Pilar Quintana Livres

From the author of National Book Award 2021 Finalist The Bitch Claudia is an impressionable eight-year-old girl, trying to understand the world through the eyes of the adults around her. But her hardworking father hardly speaks a word, while her unhappy mother spends her days reading celebrity lifestyle magazines, tending to her enormous collection of plants, and filling Claudia's head with stories about women who end their lives in tragic ways. Then an interloper arrives, disturbing the delicate balance of family life, and Claudia's world starts falling apart. In this strikingly vivid portrait of Cali, Colombia, Claudia's acute observations remind us that children are capable of discerning extremely complex realities even if they cannot fully understand them. In Abyss, Quintana leads us brilliantly into the lonely heart of the child we have all once been, driven by fear of abandonment.

2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS TRANSLATED LITERATURE FINALIST In Colombia's brutal jungle, childless Damaris develops an intense and ultimately doomed relationship with an orphaned puppy. "The magic of this sparse novel is its ability to talk about many things, all of them important, while seemingly talking about something else entirely. What are those things? Violence, loneliness, resilience, cruelty. Quintana works wonders with her disillusioned, no-nonsense, powerful prose." Juan Gabriel Vásquez, author of The Sound of Things Falling "The Bitch is a novel of true violence. Artist that she is, Pilar Quintana uncovers wounds we didn't know we had, shows us their beauty, and then throws a handful of salt into them." Yuri Herrera, author of Signs Preceding the End of the World Colombia's Pacific coast, where everyday life entails warding off the brutal forces of nature. In this constant struggle, nothing is taken for granted. Damaris lives with her fisherman husband in a shack on a bluff overlooking the sea. Childless and at that age "when women dry up," as her uncle puts it, she is eager to adopt an orphaned puppy. But this act may bring more than just affection into her home. The Bitch is written in a prose as terse as the villagers, with storms―both meteorological and emotional―lurking around each corner. Beauty and dread live side by side in this poignant exploration of the many meanings of motherhood and love.

Damaris, una mujer del Pacífico entrada en la madurez y con muchas decepciones a cuestas, adopta a una perra y la llama Chirly, como hubiera querido llamar a la hija que nunca tuvo. Nace, así, una relación intensa y entrañable, en la que Damaris pone todo de sí para enderezar un destino que ya creía del todo torcido. La crítica ha dicho "En la costa del Pacífico colombiano, lejos de la idílica postal, vive Damaris junto a su marido Rogelio. En este rincón del planeta la vida no conoce seguridad y los sueños conviven con las más cruentas pesadillas. Todos se encuentran cercados: tanto por el paisaje sobrecogedor como por sus convulsos horizontes internos. En La perra, Pilar Quintana hila con extraordinaria maestría la naturaleza humana junto al caos del universo. Es una novela llena de incógnitas sobre los deseos incumplidos, la culpa y los lugares por donde aún circula el amor". Gabriela Alemán "La perra es una novela de una violencia verdadera. Como la artista que es, Pilar Quintana encuentra heridas que no sabíamos que teníamos, señala su belleza, y luego arroja en ellas un puño de sal". Yuri Herrera

Cuentos de Pilar Quintana que no dejarán a nadie indiferente. Un libro de relatos por la ganadora del Premio Alfaguara de Novela 2021 y finalista del National Book Award. Los ocho relatos que componen este libro exploran las más fuertes pulsiones detrás de las relaciones de pareja: el amor, la obsesión, los celos, la rabia, la apatía, la ternura, pero sobre todo el deseo. Las fantasías, perversiones y atrevimientos sexuales son los grandes protagonistas de este volumen de cuentos, en el que, entre el realismo y la fantasía, entre lo descarnado, el humor y la ironía, y con un lenguaje llano y rico a la vez, Pilar Quintana consigue sorprender e inquietar a los lectores. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Stories by the Finalist of NBA Awards and Winner of the Premio Alfaguara de Novela 2021, Pilar Quintana, that will move every reader. The eight stories in this book explore the strongest feelings behind romantic relationships: love, obsession, jealousy, anger, apathy, tenderness, but above all desire. Fantasies, perversions, and sexual boldness are the main protagonists in these stories, which, amid realism and fantasy, amid the rawness, humor, and irony, and with both a simple yet rich language, Pilar Quintana manages to surprise and disturb readers.