My rating: 4 stars

Winner of the Premio Letras Nuevas 2012, Krause’s new novel takes up where his earlier novel, Cuervos (see my earlier review) left off. Now 28, Matías returns from 6 aimless years of self-imposed exile in New York, to learn that you can’t go home again. Not that he really wanted to go home, but his father’s death was a surprise and a huge emotional blow.

6 years earlier, he published a tell-all novel showing the very worst sides of his thinly-disguised friends, and expects to be held accountable. It is somewhat troubling, however, to learn that none of his friends took the trouble to even read it. Instead, he finds that his friends’ and family’s lives have moved on without him, and he doesn’t really fit in any more. Suffering from the same anger and frustrations that prompted him to write his destructive novel in the first place, Matías sets out to do as much emotional damage as possible, some directly, and some passive-aggressively.

In an intense, first-person account, we see Matías destroy a little of himself with every destructive, vengeful act he brings upon his former friends and family. We also see him grieving for the good things he left behind all those years ago, including his childhood pet, his first love and most of all, his father. It takes hitting bottom, and his near destruction to force Matías to focus on a path to potential healing.

A powerful, intensely personal story of a young man forced to confront both the past and the future.

Desde Libros Gandhi:

TRAS UNA LARGA ESTANCIA EN NUEVA YORK, MATÍAS VUELVE A LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO. NO REGRESA POR GUSTO NI LO MUEVE LA NOSTALGIA: LO HA SORPRENDIDO LA MUERTE DE SU PADRE. REINTEGRARSE AL PASADO LO LLEVA A ENFRENTARSE A TODO AQUELLO DE LO QUE SALIÓ HUYENDO Y EL PAÍS QUE NUNCA HA SIDO PLENAMENTE SUYO LO CONFRONTA CON UNA REALIDAD SOCIAL INESPERADAMENTE VIOLENTA, DEGRADADA Y VACUA, Y CON SU PROPIO PASADO: LA FAMILIA, LOS AMIGOS, LOS AMORES. POCO A POCO IRRUMPEN LOS AGRAVIOS INSATISFECHOS, LAS VENGANZAS LARGAMENTE INCUBADAS, LAS CUENTAS PENDIENTES, LAS TRAICIONES INCONFESABLES, LOS SUEÑOS FRUSTRADOS. UNA EXTRAORDINARIA NARRACIÓN SIN CONCESIONES NI TREGUA, QUE SE PRECIPITA DE MANERA BRUTAL E INCANDESCENTE CUANDO MATÍAS HACE FRENTE A SU HISTORIA, DESTROZANDO LAS VIDAS DE TODOS A LOS QUE DEJÓ Y TODOS LOS QUE LO HAN QUERIDO, SIN ESPERANZA CASI DE SALVACIÓN. FALLAS DE ORIGEN ES LA NOVELA GANADORA DEL PREMIO LETRAS NUEVAS 2012