Red April
Published on 1. April 2010
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-84354-830-0 (ISBN)
Description
Red April evokes Holy Week during a cruel, bloody, and terrifying time in Peru's history, shocking for its corrosive mix of assassination, bribery, intrigue, torture, and enforced disappearance - a war between grim, ideologically driven terrorism and morally bankrupt government counterinsurgence.
Mother-haunted, wife-abandoned, literature-loving, quietly eccentric Felix Chacaltana Saldivar is a hapless, by-the-book, unambitious prosecutor living in Lima. Until now he has lived a life in which nothing exceptionally good or bad has ever happened to him. But, inexplicably, he has been put in charge of a bizarre and horrible murder investigation. As it unfolds by propulsive twists and turns - full of paradoxes and surprises - Saldivar is compelled to confront what happens to a man and society when death becomes the only certainty.
Remarkable for its self-assured and nimble clarity of style, Red April is at once riveting and profound.
Mother-haunted, wife-abandoned, literature-loving, quietly eccentric Felix Chacaltana Saldivar is a hapless, by-the-book, unambitious prosecutor living in Lima. Until now he has lived a life in which nothing exceptionally good or bad has ever happened to him. But, inexplicably, he has been put in charge of a bizarre and horrible murder investigation. As it unfolds by propulsive twists and turns - full of paradoxes and surprises - Saldivar is compelled to confront what happens to a man and society when death becomes the only certainty.
Remarkable for its self-assured and nimble clarity of style, Red April is at once riveting and profound.
Reviews / Votes
"'In this superb novel of politics, terror, and human frailty, Felix Chacaltana, an assistant prosecutor, confronts a series of murders that may have roots in Peru's resurgent Maoist guerrilla group, the Shining Path. A masterful creation, Chacaltana ranks alongside Schweik, Mitty, and other legendary innocents.' Boston Globe 'Roncagliolo's stunning debut, about the brutality of Peruvian society under the Fujimori regime, merits comparison to the work of J.M. Coetzee... Roncagliolo crafts an unsparing view of life controlled by a repressive and paranoid government.' Publishers Weekly (starred review) 'A tour de force... Red April is at once a serial-killer thriller in the tradition of The Silence of the Lambs and a more searching examination of a country's darker side.' Times Literary Supplement"More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
420 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84354-830-0 (9781843548300)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Santiago Roncagliolo is the youngest winner of the Alfaguara Prize, awarded to him in 2006 for Red April. He was born in Lima, Peru, and currently lives in Barcelona.
Edith Grossman is the award-winning translator of such masterworks as Cervantes's Don Quixote and Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera.
Edith Grossman is the award-winning translator of such masterworks as Cervantes's Don Quixote and Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera.