Slum Virgin
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Queer writing at its most exhilarating.” —Times Literary Supplement
The slums of Buenos Aires, the government, the mafia, the Virgin Mary, corrupt police, sex workers, thieves, drug dealers, and debauchery all combine in this sweeping novel deemed a ‘revelation for contemporary literature’ and ‘pure dynamite’ (Andrés Neuman, author of Traveller of the Century & Talking to Ourselves ).
When the Virgin Mary appears to Cleopatra, she renounces sex work and takes charge of the shantytown she lives in, transforming it into a tiny utopia. Ambitious journalist Quity knows she’s found the story of the year when she hears about it, but her life is changed forever once she finds herself irrevocably seduced by the captivating subject of her article. Densely-packed, fast-paced prose, weaving slang and classical references, Slum Virgin refuses to whitewash the reality of the poor and downtrodden, and jumps deftly from tragedy to comedy in a way that has the reader laughing out loud.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
C mara's stunning Booker International shortlisted tour de force (after The Adventures of China Iron) follows Cleo, a trans ex-prostitute, known as the "transvestite saint" for her visions of Virgin Mary, through accounts from Quity, a down-and-out journalist hoping for redemption. Cleo's visions expose the motivations of the rich, poor, police, media, thieves, and gangs in the brutal Argentinian slum of El Poso, where she lives. After Quity, a depressive atheist, meets Cleo, she receives a grant to write Cleo's life story, and immerses herself in El Poso's hardscrabble world. While driving through town high on cocaine, Quity discovers a young woman who's just been tortured by local mobster The Beast, "a human flame running a kind of epileptic race," and puts the woman out of her misery with her .38. The Beast's later murder creates a power vacuum filled by politically connected El Jefe, who is set on selling the slum for development, minus its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Quity and Cleo become lovers, the Virgin inspires Cleo to write a cumbia opera, and the two plot their escape from El Poso. With humor and a frenetic pace, the propulsive narrative is roiled with fabulism, faith, existentialism, and concern for the rights of the impoverished, all tinged with bittersweet and poetic turns of phrase. C mara's breakout tale is mind-blowingly good.
