Paradises

'Iosi Havilio has caused a literary storm in Argentina. - His creation is of an inverted "paradise", urban squalor a pole apart from the gardens of Paradise. It well reflects the inequalities and iniquities left by Argentina's financial collapse at the turn of this century. This is the aftermath of an apocalypse.' Amanda Hopkins, The Independent -------- 'Havilio has found just the right tone and understated register to describe extremity. Paradises takes place in an irresistible, ghostly normality.' Beatriz Sarlo -------- 'An original voice that does not resort to tried and tested formulae.' El Pais -------- 'In contemporary Argentine literature, Paradises is an almost perfect novel.' Revista Tonica -------- 'In his novels we find the invisible and essential work that only great writers are capable of.' Fabian Casas, author of Los Lemmings -------- 'This is a novel which follows its own rules, and it works - on its own terms.' Paula McGrath, Gorse -------- ' - because of this accent on the dystopian, I thoroughly recommend this unusual novel. It is very readable and strangely enjoyable though wickedly weird with its insidious and invidious images - It compels the reader to progress laterally, yet literally, through its pages, all the time feeling rather like one has been invited to [a] very strange costume party.' Vaughan Rapatahana, Scoop Review of Books -------- 'This sparkling novel is full of contradictions ... Havilio thus uses his narrator as a vehicle for a wider commentary on the human condition, which questions whether we are really as free as we think we are - what do we control and what controls us?' Three Percent -------- 'I was drawn to a woman who, though lacking any moral compass, could make me smile with her wryly humorous observations.' Wendy Smith, Whichbook -------- 'Paradises is pervaded by a dreamlike, grotesque quality at times - it's almost like a journey into a twisted fairy tale. - Havilio's style is simple, but hypnotic.' Tony Malone, tonysreadinglist -------- 'I really enjoyed this book, although I'm not quite sure why or what it's really all about. It's beautifully written and translated with a compelling voice from the unnamed narrator that pulled me into the story and made me want to know what would happen next - a highly readable book - one that I found almost impossible to pin down.' Rachel Ward, A Discount Ticket to Everywhere -------- 'Havilio's passion lies with the powerless. An inexhaustible stream of eccentric, believable characters, the down-and-out, downtrodden marginal citizens of Buenos Aires, parades through his fiction.' Nick DiMartino, Shelf Awareness -------- 'I found myself drawn in by the language and my growing anxiety to know what was coming next; whether action or meditation - The voice of Havilio's narrator has grown on me.' Michael Johnson, Akanos 'In some ways this is a story of survival.' Kate Gardner, Nose in a Book -------- 'A chronicle of events within a life, and the life is not particularly consciously lived. Perhaps this is why Havilio has been compared to Albert Camus; his main character parallels the existential passivity of Mersault in The Outsider - It's something of a series of dots, which different readers will connect in different ways.' Adam Ley-Lange, We Love This Book -------- 'I can't really describe this strange and mesmerizing book any better than the publisher's do here: "Is this life in the shadows, an underworld of cut-price Christmases, drugs and dealers, or is this simply life?" Oddly, this doesn't only capture this great Argentine novel, but my most recently celebrated holiday season.' Literalab