I have been sent most of the books over time. World Editions has been doing some great books recently that may have gone under the radar; this is another example from them. This is from a prolific Colombian writer, Ricardo Silva Romero, one of the writers in the Hay festival collection, Bogota 39, which came out about fifteen years ago. He is a prolific writer, journalist and film critic. This is his first book to be published in English. Her has written 198 novels and a book about Woody Allen, which takes us back to a dark [=ast in his own country, the early 1990\u2019s a time in which Columbia was very violent country to live in and this is told through the death of a mute called Salom\u00f3n Palacois and the aftermath of this.<\/p>\n
\nThey soon took control of everything. A year before his execution-\u201cThey\u2019ve killed Salom\u00f3n the mute!\u201d \u2013 there had occurred on the banks of the clear, gentle R\u00edo Cham\u00ed-which would then become known to all as the R\u00edo Muerto, the dead river-that \u201cmassacre of the collaborators,\u201d or \u201cculling of the hands,\u201d in which the strongest black and white men in the settlement were tortured and shot, and the left hands of their wives and children lopped off and tossed into the current, for having continued to support the guerril-leros, in secret. Later, in the Plaza del Pan\u2014the main square always referred to as the \u201cBread Square,\u201d since it contains nothing but three bakeries, the enormous Pentecostal temple, and the five abarco trees that still haven\u2019t been cut down-the now infamous Public Notice 00001 was circulated, leaving no room for doubt:<\/p>\n
BLOQUE F\u00c9NIX<\/p>\n
CLEANUP CREW INFORMS:<\/p>\n
The leader of the local gang that has killed Salomon<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The title of this book in English is actually Dead River, and this is about a town, Belen del Chami, that is one of those small towns that isn\u2019t on a map, and because of that, is a place where the local politicians and paramilitaries carry on as they want that is until they Kill Salom\u00f3n and this makes his widow a string woman with a sharp tongue Hip\u00f3lita is wanting to make sure that those that killed her man and widowed her and left her two sons with out a farther will finally be brought to justice. It is a tale of how a man who was a mute who only communicates via his yellow notebook with his nearest and dearest, is said by the local Paramilitary leader to be a snitch! Why was he really killed? This follows the town where the dead river runs through it soon after the death of her husband another man in the town is found dead in. the river this is a book about the corruption, murders and violence of this time in these town off the mmap where the rukle of law isn\u2019t there but what happens when one woman faces up and tries to get justice.<\/p>\n
\nSalom\u00f3n pretended not to hear, because ignoring a friend\u2019s nonsense is the brotherly thing to do. He noticed in the rearview mirror that a gang of snot-nosed kids was watching them. He heard a funereal song- an alabao-coming from the window of the house next door. An old man was yelling at a boy, \u201cYou\u2019ll get yourself killed if you keep poking your snout where it don\u2019t belong.\u201d And then he set off, starting up the truck and taking the steep, green, uneven road to San Isidro, Antiquia, with that stubbornness of his, that pig-headedness, which led him to make the mistakes he made in his life but kept him calm the rest of the time. His friend, his pacha, would be safe in that settlement where the guerilla had entrenched itself. Get yourself to San Isido and see how you get on.<\/p>\n
Is this what cause his death a mute being called a snitch seems madness<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
It is hard to believe it has taken so long for this writer to arrive in English. I think he was on the Bogota 39 list of fellow writers from his homeland, Juan Gabriel Vasquez, another writer who has written historical books and has had several books written. But now we have him in English for the first time, so let\u2019s hope we get others. His latest is called Alp d\u2019Huez, which, of course, is a famous place for being a stage on the Tour de France. Anyway, this book captures the world of the early 90s, a violent time in the framing of this village and the death of a mute man who was meant to be telling secrets about a gang. Add to this a cast of characters from corrupt police, vicars, gang members, and former lovers helping in her husband\u2019s death, you see the wall that she has to break through and maybe make the death river be renamed! I loved this, it is a book that is told from the dead man\u2019s point of view, and sees his lover fight for him. Do you have a favourite book from Latin America<\/p>\n
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