Overview

Simpatia is set in the Venezuela of Nicolas Maduro amid a mass exodus of the intellectual class who have been leaving their pets behind. Ulises Kan, the protagonist and a movie buff, receives a text message from his wife, Paulina, saying she is leaving the country (and him). Ulises is not heartbroken but liberated by Paulina's departure. Two other events end up disrupting his life even further- the return of Nadine, an unrequited love from the past, and the death of his father-in-law, General Martin Ayala. Thanks to Ayala's will, Ulises discovers that he has been entrusted with a mission-to transform Los Argonautas, the great family home, into a shelter for abandoned dogs. If he manages to do it in time, he will inherit the luxurious apartment that he had shared with Paulina. This novel centers on themes of family and orphanhood in order to address the abuse of power by a patrilineage of political figures in Latin America, from Sim n Bolivar to Hugo Chavez. The untranslatable title, Simpatia, which means both sympathy and charm, ironically references the qualities these political figures share. In a morally bankrupt society, where all human ties seem to have dissolved, Ulises is like a stray dog picking up scraps of sympathy. Can you really know who you love? What is, in essence, a family? Are abandoned dogs proof of the existence or non-existence of God? Ulises unknowingly embodies these questions, as a pilgrim of affection in a post-love era. LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE Rodrigo Blanco Calder n has established himself as one of the great voices of Latin American literature with his debut novel The Night, and his short story collection Sacrifices. Simpatia is a suspenseful novel with unexpected twists and turns about the agony of Venezuela and the collapse of Chavismo. Simpatia is set in the Venezuela of Nicolas Maduro amid a mass exodus of the intellectual class who have been leaving their pets behind. Ulises Kan, the protagonist and a movie buff, receives a text message from his wife, Paulina, saying she is leaving the country (and him). Ulises is not heartbroken but liberated by Paulina's departure. Two other events end up disrupting his life even further- the return of Nadine, an unrequited love from the past, and the death of his father-in-law, General Martin Ayala. Thanks to Ayala's will, Ulises discovers that he has been entrusted with a mission-to transform Los Argonautas, the great family home, into a shelter for abandoned dogs. If he manages to do it in time, he will inherit the luxurious apartment that he had shared with Paulina. This novel centers on themes of family and orphanhood in order to address the abuse of power by a patrilineage of political figures in Latin America, from Sim n Bolivar to Hugo Chavez. The untranslatable title, Simpatia, which means both sympathy and charm, ironically references the qualities these political figures share. In a morally bankrupt society, where all human ties seem to have dissolved, Ulises is like a stray dog picking up scraps of sympathy. Can you really know who you love? What is, in essence, a family? Are abandoned dogs proof of the existence or non-existence of God? Ulises unknowingly embodies these questions, as a pilgrim of affection in a post-love era.

Full Product Details

9781644213650

Table of Contents

Reviews

While The Night was dark, Simpatía is tremendously luminous. Even when positing paradoxes or, perhaps, precisely to do so. Ulises: dwell on that name. I read this novel in one sitting. The prose is marvellous and full of beautiful images.” —Karina Sainz Borgo “In his latest novel, Rodrigo Blanco Calderón continues his investigation, initiated in The Night, into what literature can say about the floundering of Venezuela, this time, through the plight of stray dogs and the love they spur in various orphan characters.” —Jorge Carrión “Blanco Calderón speaks to us of ‘dogs and men,’ of their struggle for survival, of their pain . . . and of their hope.” —Carmen R. Santos, ABC Cultura “Simpatía is a new example of the lucidity that can illuminate a lost paradise. Rodrigo Blanco Calderón authors a work equally exquisite in content and form.” —David Jiménez Flores “The latest novel by the Venezuelan writer Rodrigo Blanco Calderón reestablishes him as one of the most promising contemporary Ibero-American prose writers, and consolidates him as an indisputable figure within the prolific panorama of twenty-first century fiction.” —Letralia

Author Information

"Rodrigo Blanco Calder n is a writer and editor. He has received various awards for his stories both inside and outside Venezuela. In 2007, he was invited to join the Bogota39 group, which brings together the best Latin American narrators under thirty-nine years old. In 2013, he was a guest writer at the University of Iowa's International Writing Program. In 2014, his story ""Emuntorios"" was included in Thirteen Crime Stories from Latin America, volume number forty-six of McSweeney's. With his first novel, The Night (Seven Stories Press, 2022), he won the 2016 Paris Rive Gauche Prize, the Critics Award in Venezuela, and the 2019 Mario Vargas Llosa Biennial Prize. His story ""The Mad People of Paris,"" included in his 2022 collection, Sacrifices (Seven Stories Press, 2022), won the O. Henry Prize and was included in The Best Short Stories 2023- The O. Henry Prize Winners, guest edited by Lauren Groff. Daniel Hahn is an award-winning writer, editor, and translator with about a hundred books to his name. He lives in Lewes, England. Noel Hernandez Gonzalez is a writer and translator. Originally from Spain, he lives in Norwich, England."

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available