"Poso Wells is ironic, audacious, and fierce. But what is it, exactly? A satire? A scifi novel? A political detective yarn? Or the purest reality of contemporary Latin America. It's unclassifiable—as all great books are."—Samanta Schweblin, author of Fever Dream "Poso Wells is brilliant, audacious, doubtlessly playful and at the same time so dark and bitter. A truly unforgettable book."—Alejandro Zambra, author of Multiple Choice "The story is a condemnation not only of the corrupt businessmen and the criminal gangs that rule Poso Wells but also of the violence against women that plagues Latin America's real slums."—The New Yorker "One part Thomas Pynchon, one part Gabriel García Marquez, and one part Raymond Chandler, Alemán’s novel contains mystery, horror, humor, absurdity, and political commentary … A concoction of political thriller and absurdist literary mystery that never fails to entertain."—Kirkus Reviews "A wild, successful satire of Ecuadorian politics and supernatural encounters. … Alemán’s singular voice keeps the ride fresh and satisfying."—Publishers Weekly In the squalid settlement of Poso Wells, women have been regularly disappearing, but the authorities have shown little interest. When the leading presidential candidate comes to town, he and his entourage are electrocuted in a macabre accident witnessed by a throng of astonished spectators. The sole survivor—next in line for the presidency—inexplicably disappears from sight. Gustavo Varas, a principled journalist, picks up the trail, which leads him into a violent, lawless underworld. Bella Altamirano, a fearless local, is on her own crusade to pierce the settlement's code of silence, ignoring repeated death threats. It turns out that the disappearance of the candidate and those of the women are intimately connected, and not just to a local crime wave, but to a multinational magnate's plan to plunder the country's cloud forest preserve. More Praise for Poso Wells: "By expertly weaving multiple narratives around the figure of Vinueza, the hapless (but wealthy!) presidential candidate who resembles so many corrupt (but wealthy!) presidential candidates in the modern history of Ecuador, Gabriela Alemán depicts with verve and humor the horrors and absurdities of a society intent on perpetuating itself."—Mauro Javier Cardenas, author of The Revolutionaries Try Again "Gabriela Alemán has a rhythm worth watching … she does something unexpected, things fly apart, she leaps into the void, and you think, 'there's no way she can pull this off'—but no, everything fits together, falls into place, flows, and the story goes on."—Pedro Mairal, author of The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra "This compulsively readable book is Gabriela Alemán’s debut as a novelist in the English-language. Sparklingly original, full of dry wit, and deliciously suspenseful, Poso Wells could well earn Gabriela Alemán a cult following.”—Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, and The Fall of Baghdad

Poso Wells

Humor & Entertainment

Alemán, Gabriela

Humor

City Lights Publishers

Review\nPraise for Family Album by Gabriela Alemán 
"The book is a work of art.”—Lanie Tankard, World Literature Today\n"Alemán’s stories feature carefully wrought narratives and vibrant characterizations, and are written in a style with a remarkable lightness of touch."—Eugenie Dalland, The Los Angeles Review of Books"In this collection of short stories, the gifted Ecuadorian author, Gabriela Alemán, offers up a fierce and funny family album of present-day South America, particularly Ecuador. From scuba divers hunting for treasure to a reporter’s search for the secret of a famous Mexican wrestler and a baroness who settles on one of the Galapagos Islands in the 1930s, the characters in these stories are a fascinatingly endless range of humanity that Alemán writes, and Dick Cluster and Mary Ellen Fieweger translate, with wit and grace."—Pierce Alquist, Book Riot "Family Album, from award-winning author Gabriela Alemán, is a shrewd, beguiling collection. In eight genre-defying stories, the Brazil-born, Ecuador-based Alemán deftly confronts push-button topics like colonialism, identity and religion."—Terry Hong, Smithsonian Book Dragon 
"Memorable characters abound in Family Album, a collection of eight witty, compact, and highly entertaining stories by Gabriela Alemán, translated by Dick Cluster and Mary Ellen Fieweger."—David Conrads, The Christian Science Monitor 
"Gabriela Alemán writes with a tender but glass-hard touch: There's a fierce honesty to those tales, a surprise in each, and a dizzying sense of wonder on completing each one."—Achy Obejas, author of Boomerang / Bumerán: Poetry / Poesía (Raised Voices) 
"This collection of short stories from Alemán gives color and texture to the tapestry of the Ecuadorian experience. Albeit short, these stories give her characters enough room to maneuver to elicit empathy, melancholy, and a little bit of laughter from her readers. From murderous spies to treasure hunters literally way out of their depth and from luchador movie stars to an American about to discover that the Amazon is not to be trifled with, these stories confirm Alemán’s talent and her status as one of the ambassadors of Ecuadorian literature."—Bennard Fajardo, Politics and Prose, Washington DC 
"Alemán’s eclectic short stories left traces that unexpectedly popped up and demanded my attention again: why this, how that? The stories meander around Ecuador to places where mysteries may be solved or deepened, where curiosity may be rewarded and lack of curiosity punished, and where characters range from kind to cruel, outlandish to simple, but always one-of-a-kind."—Kay Wosewick, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI 
"This short story collection is broken up into snapshots found in your typical family photo album (i.e. vacation, marriage, summer). My favorites include: scuba divers search for pirate treasure; a scandalous German baroness who settles on one of the Galapagos Islands in the 1930's; a recently widowed woman discovers her late husband's double life; and a reporter's search for the closely held secret of a famous Mexican wrestler. The stories are written in a variety of genres and show that you have to look under the surface to see the real Ecuador. This book is dark, mysterious, funny, and occasionally creepy—everything I love in modern literature."—Amy Walterscheid, Powell's Books, Portland, OR 
"We never know for sure what Gabriela Alemán’s characters are up to. Intrigue, deception, and seduction are right around the corner. Maybe this is because the worlds Alemán creates—at once explicit and evocative—are contested terrain, never solid ground. There, broken souls contend with noble ones in search of new lives, for History seems to have left them all in its wake. Approach these stories with caution: the pervasive underground voices that drive the characters will take the reader prisoner as well."—Rodrigo Fuentes, author of Trout, Belly Up 
"I am stunned by Gabriela Alemán’s ability to shift the settings of her stor

Family Album: Stories

Literature & Fiction

Humor & Satire

Album de familia (Spanish Edition)

Short Stories & Anthologies

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Contemporary

Aristas Martínez Ediciones

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