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UnderratedReads is devoted to discovering underrated books and under-represented authors. We highlight hidden gems from around the world–honest reviews only, never pay-to-play.
Category Archives: Latin American Literature
Morel’s Invention – Adolfo Bioy Casares, Margaret Jull Costa (Translator), Jorge Luis Borges (Foreword), Tom McCarthy (Afterword)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Originally published in Spanish in 1940, Morel’s Invention by Adolfo Bioy Casares is a short literary classic that kept me guessing until the end. Our narrator, a man from Caracas, Venezuela, has been sentenced to life … Continue reading
All That Dies in April – Mariana Travacio (Author), Will Morningstar and Samantha Schnee (Translator)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Lina wants to leave her Argentinian quebrada, where the soil is dry and the land barren, no longer offering them anything for sustenance. Her only son left years earlier with her younger brother. She is … Continue reading
Posted in Latin American Literature, World Literature
Tagged Argentina, family, migration
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The Eye of Goliath – Diego Muzzio (Author), Rahul Bery (Translator)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) When I started reading The Eye of Goliath, I was immediately intrigued by Dr. Edward Pierce, a physician running a sanatorium outside Edinburgh who uses hypnosis and other controversial methods to treat soldiers suffering from the … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, Latin American Literature
Tagged insanity, psychological thriller, WWI
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Another UnderratedRead Revisited: Affections: A Novel – Rodrigo Hasbún , Translated by Sophie Hughes
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Affections is an intriguing work of historical fiction based on true events following the once- close Ertl family. Hans, the patriarch, was a Nazi propaganda cinematographer, and the family fled Munich and arrived in La Paz, … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, Latin American Literature
Tagged Historical fiction, Latin American Lit
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All That Dies in April – Mariana Travacio (translated by Samantha Schnee and Will Morningstar
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Lina wants to leave her Argentinian quebrada, where the soil is dry and the land barren, no longer offering them anything for sustenance. Her only son left years earlier with her younger brother. She is not … Continue reading
Posted in Latin American Literature, World Literature
Tagged Argentina, family, migration
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A Carnival of Atrocities – by Natalia García Freire, Translated from the Spanish by Victor Meadowcroft
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Cocuán, a small town in Ecuador is doomed by a curse. Upon the death of Mildred Capa’s mother and the subsequent abandonment by her father, Mildred was intent on maintaining and working the farm. However, … Continue reading
Posted in Latin American Literature
Tagged abuse, Ecuador, literature, Religion
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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
Posted in Latin American Literature, Lost and almost forgotten
Tagged abortion, Argentina, class, culture, rape, short books
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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
Posted in Latin American Literature
Tagged aging, dementia, family dysfunction, gender, love, Mexican literature, transgender, violence
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