The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

The Shape of the Ruins
by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
translated by Anne McLean
narrated by Sheldon Romero

Published: Riverhead Books
Publisher: 2018
Genre: Historical, Political, Literary, Columbia
Hardback: 528
Rating: 4
Goodreads

First sentence(s):
The last time I saw him, Carlos Carballo was climbing with difficulty into a police van, his hands cuffed behind his back and his head hunched down between his shoulders, while a news ticker running along the bottom of the screen reported the reason for his arrest: the attempted theft of the serge suit of an assissinated politician.

Zombie sighting:
The extradition treaty between Columbia and the United States signed in 1979 by signed by Jimmy Carter and Julio César Turbay came back out into the streets like a zombie frightening the Narcos.
-part 6, chapter 3

The Shape of the Ruins is a masterly story of conspiracy, political obsession, and literary investigation. When a man is arrested at a museum for attempting to steal the bullet-ridden suit of a murdered Colombian politician, few notice. But soon this thwarted theft takes on greater meaning as it becomes a thread in a widening web of popular fixations with conspiracy theories, assassinations, and historical secrets; and it haunts those who feel that only they know the real truth behind these killings.

This novel explores the darkest moments of a country's past and brings to life the ways in which past violence shapes our present lives. A compulsive read, beautiful and profound, eerily relevant to our times and deeply personal, The Shape of the Ruins is a tour-de-force story by a master at uncovering the incisive wounds of our memories.

My two-bits:
Some history and politics of Argentina as well as assassinations in this story got me thinking of conspiracies.

side note: I ended up looking up speculations surrounding the death of Princess Diana.

~*~
* listened to the audio version

* part of Man Booker International Prize 2019 challenge (here)

* weekly theme: ¡VIVA! Annual Celebration of Latino Hispanic Heritage

Dinner by César Aira

Dinner
by César Aira
translated by Katherine Silver

Published: 2006
Publisher: New Directions Paperback
Genre: Novella, Magical Realism, Zombies, Argentina, Coronel Pringles
Paperback: 101
Rating: 4
Goodreads

First sentence(s):
My friend was home alone, but he invited us over for dinner anyway; he was a very sociable man--liked to talk and tell stories, though he wasn't any good at it; he'd get the episodes mixed up, leave effects without effects, skip over important parts, and drop anecdotes right in the middle.

Was it a nightmare―the result of a bad case of indigestion―or did something truly scary happen after dinner in the Argentine town of Coronel Pringles?

One Saturday night a bankrupt bachelor in his sixties and his mother dine with a wealthy friend. They discuss their endlessly connected neighbors. They talk about a mysterious pit that opened up one day, and the old bricklayer who sometimes walked to the cemetery to cheer himself up. Anxious to show off his valuable antiques, the host shows his guests old windup toys and takes them to admire an enormous doll. Back at home, the bachelor decides to watch some late night TV before retiring. The news quickly takes a turn for the worse as, horrified, the newscaster finds herself reporting about the dead rising from their graves, leaving the cemetery, and sucking the blood of the living―all somehow, disturbingly reminiscent of the dinner party.

My two-bits:
This quick gory zombie feast read got me thinking of the realities of living.

And, what of relationships with people?

~*~
* weekly theme: ¡VIVA! Annual Celebration of Latino Hispanic Heritage

Blog All About It: Shiver

READ:

Shiver: Selected Stories by Junji Itō
translated by Jocelyn Allen, Naomi Kokubo
edited by Masumi Washington
-Short Stories | Goodreads


Shiver sighting:

Last Ones Left Alive
by Sarah Davis-Goff
-Dystopia, Ireland | Goodreads
I shiver.
-chapter 24, page 159


WATCH:

Parasite (2019)
Gisaengchung (original title)
Director/Screenplay: Bong Joon Ho (as Joon-ho Bong)
Screenplay: Jin Won Han
Stars: Kang-ho Song, Yeo-jeong Jo, So-dam Park
-Comedy, Drama, Thriller | imdb | my review

LISTEN:

Tundra by Ola Gjeilo



~*~
* part of the Blog All About It Challenge (here)

* updated 10/28/19

Fox 8 by George Saunders

Fox 8
by George Saunders

Published: 2013
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Short Story, Fantasy
Hardback: 48
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
Deer Reeder: First may I say, sorry for any werds I spel rong.

A darkly comic short story, a fable about the all too real impact that we humans have on the environment

Fox 8 has always been known as the daydreamer in his pack, the one his fellow foxes regarded with a knowing snort and a roll of the eyes. That is, until Fox 8 develops a unique skill: He teaches himself to speak “Yuman” by hiding in the bushes outside a house and listening to children’s bedtime stories. The power of language fuels his abundant curiosity about people—even after “danjer” arrives in the form of a new shopping mall that cuts off his food supply, sending Fox 8 on a harrowing quest to help save his pack.

PeekAbook:

My two-bits:
Although this short tale has a whimsical vibe with fox-speak that causes chuckles, it relays serious warnings.

The illustrations are spot on.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong

Published: 2019
Publisher: Penguin Press
Genre: Literary, Poetry, LGBTQ, Asian American, Vietnamese, Connecticut
Hardback: 246
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
Let me begin again.

Zombie sighting:
Mai, who had driven all night from Florida, shuffled through the rooms, cooking food and making tea in a zombie-like daze.
-page 198

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

My two-bits:
Gorgeously done in epistolary form with beautiful and moving passages filled with painful memories of the past.

~*~
* part of Books and States challenge (here): Connecticut