Category Archives: Latin American Literature

January – Sara Gallardo, translated by Frances Riddle

(reviewed by JD Jung) January (Enero) first published in Spanish in 1958, follows the daily life and thoughts of sixteen-year-old Nefer, who finds she is pregnant after a rape. Nefer works on the family farm, and lives in the shadow … Continue reading

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Las Biuty Queens: Stories- Iván Monalisa Ojeda, translated by Hannah Kauders

(reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned Upon arriving in New York City from Chile, Iván became Monalisa and worked the streets of New York City. She befriended other Latin American transgender prostitutes, and though they were from different countries of origin, … Continue reading

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Trash – Sylvia Aguilar-Zéleny, (translated by JD Pluecker)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Who is the person who makes a life out of our leftovers? And, more specifically, what makes us who we are?” Griselda, a researcher, studies those who inhabit the Juárez city dump. She balances that … Continue reading

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The Words That Remain – Stênio Gardel (Translated by Bruna Dantas Lobato)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “The river calmly flowed and cried its eternal murmur. Raimundo got up and looked at the empty sky. The shadows had taken over the blue as well. The stars must have fallen and become the … Continue reading

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The Lisbon Syndrome – Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles  (Translated from the Spanish by Paul Filev)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “I feel a deep regret for encouraging them to dream, for reinforcing illusions that will lead nowhere, because they’re unattainable, because this county is finished. It stopped existing a long time ago. We are the … Continue reading

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Last Words on Earth – Javier Serena, Translated from the Spanish by Katie Whittemore 

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “The paradox of letters made weapons, words made bayonets with which to pierce the page and exact revenge against my own destiny, which I had judged—until then—to be so harsh.” Poet and writer Ricardo Funes … Continue reading

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Nine Moons – Gabriela Wiener, Jessica Powell (Translator)

(reviewed by JD Jung) “Europe is the best place for a Latin American to starve to death and drink good wine.” Gabriela Wiener and her husband originally travelled from Peru to Barcelona on student visas. However, when these two journalists … Continue reading

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The Last Twist of the Knife – João Almino (Author), Elizabeth Lowe (Translator)

(reviewed by JD Jung) “Pieces of the past arrive that either frighten me or invite me to a reunion. It’s what I see, what I hear. The rest I imagine…” A seventy-year-old lawyer decides to abandon his current life in … Continue reading

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It Is Wood, It Is Stone – Gabriella Burnham

(reviewed by JD Jung) “I don’t even think I want to flee anymore. I thought that was what I wanted, but I think more so I wanted to disappear. I wanted to become so unburdened that I would actually become … Continue reading

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House of Beauty- Melba Escobar (Author), Elizabeth Bryer (Translator)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I also hate the ladies of Bogotá among whom I count myself, though I do all I can to stand apart. I hate their habit of using the term “Indians” to refer to people they consider … Continue reading

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