From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Synopses & Reviews
Highway is a late-in-life world traveller, yarn spinner, collector, and
legendary auctioneer. His most precious possessions are the teeth of the
‘notorious infamous’ like Plato, Petrarch, and Virginia Woolf. Written
in collaboration with the workers at a Jumex juice factory, Teeth is an elegant, witty, exhilarating romp through the industrial suburbs of Mexico City and Luiselli’s own literary influences.
Review
“The Story of My Teeth is an elegant, witty romp through the industrial suburbs of Mexico City and Luiselli’s own literary influences.” Shelf Awareness
Review
“Luiselli follows in the imaginative tradition of writers like Borges
and Márquez, but her style and concerns are unmistakably her own. This
deeply playful novel is about the passion and obsession of collecting,
the nature of storytelling, the value of objects, and the complicated
bonds of family. . . Luiselli has become a writer to watch, in part
because it’s truly hard to know (but exciting to wonder about) where she
will go next.” The New York Times
Review
“A lively, loopy experimental novel rich with musings on language, art,
and, yes, teeth. . . the whole book is a kind of extended commentary on
how possessions acquire value largely through the stories we tell about
them. . . A clever philosophical novel that, as the author puts it, has
‘less to do with lying than surpassing the truth.’” Kirkus, starred review
Review
“One of the most unforgettable images in any book this year is that of
Gustavo ‘Highway’ Sánchez Sánchez, the protagonist of Luiselli’s
delightfully unclassifiable novel, walking around the streets of Mexico
City, smiling at people with the teeth of Marilyn Monroe installed in
his mouth . . . surprising and charming . . . It’s difficult not to
follow wherever it takes you.” Publishers Weekly, starred and boxed review
About the Author
Valeria Luiselli: Valeria Luiselli was born Mexico City and 1983 and grew up in South Africa. A novelist (Faces in the Crowd) and essayist (Sidewalks), her work has been translated into many languages and has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the New Yorker, Granta, and McSweeney's. In 2014, Faces in the Crowd was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award. Her forthcoming novel, The Story of My Teeth, will be available from Coffee House Press in fall 2015.