PRAISE FOR POSO WELLS

An ABA Summer/Fall 2018 Indies Introduce Selection

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"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

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"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

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"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

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"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

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"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

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"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

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"Through scalding wit and straight-faced parody this no-holds-barred absurdist adventure that seems more a movie than a book will have you laughing till you cry as the cruelty of its South American reality sinks in. Imagine a mix of Hunter S. Thompson and Gabriel García Márquez. A small masterpiece."

––Michael Taussig, author of Beauty and the Beast

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"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 Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, and The Fall of Baghdad

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"Poso Wells explores the dichotomy between the new and old worlds of Ecuador through an exciting noir about missing women, corrupt politicians, and a journalist's attempt to unravel the secrets of the infinitely labyrinthine cityscape of Poso Wells. This is an exciting debut translation of a celebrated Ecuadorian author, and one that should lead to more translations of her work."

––Ely Watson, A Room of One's Own Bookstore (Madison, WI)

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"Poso Wells is a rare achievement in which a reader comes out the other end wanting to start again. It is a bold and clever tale with a unique voice, and it is poised to have a longstanding impression on readers for years to come."

––Rebecca George, Volumes Bookcafe (Chicago, IL)

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"A bizarre little satire that oscillates between adventure yarn and farce, one that pokes fun at modernity and the gross incompetence of the people in charge. A fun, funny, strange book that hits the gas pedal and never lets up."

––Justin Souther, Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe (Asheville, NC)

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"A town built on mud and garbage; a nefarious partnership between corrupt politicians, thugs, and business men; and a reporter investigating the disappearance of hundreds of women. Poso Wells is part satire and part detective story. It's unlike any book I've read in a long time, and I'll be recommending it to everyone I know."

––Amy W., Powell's Books

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"Thriller and farce, Poso Wells is a magical realist sci-fi, a fierce and biting social allegory by turns hilarious and tragic, cynical and hopeful . . . this is a twenty-first-century cautionary tale of the war between humanity and avarice . . ."

––Maria Agui Carter, director of Culture Shock and Rebel

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"Gabriela Alemán's Poso Wells drops the reader, as if dangling from a helicopter's ladder, into a riveting page-turner set in coastal Ecuador. Forces of global capitalism want to mine all that is profitable from the earth, no matter the consequences. By the end we're not sure if Jacob's ladder leads to heaven or hell. The upshot of Alemán's brilliant novel, however: for every rapacious action, there is an equal, opposite, and tenacious resistance."

–Mauricio Kilwein Guevara, author of Autobiography of So-and-So: Poems in Prose

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"Poso Wells is an intriguing name for a thrilling novel of politics, environmental destruction and wildly imaginative occurrences that slide right to the edge of reality. The landscape includes the threatened rape of a cloud forest, a collection of fantastical blind heroes, and a presidential candidate who pees himself to death on stage. The English translation is fast and clear as the story rolls towards its ending on a steaming volcano. The first English translation of noted Brazilian-Ecuadorian novelist, Gabriela Alemán. I hope that many more follow."

––Stephen Williams, contributor to the New York Times, GQ, Newsweek

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"A madcap, feminist mash-up of noir, thriller, Science Fiction and satire."––Christy Thomas, Oakland Public Library