Cremation /
Chirbes, Rafael, 1949-2015,
Cremation / Rafael Chirbes ; translated from the Spanish by Valerie Miles. - 388 pages ; 21 cm. - New Directions Paperbook ; 1518 . - New Directions paperbook ; 1518. .
"Originally published as Crematorio in 2007 by Editorial Anagrama, Barcelona."--Title page verso.
"Along the Mediterranean coastline of Spain, real-estate developers scramble to transform the once pastoral landscape into tourist resorts, nightclubs, and beachfront properties with lavish bars and pools. The booming post-Franco years have left everything up for grabs. Cremation opens with the death of Matías, a paterfamilias who had rejected all of these changes and whose passing sets off a chain reaction, uncovering a past that had been buried for years, and leading those closest to him to question the paths they've chosen. In a rich mosaic narrative, filled with a hypnotic chorus of voices, Cremation explores the coked-up champagne fizz of luxurious parties shadowed by underworlds of political corruption, prostitution, and ruthless financial speculation. The novel enters that melancholy ouroboros of capitalist greed that led to the financial crash and captures something essential about our values, our choices, and our all too human mistakes. Like William Faulkner or Francis Bacon, Chirbes stares, clear-eyed, into the abyss, and portrays us as we really are"--
In English. Translated from the Spanish.
9780811224307 0811224309
2021037305
Land speculation--Corrupt practices--Spain--Fiction.
Interpersonal relations--Fiction.
Spain--Fiction.
Novels.
Cremation / Rafael Chirbes ; translated from the Spanish by Valerie Miles. - 388 pages ; 21 cm. - New Directions Paperbook ; 1518 . - New Directions paperbook ; 1518. .
"Originally published as Crematorio in 2007 by Editorial Anagrama, Barcelona."--Title page verso.
"Along the Mediterranean coastline of Spain, real-estate developers scramble to transform the once pastoral landscape into tourist resorts, nightclubs, and beachfront properties with lavish bars and pools. The booming post-Franco years have left everything up for grabs. Cremation opens with the death of Matías, a paterfamilias who had rejected all of these changes and whose passing sets off a chain reaction, uncovering a past that had been buried for years, and leading those closest to him to question the paths they've chosen. In a rich mosaic narrative, filled with a hypnotic chorus of voices, Cremation explores the coked-up champagne fizz of luxurious parties shadowed by underworlds of political corruption, prostitution, and ruthless financial speculation. The novel enters that melancholy ouroboros of capitalist greed that led to the financial crash and captures something essential about our values, our choices, and our all too human mistakes. Like William Faulkner or Francis Bacon, Chirbes stares, clear-eyed, into the abyss, and portrays us as we really are"--
In English. Translated from the Spanish.
9780811224307 0811224309
2021037305
Land speculation--Corrupt practices--Spain--Fiction.
Interpersonal relations--Fiction.
Spain--Fiction.
Novels.