“El Amazonas le fascinaba porque todo lo que parecía real, sagrado y existente se desvanecía, y Mona sabía, con una certeza visceral, que en esa monstruosidad escurridiza se escondía un mundo fuera del tiempo, la caverna real que mostraría cuán ilusorias eran el resto de las teorías del mundo”.
When Mona met him at the Hay Festival in Cartagena, Marco was sporting a classic D'Artagnan look, complete with two swords crossed over his back.
...Surely the hologram projecting in Marco's mind resembled something along the lines of a rocker pirate à la Keith Richards. But he reminded Mona more of Lima circa 1991, when teenage hipsters... tried to emulate the long-haired lead singer from Poison but ended up looking more like Puss in Boots.
Vlad told Mona he'd participated in residencies that included composers and musicians.... they could all tell who was a real genius and who was just a mediocre poseur.... this only ever led to hatred, distrust, and malaise.
No doubt about it: not knowing each other's languages was the key to conviviality, because if we were able to read what everyone else was writing....well, then we'd be murdering each other in our beds.
so-so10-6-22: My 99th finished book of 2022! Mona, a writer from Peru living in CA, has been nominated for a prestigious writing award and must travel to Sweden to participate in 4 days of readings and festivities before the award is given out. During those 4 days, Mona is confronted with many jet-lagged writers who behave badly. Through it all she is trying to retrace an awful moment in time that eludes her. ⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣9️⃣9️⃣
pickScreamingly funny book at times, and a brilliant skewering of all the pretentious book award festivals. While she‘s at it, the author dumps on other authors, the French, the Left, and everything else irritating, eviscerating them all with gleeful panache. No spoilers here, though, about the shocking ending. I‘ll be looking up her other books ASAP.
Mona: A Novel | 
