Description
Book SynopsisIn a poverty-stricken neighbourhood wedged between the city and the sea, a father and son struggle to keep their heads above water. Rather than being discouraged by their difficulties and hardship, their response is to come up with increasingly bizarre and imaginative plans in order to get by. Even when a horrifying, macabre event rocks the neighborhood and the locals start to flee, father and son decide to stay put. What matters is staying together.This is a bold, poignant text that juxtaposes a very tender father-son relationship with the son's sexual liberation and a brutal depiction of homophobic violence. Giuseppe Caputo uses delicate – yet electrifying – lyricism and imagery to weave a tale that balances desire, violence, discrimination, love, eroticism and defiance, while evoking with surreal humor the social marginalization of the protagonists as they struggle to keep afloat in a society where there are no safety nets.Like a brightly-lit theme park with its house of horrors, reminiscent in parts of James Baldwin’s Another Country or Virginie Despentes’ Vernon Subutex trilogy, An Orphan World defies the reader to look away, and the reward is an exhilarating carnival ride filled with beauty, compassion and loss.
Trade ReviewEnglish PEN (Award)
"A delirious, tender fable." —The Times Literary Supplement
"Colombian writer Caputo’s transfixing debut explores the poverty, sexuality, and community found in a hardscrabble neighborhood….Caputo’s arresting novel hits hard." —Publishers Weekly
"An extraordinary book. (Garth Greenwell)" —Literary Hub
"Caputo is a blazing new talent in world literature. Everyone should read this book!"" —Garth Greenwell , author of WHAT BELONGS TO YOU
"He’s a talent."" —Niven Govinden , author of THIS BRUTAL HOUSE
"Gritty...an effortlessly multi-layered plot that challenges the reader to question everything." —The Skinny
"Caputo writes with his pen on fire." —Books and Bao
"One of the best debut novels I’ve read this year and it marks Caputo out as one of the most striking new voices coming from Latin America." —Morning Star
"Caputo tells a difficult story with urgency and a master skill of narration, prose and poetry. It is truly a work of horrific beauty and indulgent joy (or the promise of it)." —Wasafiri
