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The Wind That Lays Waste, by Selva Almada (2012, transl. 2019)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: Four lives are changed when an itinerant charismatic pastor and his daughter stop for car repairs at a mechanic shop in drought-ridden rural Argentina.

Review: There‘s a lot to like about this. In barely over a hundred pages, Almada creates and rips open a whole world, with vivid characters and stunning dramatic tension. Cont.

This is the kind of book that raises a lot of philosophical questions and makes me wish I had read it with a group so I could discuss its implications. The story itself deals with Reverend Pearson and his daughter Leni. Their car breaks down and they end up at the home/auto shop of Brauer and his boy assistant. ⬇️
#readingtheamericas2023 #Argentina

This short novel in translation tells the story of Reverend Pearson and his teenage daughter (who travel for Pearson to evangelize throughout the Argentinian countryside). When their car breaks down they end up being the temporary guests of a mechanic and a teenage boy who goes by the name Tapioca. Definitely character-based. Philosophical. Reminds me of the US “Southern Gothic” genre. A lot to reflect on in just 124 pages.

Charming! Wonderful musings on love and religion. Beautifully crafted! Excellent read!

Home for Turkey Day aka Charco and Deep Vellum pickup day 😜

As I thought, this little novella had a lot to say, about faith and the different forms it takes, how its presence or absence can affect each of us in unique ways, and how goodness and badness are not necessarily tied to either. The two men who are the central characters have come to their present realities in believable ways. I do wish we got more from the two younger characters, especially Leni. But this was a lovely quick read. 4/5 ⭐️

From time to time, they would go into the forest and observe its behavior. The forest: one great creature seething with life. A man could learn all he needed to know just by watching nature at work. Everything was written there in the forest, continually, as if in a book of inexhaustible wisdom. The mystery and its revelation. Everything, if you could learn to hear and see what nature had to tell and show.

This is a tiny little book—only 124 pages—but it sounds like it could pack quite an emotional and philosophical punch. #nowreading

August is Women in Translation Month! I‘m going to attempt to post about a different book each day. 📚
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I have not read this yet, but I hope to soon! The blurb says it‘s “A taut, lyrical portrait of four people thrown together on a single day in rural Argentina.” I love a single day book. It‘s by Argentinian author Selva Almada and is translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews. It was released by Graywolf Press. #womenintranslationmonth 🖤📚🖤