Welcome to Litsy!

A short Chilean novel about societal treatment of outsiders or people who choose to live outside the norms.

It‘s a quick read. From the point of view of 12 year old Miguel whose uncle Ramon decided to leave their neighborhood and live in a billboard alone. Ramon has always valued silence, and finds more of it in his isolation.

Definitely has a melancholy cast, but interesting philosophical ideas.

Also finished this book today and it was another winner. I flew through it (it isn‘t very long, but still). I loved most of the characters and enjoyed the story.

This slim, fairy tale like book is just beautiful.

I found myself going back and re-reading lines over again just to savor the beauty.

Ramon gets a job taking care of a Coca-Cola billboard and decides to just move up there and live in it.

The people on the ground, of course, think he is crazy.

A commentary on how society treats "problems" and anyone considered different.

PS - doesn't my @AardvarkBookClub bookmark look cool with my blanket?

Hmmm, very contemplative this one. A quick very philosophical read about societal norms & human nature. Overall it‘s a good read, very thought provoking. â­�ï¸�â­�ï¸�â­�ï¸�â­�ï¸�

My Aardvark pick of the month of January. Amped for this one!

Ferrada, who also writes children‘s books, had a great grasp on the child narrator of this novel but also brought in some more adult themes. I‘m really pleased that #aardvark chose some literature in translation in January!

Miguel‘s uncle Ramón has never fit in. He buries his issues in alcohol. When he gets a job taking care of the billboard above his town, he makes a nest in it and moves there. But his problems from the housing complex follow.

I thought this was fantastic. Not sure it‘s classified as a novella, but it‘s a slim 200ish pages with huge margins, so it‘s a quick read. Not too much happens, but the premise, tone, and character development totally worked for me. The writing is spare but so visually evocative that I kept imagining a film version as I read. I found this quite special and am so grateful that @Tin_House put it on my radar.

I‘m very excited that @AardvarkBookClub chose some literature-in-translation, so I had to jump on that! (Plus it works for #ReadingTheAmericas23 #Chile. 🤩🇨🇱) Turns out I had fomo about Factory Girls after all. What‘s everyone else thinking? #aardvark

My guess for the first #Aardvark January clue!

🪜 = The MC gets a job looking after a billboard (I'm assuming he'd need a way to get up there 😂)
🥤 = It's a Coca-Cola billboard
🌆 = The birds eye view of Santiago that he gets as he makes the unusual choice to make the billboard his home.
🤫 = I'm assuming he may not have permission to live there so it's a secret? Also his nephew visits him, so he might be asked not to tell?

What do you think??

These aren't spoilers, more like a shot in the dark while I was bored. But I browsed through new-ish releases from publishers that previously partnered with #Aardvark, and here are some possibilities I found. They said they'll be releasing their emoji clues soon so it'll be interesting to see if any of these fit!

@AardvarkBookClub I know you can't confirm or deny but maybe wink if I'm close? 😂