Ana Osorio narrates this timely and relevant work about a young woman struggling to survive amid the political and financial chaos in Venezuela. The audiobook opens with Adelaida Falcon burying her mother. Now alone, Adelaida must find a way to live with the inhumane conditions brought by the political crisis. With her soft voice and Spanish accent, Orsorio vividly renders the misery of the Venezuelans. However, her storytelling doesn’t improve the work’s lackluster pacing. And, while her narration is engaging at times, her weak vocal characterizations make it difficult to discern who is speaking. Still, persevering listeners will be rewarded with increased awareness of the current state of affairs in this Latin American country. A.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

★ 08/26/2019

Sainz Borgo’s excellent debut is a harrowing account of one woman grieving the recent death of her mother while attempting to survive the political unrest in Caracas, Venezuela. Adelaida buries her namesake after having drained their savings buying medicine on the black market. Ana, Adelaida’s closest friend, fears the worst has befallen her missing brother, Santiago, after the Sons of the Revolution arrest him. When Adelaida’s apartment is taken over by thugs, she discovers her neighbor Aurora dead in the apartment next door. During an attempt to dispose of her body, she encounters Santiago, who appears to have joined the group that kidnapped him. Though she doesn’t fully trust him, they take shelter in Aurora’s apartment, where Adelaida finds troves of meticulously kept documents that will help her impersonate Aurora and escape Venezuela. The novel alternates scenes of present-day chaos with Adelaida’s memories of her loving mother, and Sainz Borgo infuses both sections with heartbreaking details that stay with the reader: the squeal of a pet turtle as it’s boiled to death, heirloom plates smashed with malice. She does a fantastic job of showcasing Adelaida’s personal despair within the greater agony of the country. Readers will appreciate how Sainz Borgo puts a human face on the tragedy of Venezuela’s upheaval. (Oct.)

The voice of a conscience… Dry, concise, direct, with an extraordinary stirring force… Sainz Borgo’s novel is simply masterful.” — Fernando Aramburu, author of Homeland

 “The next literary sensation.” — El Mundo

“A propulsively written, harrowing story, as desperate as it is timely.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Borgo’s beautiful prose belies the brutal reality of the breakdown in civil society she lays bare in this powerful literary look at strife-torn Venezuela…” — Booklist

“Sainz Borgo’s excellent debut is a harrowing account of one woman grieving the recent death of her mother while attempting to survive the political unrest in Caracas, Venezuela.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Echoes of Borges in a novel of war-torn Venezuela…the writing is tense and complex…dynamic.” — New York Times

Echoes of Borges in a novel of war-torn Venezuela…the writing is tense and complex…dynamic.

Borgo’s beautiful prose belies the brutal reality of the breakdown in civil society she lays bare in this powerful literary look at strife-torn Venezuela…

The next literary sensation.

The voice of a conscience… Dry, concise, direct, with an extraordinary stirring force… Sainz Borgo’s novel is simply masterful.

Borgo’s beautiful prose belies the brutal reality of the breakdown in civil society she lays bare in this powerful literary look at strife-torn Venezuela…

 “The next literary sensation.

Borgo’s beautiful prose belies the brutal reality of the breakdown in civil society she lays bare in this powerful literary look at strife-torn Venezuela…

★ 10/01/2019

DEBUT Named after her beloved mother, Adelaida Falcón lives in Caracas, Venezuela. The city is full of violence and death, with corruption and radical regimes having made it a dangerous place. When a group of female black marketeers dealing in illegally obtained foodstuffs take over her apartment, Adelaida moves next door after discovering former resident Aurora Peralta dead on the living room floor. After disposing of the body and realizing that the violence around her is becoming worse, Adelaida commits all her time and resources to learning what she can about Aurora. Soon she escapes, taking Aurora's identity and the euros she finds hidden in the apartment, and, in scenes where emotions are vividly and realistically depicted, starts a new life in Madrid. VERDICT Extremely well written, beautifully translated, and graphic enough to make the reader feel afraid of the knocking on the door, this debut novel offers a heartfelt, personal story told without sentimentality while offering keen insight into the everyday fight for survival in a place that is still very much a failed state.—Lisa Rohrbaugh, Leetonia Community P.L., OH

Ana Osorio narrates this timely and relevant work about a young woman struggling to survive amid the political and financial chaos in Venezuela. The audiobook opens with Adelaida Falcon burying her mother. Now alone, Adelaida must find a way to live with the inhumane conditions brought by the political crisis. With her soft voice and Spanish accent, Orsorio vividly renders the misery of the Venezuelans. However, her storytelling doesn’t improve the work’s lackluster pacing. And, while her narration is engaging at times, her weak vocal characterizations make it difficult to discern who is speaking. Still, persevering listeners will be rewarded with increased awareness of the current state of affairs in this Latin American country. A.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

★ 2019-07-28
Former Venezuelan journalist Sainz Borgo's fictional debut shows a woman caught in the violent disintegration of her city and homeland at a time of acute personal loss.

Adelaida Falcón's beloved mother has just died of cancer, leaving her alone in the world, and Caracas is going to the dogs. "Everything was disappearing as fast as my mother faded....Everything was ending: our life, our money, our strength. Even the days were now abbreviated. Being in the street at six in the evening was asking to cut your life short." Through a haze of grief, Adelaida watches protesters clashing with the Sons of the Revolution in the streets below. ("Bastards of the Revolution," she thinks.) The air reeks of tear gas and pepper spray. The story alternates between the violent, increasingly desperate present and a happier time when Caracas drew people from all over the globe. ("I was born and raised in a country that took in men and women from other lands. Tailors, bakers, builders, plumbers, shopkeepers, traders.") She remembers visits to an Italian shopkeeper, vacations in the countryside with her mother, songs sung by women hulling maize by hand. Now Venezuelan paper money is worthless, foreign currency outlawed, and rationing so severe that sanitary napkins are "more valuable than toilet paper." Adelaida returns from a failed attempt to buy bread to find she can't open her door. A menacing crew of women black marketeers has taken possession of her apartment. The ringleader, wearing her mother's favorite blouse, laughs when she threatens to call the authorities. Adelaida's subsequent attempts to find safety involve, among other things, a corpse that needs to be disposed of, a friend's brother who was kidnapped by the Sons of the Revolution and is now in hiding, and a brazen, high-stakes gamble with a stolen identity. Sainz Borgo renders the psychological and emotional toll of government collapse with both nuance and authority, thrusting the reader into Adelaida's struggle for existence and the stark choices before her. "We found ourselves wishing ill on the innocent and the executioner alike. We were incapable of differentiating between them."

A propulsively written, harrowing story, as desperate as it is timely.