"Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially whenthere's no going back. Traversing this lonely territory is Makina, a young woman who knows only too well how to survive in a violent, macho world. Leaving behind her life in Mexico to search for her brother, she is smuggled into the US carrying a pair of secret messages--one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld"--Publisher's description. - (Baker & Taylor)
Smuggled into the US, Makina carries a messages from her mother and the Mexican underworld as she travels along the border area, searching for her brother. - (Baker & Taylor)
A streetwise heroine travels from Mexico to USA via the mythical and criminal underworlds in the search for her brother
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Perseus Publishing)
From the author of “A Silent Fury,” available Summer 2020.
Signs Preceding the End of the World is one of the most arresting novels to be published in Spanish in the last ten years. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there's no going back.
Traversing this lonely territory is Makina, a young woman who knows only too well how to survive in a violent, macho world. Leaving behind her life in Mexico to search for her brother, she is smuggled into the USA carrying a pair of secret messages – one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld.
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Perseus Publishing)
From the author of “A Silent Fury,” available Summer 2020.
Signs Preceding the End of the World is one of the most arresting novels to be published in Spanish in the last ten years. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there’s no going back.
Traversing this lonely territory is Makina, a young woman who knows only too well how to survive in a violent, macho world. Leaving behind her life in Mexico to search for her brother, she is smuggled into the USA carrying a pair of secret messages one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld.
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Perseus Publishing)
Yuri Herrera was born in Actopan, Mexico, in 1970. He received his PhD for Hispanic Language and Literature from UC Berkeley. Signs Preceding the End of the Worldis his English-language debut novel. It was shortlisted for the Rómulo Gallegos Prize and is being published in several languages. His latest novel, The Transmigration of Bodies , is forthcoming in English from And Other Stories in 2016. He is currently teaching at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Lisa Dillman is based in Atlanta, Georgia, where she translates Spanish, Catalan and Latin American writers and teaches at Emory University. Her recent translations include The Frost on His Shoulders by Lorenzo Mediano, Op Oloop by Juan Filloy (longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award), Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World by Sabina Berman and Rain Over Madrid by Andrés Barba. She is obsessed with words, running, cooking and her dog, Maya.
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Perseus Publishing)
Yuri Herrera was born in Actopan, Mexico, in 1970. He received his PhD for Hispanic Language and Literature from UC Berkeley. Signs Preceding the End of the Worldis his English-language debut novel. It was shortlisted for the Rómulo Gallegos Prize and is being published in several languages. His latest novel, The Transmigration of Bodies , is forthcoming in English from And Other Stories in 2016. He is currently teaching at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Lisa Dillman is based in Atlanta, Georgia, where she translates Spanish, Catalan and Latin American writers and teaches at Emory University. Her recent translations include The Frost on His Shoulders by Lorenzo Mediano, Op Oloop by Juan Filloy (longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award), Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World by Sabina Berman and Rain Over Madrid by Andrés Barba. She is obsessed with words, running, cooking and her dog, Maya.
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Perseus Publishing)
Publishers Weekly Reviews
Herrera's first book to be translated into English tells the story of a border-crossing from Mexico into the U.S. Makina is a young woman asked by her mother to deliver an envelope to her brother, who crossed over into the U.S. three years earlier and has only sent a few cryptic pieces of correspondence since. The story opens with a man, a car, and a dog swallowed up by a sinkhole, a product of over-mining the land for silver ("These things always happen to someone else, until they happen to you," Makina thinks). Her journey is presented starkly, like a fable: she first connects with three "top dogs" to help transport her, and one of them gives her an additional package to deliver on her trip as part of the deal, then proceeds to complete her task systematically. Indeed, the nine short chapters tell a very straightforward quest story, and Herrera plants dangerous criminals and vigilant border patrollers around every corner. But it's the imagery, by turns moving and nightmarish, that makes this brief book memorable. A climactic scene occurs in an "obsidian place with no windows or holes for the smoke." And at one point along the way Makina finds nothing but a barren locale populated by excavators digging in the earth, a place so alien and desolate it could be found in science fiction: "Whatever once was there had been pulled out by the roots, expelled from this world; it no longer existed." This is a haunting book that delivers a strange, arresting experience. (Mar.)
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