The names behind fall’s predicted bestsellers are instantly recognizable: Franzen (Purity), Atwood (The Heart Goes Last), Rushdie (Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights), and Oates (The Lost Landscape), to name only a few. In the fanfare surrounding the new releases by these familiar names, it’s easy to overlook the names of authors who aren’t as well known to US readers – yet. Fall 2015 promises a crop of new English-language books drawn from Latin America and Spain’s vibrant, thriving literary landscape, as well as from Latino/a writers in the US. While they may get some airtime during Hispanic Heritage Month (15 September-15 October), these Latino reads deserve shelf space any time of year.
Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free
The paperback edition of Héctor Tobar’s book will be released on Tuesday, timed to the fifth anniversary of the real-life mining drama that captivated the world’s attention. For readers who missed this bestseller’s initial release, Tobar’s chronicle of trapped – and ultimately rescued – Chilean miners will impress: it’s an exquisite, ambitious piece of nonfiction that manages to render the personalities and experiences of more than 30 protagonists, their families and various government and private sector players in a way that is thorough, fair and, remarkably, organized.
Deep Down Dark begins by immersing the reader in the underground world of the mine, a place most readers will never visit, making it terrifyingly real through careful, vivid detail. It continues through the miners’ 69 days trapped underground, their dramatic rescue, and, finally, the ups and downs of their lives after they returned to life above-ground. Tobar draws fully upon his skills as both a journalist and a fiction writer, drawing portraits of protagonists that are humane and complex without being sentimental or judgmental.
The Illogic of Kassel
If you’re the kind of person who’d prefer to stay far away from a contemporary art museum, or the kind who, upon seeing a canvas painted with a single monochromatic rectangle, would say, “Well, I could paint that,” then maybeEnrique Vila-Matas’s The Illogic of Kassel isn’t for you.
photo: themerlyngroup.com
To read the full story: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/01/fall-2015-best-latin-american-novels?CMP=share_btn_link
