Poso Wells

An ABA Summer/Fall 2018 Indies Introduce & August 2018 Indie Next Selection

"Best Fiction of 2018" Powell's Books

"The Smartest Beach Reads of 2018" BBC

"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

"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

"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

"One part Thomas Pynchon, one part Gabriel García Márquez, 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

"Alemán's first novel to be translated into English is a wild, successful satire of Ecuadorian politics and supernatural encounters. … Alemán's singular voice keeps the ride fresh and satisfying."—Publishers Weekly

“Alemán takes aim at the social, cultural and ecological woes that plague a country that has been plundered for centuries. … Alemán is thoroughly Ecuadorian, but she’s also steeped in comic books, Hollywood classics and H.G. Wells’ fiction, including the short story 'The Country of the Blind,' which helped inspire some of the characters in Poso Wells. Dick Cluster, the translator, has fused the poetic with the tabloid and brought the work of one of Latin America's rising literary stars to readers in North America. Poso Wells can be read with pleasure in one long sitting and then reread for nuances and subtleties that surprise and entertain.”—San Francisco Chronicle

"Alemán’s voice, as translated from the Spanish by Dick Cluster, is fresh and deliciously absurd.”—BBC

"Poso Wells is a perfect complement for the current political state of the United States and the hopelessness caused by constant access to terrible news via social media. The story speaks to the delusion and god complex involved in wanting to lead an entire nation and the destructive power of indifference and greed. It also touches on the silence behind the pervasive violence women encounter in their daily lives. Alemán has created a disturbing, absurd, at times heart-wrenching story about the atrocities committed by patriarchs in power and the difficulty in fighting against colonialism. If anything, Poso Wells is a book about perseverance and resilience. It speaks to the fight human beings have inside them when they feel powerless. Their power is in protesting historical, structural violence and existence as resistance."—World Literature Today

"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)

"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)

"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)

"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 City of Books (Portland, OR)

"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

"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"

"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

"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

"Poso Wells is a darkly comedic, wildly energetic, and relentlessly intrepid bricolage of genres whose narration expertly cycles a unique roster of characters. … Alemán blurs the typical lines of story, allowing Poso Wells a far reach to captivate a broad audience, and without a doubt it will."—Arkansas International

"Alemán’s novel develops a series of bizarre events into a searingly lucid political conclusion. … The political monsters of Poso Wells are contrasted by a couple of powerful female characters who refuse to let men bulldoze them (literally, at one point). They are women who carry scars and vipers and who know how to use them. They draw on their resourcefulness and on the strength of their gathered community to resist the frenzied destruction of their lives and homes. … [Poso Wells is] an intriguing exploration of what drives people into action in a world that makes no sense.”—Full Stop

"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

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

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 Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, and The Fall of Baghdad