Description
From internationally bestselling Argentine author Pedro Mairal and Man Booker International-winning translator Jennifer Croft, the unforgettable story of two would-be lovers over the course of a single day. 'A searing tale of seduction and betrayal, both wryly comic and deeply serious' Sigrid Nunez, National Book Award-winning author of The Friend Lucas Pereyra, an unemployed writer in his forties, embarks on a day trip from Buenos Aires to Montevideo to pick up fifteen thousand dollars in cash. An advance due to him on his upcoming novel, the small fortune might mean the solution to his problems, most importantly the unbearable tension he has with his wife. While she spends her days at work and her nights out on the town-with a lover, perhaps, he doesn't know for sure- Lucas is stuck at home all day staring at the blank page, caring for his son Maiko and fantasizing about the one thing that keeps him going: the Uruguayan woman he met at a conference several months back and who he is longing to see on his day trip to Montevideo. The surprising, moving story of this incredibly impactful day in Lucas' life, The Woman from Uruguay is both a gripping narrative and tender, thought-provoking exploration of the nature of relationships. An international bestseller published in twelve countries, it is the masterpiece of one of Latin America's most beloved writers. 'At once a picaresque comedy and a penetrating study of a man on the verge of middle age' Colm Toibin
From internationally bestselling Argentine author Pedro Mairal and Man Booker International-winning translator Jennifer Croft, the poignant, constantly surprising and convention-defying story of a single day in a struggling 40-something writer's life as he tries to escape his marital troubles in pursuit of a figure from his past.
About the Author
Pedro Mairal is a professor of English literature in Buenos Aires. In 1998 he was awarded the Premio Clarin and in 2007 he was included in the Hay Festival's Bogota 39 list, which named the 39 best Latin American authors under 39. Among his novels are A Night with Sabrina Love, which was made into a film and widely translated, and The Woman from Uruguay, which was a bestseller in Latin America and Spain and has been published in twelve countries. Jennifer Croft was awarded the Man Booker International Prize in 2018 and was a National Book Award Finalist for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights. She is the recipient of Fulbright, PEN, MacDowell, and National Endowment for the Arts grants and fellowships, as well as a Tin House Workshop Scholarship for her memoir Homesick. She has published her own work and numerous translations in The New York Times, VICE, n+1, The New Republic, The Guardian, The Chicago Tribune, and elsewhere.
Reviews
This story of lust and middle-aged angst resonates long after the novel has ended ... Intimate, irreverent, fast-paced and raw ... Reminiscent of Geoff Dyer in elegiac mode, or the angry, funny, rueful work of Luke Brown ... A deeply unconventional love letter * Sunday Times *
The Woman from Uruguay is at once a picaresque comedy and a penetrating study of a man on the verge of middle age who is trying to deal with fatherhood, money, marriage and love. Lucas's vivid presence in this book is created by his rich way of observing the world. As he travels from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, over seventeen hours, a whole world comes into being, a complex sensibility gets dramatized -- Colm Toibin
Beautifully written and translated, The Woman from Uruguay is a work of exquisite style, shrewd philosophical insight, and deftly controlled suspense. A searing tale of seduction and betrayal, both wryly comic and deeply serious. * Sigrid Nunez, author of THE FRIEND and WHAT ARE YOU GOING THROUGH *
A tragi-comic novel, rich in humour and pathos, by one of Latin America's favourite authors * Saga *
Pedro Mairal shows us the shape and texture of the midlife climacteric. It is a thoroughly compelling performance * Times Literary Supplement *
A tender meditation on desire and the fragility of the human heart, translated elegantly by Man Booker International winner Jennifer Croft ... [a] profound novel * Chicago Review of Books *
A perfect novel. A triumph from beginning to end. The novel's style, that carries the soft irony of a writer in command of his narrative voice, its extension, its verbal prowess, its impeccably paced rhythm and, of course, the theme: a marital crisis written from the perspective of an Argentine man in his mid forties who is facing an existential crisis. * El Pais (Spain) *
[Pedro Mairal] displays his full talent in a wisely structured novel, outstanding in its narrative rhythm and in the twists and turns of the plot, where humor emerges at the same time a tragedy takes shape surrounding an enigma . . . A story about love and its imponderables. * Pagina 12 (Argentina) *
Eminently readable ... Witty ... Mairal gives his character the gift of frankness, and in his uncomfortable admissions and meandering reflections, Lucas, too, comes to accept the limits of his agency and the ineluctable force of reality * Claie Messud, Harper's *
I wasn't able to put the book down. * Maria Duenas *
A perfect novel. * Edmundo Paz Soldan *
A bittersweet meditation on love, desire and ageing ... A psychologically astute novella ... Pitch-perfect * Guardian *
Mairal shines a fresh light into the cave of being middle aged. Hidden inside a mountain of adult responsibilities, Mairal's narrator revolts in known ways, with infidelity and travel, and yet Mairel's acute insights and the lyrical precision of Jennifer Croft's translation, cast a new glow on the unexpected pleasures to be found in the middle of life. An absolute delight of a novel -- Idra Novey, author of Those Who Knew
The loss and recovery of desire, the ambition of everlasting adventures, the earthquake of becoming a father, the flight forward . . . all these things occur in a single day (. . .), interwoven in the brilliant prose of Pedro Mairal, one of the best Latin American writers of our time. * Leila Guerriero *
The Woman from Uruguay is a gem; as perfectly formed as a tide-washed pebble, brimming with astute observations and insight into the foibles of masculinity. I loved it * Graeme Macrae Burnet *
Book Information
ISBN 9781526633606
Author Pedro Mairal
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 194g
From internationally bestselling Argentine author Pedro Mairal and Man Booker International-winning translator Jennifer Croft, the poignant, constantly surprising and convention-defying story of a single day in a struggling 40-something writer's life as he tries to escape his marital troubles in pursuit of a figure from his past.
