Books and Laurels

Estrella Distante

2026-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

Review</h2>
In this short novel that takes place in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship, a first-person narrator reconstructs a story from a poetry workshop. A story marked by violence, exile and the need for memory. From the events of 1973, the figure of an intriguing character who embodies a dual identity is revealed: a poet, under the name of Alberto Ruiz-Tagle; and a pilot, the general Carlos Weider. This alter ego</em> would end up as the one responsible for kidnappings and murders of people close to the narrator, including common friends.</p>
Weider is portrayed as a cultured and intelligent man, even fascinating in his artistic facet, but at the same time deeply macabre. The work explores the tension between beauty and horror: proposing a reflection on the relationship between poetry and evil. Through the investigation of the narrator, who is obsessed with the past, the true nature of the general is revealed and turns the search for truth into a form of personal justice.</p>
The novel also addresses the impact of exile, and the obligation to abandon lives and places which leaves deep scars on those who survive. Memory becomes a central axis, as well as loneliness, fate, death and betrayal - elements of exile and present throughout the work.</p>
Estrella Distante</strong> is -although fragmented- a dynamic reading experience that reflects unfortunate events by using a brief but intense structure. In it, the theme of the dual identity of Weider, a "monster" combining both the figure of the poet and the military, questions the limits among artistic creation, poetic, and violence as a consequence of a fascist mentality.</p>
Ultimately, Estrella Distante</strong> reminds us that the horror of fascism does not belong solely to the past: it survives wherever forgetting tries to impose itself on memory. In the current Latin American political context, where authoritarian discourses and forms of intolerance and exclusion that once seemed overcome are reemerging, Bolaño’s novel remains disturbingly relevant. It reminds us that history never ceases to haunt those who prefer to ignore it.</p>

Selected fragment</h3>

I saw him once a week, twice when I went to the workshop. He didn't talk much. I did. Most of the people who went there talked a lot: not only about poetry, but also about politics, trips (none of us imagined that they would turn out to be what they became later), about painting, architecture, photography, revolution and armed struggle; the armed struggle that was going to bring us a new life and a new era, but for most of us it was like a dream or, more appropriately, like the key that would open the door to our dreams, the only ones for which it was worth living. And although we vaguely knew that dreams often turn into nightmares, we didn't care.</p> </blockquote>

Distant Star

2026-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Why we chose it?</h2>
One of the authors we have always wanted to read is Roberto Bolaño. During a visit to City Lights Bookstore</a> (San Francisco), one of Mia's favorite bookstores, we found a section dedicated to his work. We couldn't pass up the opportunity, so we chose Distant Star as the next book.</p>
About the author</h2>
Roberto Bolaño was born April 28, 1953, in Santiago, Chile. He was one of the leading South American literary figures in the 21st century. His book Savage Detectives</em> was published in 1998 and won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize (the Spanish-language equivalent of the Booker Prize). Unfortunately, his ouvre was not widely translated into other languages until 2014, when his work started to gain international recognition. Bolaño explored several forms of writing, including short stories, novels, and poetry. Influenced by his traumatic experience during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, he addressed themes around exile, fascism, violence, and the search for truth. Roberto Bolaño died on July 15, 2003, in Barcelona, Spain.</p>

La Perra

2026-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

The story takes place in the context of Colombian poverty in a Pacific coastal town. For decades, some of the most vulnerable populations in this country have lived in areas such as the one described in the book. Surviving is more important than being happy, or getting what they want. Sometimes it feels like no one questions why they are living like this, just try to do what they can with what they have. This setting is common in similar places around the world.</p>
In a way, this is a story of how our desires clash with our reality, where longing for a better situation could be a permanent state of mind. The book is a portrait of unequal societies, where chances to move into a better economic and personal situation are low and almost non-existent, for some. But, at the same time, it is a story about the struggle to accept our realities and stop controlling others, and this is where the readers might identify with the main character, because it could happen to anyone, anywhere.</p>
The clever writing style gives rhythm to the reading and lets the reader submerge into the story, the places and the situations without too much effort. We want Damaris to do better but we can just go along and hope for the best. Maybe that’s the way some people see our own struggles from afar. We don’t want to her to do anything crazy and when she does, we’re not sure if we should judge her or not. When I say we</em>, I really mean me and hope others are of the same opinion.</p>
Selected fragment</h3>

Damaris wanted to dry the puppy’s paws with a towel and rub her body with her hands to warm the little girl up before setting her back in the box, but she stopped herself since Luzmila kept staring at her with those evil eyes of hers.</p> </blockquote>

"You’re going to kill that animal, you keep touching it so much," she said.</p> </blockquote>

Damaris was hurt by the comment, but she kept quiet. It wasn’t worth a fight. Then, wearing her disgusted face, Luzmila asked what the dog’s name was, and Damaris had to tell her: Chirli. They were first cousins and had been raised together since birth, so they knew everything about one another.</p> </blockquote>

"Chirli, like the beauty queen?" Luzmila laughed. "Isn’t that what you were going to name your daughter?"</p> </blockquote>

Damaris had been unable to have children. She and Rogelio got together when she was eighteen, and when she’d been with him for two years people started saying "Where are the babies?" and "Sure taking your time."</p> </blockquote>
About the author</h2>
Pilar Quintana was born in Cali, Colombia. The bitch is the first of her novels translated into English and 15 more languages. This novel was "shortlisted for the Colombian Premio Nacional de Novela in 2018 and the National Book Award for Translated Literature in the US in October 2020, and it was announced the winner of the English Pen Award and the Premio de Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana in 2018."</p>

A Tale of the Dispossessed

2026-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

Pending translation.</p>