Juan Vidal
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A Little Lumpen Novelita is an intoxicating tale of a teenage girl who struggles to stay afloat. It cements Roberto Bolaño's place as the most commanding Latin American writer of the last few decades.
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Critic Juan Vidal has an appreciation of the hymn — its rhythm, sonorous language, discipline and structure. "No matter where you stand on heaven and hell," he writes, "there is power in a hymn."
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Many readers know and love One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. But critic Juan Vidal suggests you not overlook Gabriel Garcia Marquez's dynamic, poetic short stories.
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Issue 46 of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern showcases crime fiction from all over Latin America, with new stories from writers like Alejandro Zambra. Reviewer Juan Vidal calls it rousing and essential.
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Brothers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky originally published their sci-fi classic Definitely Maybe in 1974. Now, a new translation restores cuts made by Soviet censors to this subversive tale of scientists exploring a reluctant universe. Reviewer Juan Vidal says "you'll laugh, you'll look around suspiciously, you'll throw the text across the room."
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Japanese author Takashi Hiraide's The Guest Cat has just been released in English; it's a layered novel within a novel, centered on a workaholic couple who become enraptured by their neighbors' playful little cat. Reviewer Juan Vidal says "even dog lovers will relate" to the story.
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Juan Vidal recommends three Latin American masterpieces that were translated this year: a boundary-pushing novella, a noir tale of an assassination plot and a complex exploration of identity and history. There are no noble heroes in these pages — instead, they feature hapless, struggling souls in search of meaning.