violence of contemporary Mexican society." --Culture Trip Set on a desolate, unnamed mesa, Emiliano Monge's The Arid Sky distills the essence of a Latin America ruthlessly hollowed out by uncontainable violence. This is an unsparing yet magnificent land, whose only constants are loneliness, hatred, loyalty, and the struggle to return some small measure of meaning to life.
Thundering and inventive, The Arid Sky narrates the signature moments in the life of Germ n Alcantara Carnero: a man who is both exaltedly, viscerally real and is an ageless, nameless being capable of embodying entire eras, cultures, and conflicts. Monge's roadmap--an escape across borders, the disappearance of a young girl, the confrontation between a father and his son, the birth of a sick child, and murder--takes readers on a journey to the core of humankind that posits a challenge of the kind only great literature can pose.