After the Bombs [Hardcover]

Arturo Arias (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0915306883 | ISBN-13: 978-0915306886 | Publication Date: July 1, 1995

In the years that follow the bombing of Guatemala City in 1954, young Max grows into manhood as he searches for his identity, his father, and his place in the struggles of his country

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This powerful novel by the coauthor of the script for the film El Norte dissects the spirit of a country living through a nightmare. Based on the 1954 bombardment of Guatemala City by U.S. forces, it depicts Maximo, who comes of age in a world of corpse-littered streets, where the police are brigands, order is kept by random executions and the writing of books is a crime. At 13, Maximo falls in love with quirky Karen, daughter of the U.S. ambassador--until a case of mistaken identity leads to a violent, perverse attack on both of them. Against this sordid backdrop, he decides to become a writer--to "build a cathedral of words"--and tell the story of his people's agony, and attempt to unravel the mystery of his father's long-ago disappearance. He meets the beautiful Amarena, a well-connected prostitute who becomes his lover, confidante and ally. At the lavish funeral of the local CIA chief, Maximo intrudes into the proceedings to read a story he's written exposing the horrors of Guatemala and lampooning U.S. officials. While he tries to escape the ensuing dragnet, Amarena comes to his rescue in an ending that adds a fillip of hope to a brutal, compelling morality tale. Author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Set against the 1954 coup in Guatemala (as the titular "bombs" indicate), this novel traces a young revolutionary's struggle for political truth that parallels the quest for his own identity as manifested by his frustrating search for his missing father. Overt symbolism, couched in caricature and violence, enlivens an otherwise anemic satiric vision. The tone derives its inspiration from Garcia Marquez's The Autumn of the Patriarch and especially from compatriot Asturias's El Senor Presidente (1963), neither of whose stylistic excellence or innovations it shares. A tepid recommendation for all but the strongest literature collections.
- Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC, Dublin, Ohio
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 221 pages
• Publisher: Curbstone Press (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915306883
• ISBN-13: 978-0915306886
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,534,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written book that amuse and horrify., July 29, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: After the Bombs (Paperback)

A story of a boy growing up in post-coup (1954) Guatemala. The language, even though it has been translated, is beautiful. It has the impact and brevity of Hemmingway with the acid absurdity of Vonnegut. I highly reccommend this book to anyone who wants to learn a bit about recent Guatemalen history or just wants a great book. Excellent choice for students or anyone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "After the bombs" and Guatemalan History, May 23, 2005

By 

J. C. Castro (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After the Bombs (Paperback)

I think it is great that Arturo Arias' novel "After the Bombs" was translated into English, but if you want to truly enjoy and appreciate this novel, you should read the original version written in Spanish ("Despues de las Bombas"). You can purchase the novel in Spanish (which is not offered here on Amazon.com) by going to (...)

The reason I recommend the Spanish version versus the English one is because when texts are translated, many things are lost in the process of translation. The author wrote his novel in Spanish, and so he intended for his readers to read it in Spanish.

I also recommend the reader to read about Guatemalan history (1944-1970s) before reading this book, to be able to fully understand and relate what was going on in Guatemala during the bombings in 1954.

If you want to read more about Guatemalan history, I recommend the following:

"Por favor, nunca más : (testimonios de mujeres, víctimas del conflicto armado en Guatemala)". Guatemala, Guatemala : Ayuda de la Iglesia Noruega, 1997.

Falla, Ricardo. "Massacres in the Jungle: Ixcán, Guatemala, 1975-1982". Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.

Payeras, Mario. "Days of the jungle : the testimony of a Guatemalan guerrillero, 1972-1976". New York, N.Y. : Monthly Review Press, c1983.

Simon, Jean-Marie. "Guatemala: eternal spring, eternal tyranny". New York: Norton, 1988, ©1987.

Wilkinson, Daniel. "Silence On The Mountain: Stories Of Terror, Betrayal, And Forgetting In Guatemala (American Encounters/Global Interactions)". Duke University Press, 2004.

Schlesinger, Stephen C. "Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala". Harvard University Press; Expanded edition (August, 1999).

3.0 out of 5 stars A Different Kind of Novel, April 11, 2011

By 

bassslappa - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: After the Bombs (Paperback)

This particular novel is one that most readers will find to be much different than other novels. Unlike most novels, After the Bombs is written in a different fashion. That is, Arturo Arias has constructed the novel to reflect a poetic-type construction; consisting of fragmented sentences and stanza-like paragraphing. However, this novel is easy reading in the sense that the actual content of the novel is largely in laymen terms although following the narration of the novel can prove to be a somewhat difficult task. Within the context of the novel one will find an extremely insightful and exciting adventure into an individual's life whom endured the political unrest of the 1950's revolution in Guatemala.