About the Author
Pedro Mairal is a professor of English literature in Buenos Aires. In 1998 he was awarded the Premio Clarin and in 2007 he was included in the Hay Festival's Bogota 39 list, which named the 39 best Latin American authors under 39. Among his novels are A Night with Sabrina Love, which was made into a film and widely translated, and The Woman from Uruguay, which was a bestseller in Latin America and Spain and has been published in twelve countries. Jennifer Croft was awarded the Man Booker International Prize in 2018 and was a National Book Award Finalist for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights. She is the recipient of Fulbright, PEN, MacDowell, and National Endowment for the Arts grants and fellowships, as well as a Tin House Workshop Scholarship for her memoir Homesick. She has published her own work and numerous translations in The New York Times, VICE, n+1, The New Republic, The Guardian, The Chicago Tribune, and elsewhere.
Reviews
This story of lust and middle-aged angst resonates long after the novel has ended ... Intimate, irreverent, fast-paced and raw ... Reminiscent of Geoff Dyer in elegiac mode, or the angry, funny, rueful work of Luke Brown ... A deeply unconventional love letter * Sunday Times *
The Woman from Uruguay is at once a picaresque comedy and a penetrating study of a man on the verge of middle age who is trying to deal with fatherhood, money, marriage and love. Lucas's vivid presence in this book is created by his rich way of observing the world. As he travels from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, over seventeen hours, a whole world comes into being, a complex sensibility gets dramatized -- Colm Toibin
Beautifully written and translated, The Woman from Uruguay is a work of exquisite style, shrewd philosophical insight, and deftly controlled suspense. A searing tale of seduction and betrayal, both wryly comic and deeply serious. * Sigrid Nunez, author of THE FRIEND and WHAT ARE YOU GOING THROUGH *
A tragi-comic novel, rich in humour and pathos, by one of Latin America's favourite authors * Saga *
Pedro Mairal shows us the shape and texture of the midlife climacteric. It is a thoroughly compelling performance * Times Literary Supplement *
A tender meditation on desire and the fragility of the human heart, translated elegantly by Man Booker International winner Jennifer Croft ... [a] profound novel * Chicago Review of Books *
A perfect novel. A triumph from beginning to end. The novel's style, that carries the soft irony of a writer in command of his narrative voice, its extension, its verbal prowess, its impeccably paced rhythm and, of course, the theme: a marital crisis written from the perspective of an Argentine man in his mid forties who is facing an existential crisis. * El Pais (Spain) *
[Pedro Mairal] displays his full talent in a wisely structured novel, outstanding in its narrative rhythm and in the twists and turns of the plot, where humor emerges at the same time a tragedy takes shape surrounding an enigma . . . A story about love and its imponderables. * Pagina 12 (Argentina) *
Eminently readable ... Witty ... Mairal gives his character the gift of frankness, and in his uncomfortable admissions and meandering reflections, Lucas, too, comes to accept the limits of his agency and the ineluctable force of reality * Claie Messud, Harper's *
I wasn't able to put the book down. * Maria Duenas *
A perfect novel. * Edmundo Paz Soldan *
A bittersweet meditation on love, desire and ageing ... A psychologically astute novella ... Pitch-perfect * Guardian *
Mairal shines a fresh light into the cave of being middle aged. Hidden inside a mountain of adult responsibilities, Mairal's narrator revolts in known ways, with infidelity and travel, and yet Mairel's acute insights and the lyrical precision of Jennifer Croft's translation, cast a new glow on the unexpected pleasures to be found in the middle of life. An absolute delight of a novel -- Idra Novey, author of Those Who Knew
The loss and recovery of desire, the ambition of everlasting adventures, the earthquake of becoming a father, the flight forward . . . all these things occur in a single day (. . .), interwoven in the brilliant prose of Pedro Mairal, one of the best Latin American writers of our time. * Leila Guerriero *
The Woman from Uruguay is a gem; as perfectly formed as a tide-washed pebble, brimming with astute observations and insight into the foibles of masculinity. I loved it * Graeme Macrae Burnet *
Book Information
ISBN 9781526633606
Author Pedro Mairal
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 194g
