A sweeping tale of conspiracy theories, assassinations, and twisted obsessions — the much anticipated masterpiece from Juan Gabriel Vásquez. The Shape of the Ruins is a masterly story of conspiracy, political obsession, and literary investigation. When a man is arrested at a museum for attempting to steal the bullet-ridden suit of a murdered Colombian politician, few notice. But soon this thwarted theft takes on greater meaning as it becomes a thread in a widening web of popular fixations with conspiracy theories, assassinations, and historical secrets; and it haunts those who feel that only they know the real truth behind these killings. This novel explores the darkest moments of a country’s past and brings to life the ways in which past violence shapes our present lives. A compulsive read, beautiful and profound, eerily relevant to our times and deeply personal, The Shape of the Ruins is a tour-de-force story by a master at uncovering the incisive wounds of our memories.
About the Author: Juan Gabriel Vasquez Translator: Anne McLean
Juan Gabriel Vásquez's previous books include the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award winner and national bestseller, The Sound of Things Falling, as well as the award-winning Reputations, The Informers, The Secret History of Costaguana, and the story collection Lovers on All Saints' Day. Vásquez's novels have been published in twenty-eight languages worldwide. After sixteen years in France, Belgium, and Spain, he now lives in Bogotá. Anne McLean translates Latin American and Spanish novels, short stories, memoirs, and other writings. She has twice won both the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Premio Valle Inclán, and received the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award with Juan Gabriel Vásquez for his novel The Sound of Things Falling. She lives in Toronto.
QUOTES: “The Shape of the Ruins is far more than a tutorial; it’s a gripping Deep State novel that richly illuminates how the powerful brutalize the powerless. Its implications should serve as a cautionary tale for other nations under authoritarian threats. Vásquez has written the epic of his people.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune “The Shape of the Ruins by Colombian novelist Juan Gabriel Vásquez…is ‘packed with history, alternate history, and a keen, mischievous sense of historical humor.’”—Michael Schaub, NPR Books “This is the big, sweeping book of Colombia that Vásquez has been building up to—a novel that obsessively re-examines the fanaticism and deceptions at the heart of Colombia’s past and present.” –Vanity Fair “Teeming with crackpots and idealists, doomed leaders and those who would avenge their deaths, this is a novel with a surplus of interesting characters. Its plot, meanwhile, is constantly churning. Readers who think they can foresee what’s coming next will find that they’re wrong.” San Francisco Chronicle “It's a wandering book, overall. It's discursive, digressive, baggy, often strange. It's neurotic in the extreme…. In The Shape of the Ruins, the historical gives way, over and over, to the personal. At its core, this is not a novel about history, or even politics. It's about how history and politics combine to shape one particular man.”—NPR “This compelling read is more than a standard mystery; it interrogates the way moments of violence in Colombia’s past have retained their power long after they are over.”—Time Magazine “Juan Gabriel Vásquez is the most famous novelist to come out of Colombia since Gabriel García Márquez. His subtle, nuanced fiction uses the tools of documentary reportage – historical sleuthing and interviews with witnesses – to steer readers through the nation’s labyrinthine past… Deftly weaving fact into fiction, the novel asks if official history can ever add up to more than victors’ propaganda that buries other versions of the past.”—The Economist, 1843 Magazine “Vásquez’s captivating, disquieting account of a writer’s journey through the shadowy terrain of his country’s past dynamically illustrates how violence damages survivors, lies erode society, and fiction can convey truths history omits.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review // REVIEWS: The San Francisco Chronicle – Review – 9/25 The Washington Post – Review – 9/25 Los Angeles Book Review – Review – 9/25 NPR – Review – 9/25 1843 / The Economist – Review – June/July Issue Publishers Weekly – Starred Review – 7/23 Issue The Guardian – Review – 5/16
