Customer Reviews

After the Bombs

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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.

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).

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.