Delirium: A Novel [Hardcover]

Laura Restrepo (Author), Natasha Wimmer (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2007

Internationally acclaimed for the virtuosity and power of her fiction, Laura Restrepo has created in Delirium a passionate, lyrical, devastating tale of eros and insanity.

Aguilar, an unemployed literature professor who has resorted to selling dog food for a living, returns home from a short trip to discover that his wife, Agustina, has gone mad. He doesn’t know what has happened during his absence, and in his search for answers, he gradually unearths profound and shadowy secrets about her past.

On one level, Delirium reads like a detective story, as the reader pieces together information to discover the roots of Agustina’s madness. But it is also a remarkably nuanced novel whose currents run much deeper, delving into the minds of four characters: Aguilar, a husband passionately in love with his wife and determined to rescue her from insanity: Agustina, a beautiful woman from an upper-class Colombian family who is caught in the throes of madness; Midas, a drug-trafficker and money-launderer, who is Agustina’s former lover; and Nicolás, Agustina’s grandfather. Through the mixing of these distinct voices, Laura Restrepo creates a searing portrait of a society battered by war and corruption as well as an intimate look at the daily lives of people struggling to stay sane in an unstable country.

Delirium already has been awarded the 2004 Premio Alfaguara, the 2006 Grinzane Cavour Prize in Italy, and was shortlisted for the prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France for best translated fiction. It is an ambitious and deeply affecting masterwork by one of Latin America’s most important contemporary voices.

Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Aguilar, a former literature professor who now "delivers dog food in order to survive" returns from a trip to find his beloved wife, Agustina, has "transformed into someone terrified and terrifying"; his subsequent investigation into what happened forms the plot of this complex and captivating novel, Restrepo's sixth novel to be translated into English (after Isle of Passion). In reconstructing Agustina's privileged but troubled past, the novel intertwines several narratives, including the braggadocio of Agustina's former lover—and Pablo Escobar money launderer—Midas McAlister; the tragic tale of her German grandfather, Nicholas Portulinus; and Agustina's own pained reminiscences of a childhood centered around an aloof and domineering father whose affection she tried to win and from whose abuse she tried to protect her younger brother. It seems that Agustina's madness sprouts from a denial of violence and obvious truths—a denial that is shown here to similarly corrupt Colombian society. It has all the tension of a great detective story, and Wimmer's translation captures every tormented bit of Aguilar's desperation. (Mar.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine

Is it possible to remain sane in an insane place? Colombian author Laura Restrepo's sixth novel, which won the 2004 Premio Alfaguara and the 2006 Grinzane Cavour Prize in Italy, provides a multifaceted answer to this question. In exploring how madness affects many levels of society, from government to family, Restrepo offers an intriguing, superbly written (and translated), and psychologically rich novel that reads like a mystery unraveled backward. Critics agreed that some voices, including McAlister's and Aguilar's, are extremely compelling, while Agustina's is less so. That Agustina is a symbolic stand-in for Colombia's ills also bothered a few, as did the ambiguous nature of her breakdown.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese (April 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385519907
• ISBN-13: 978-0385519908
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,305,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Splendid, April 25, 2007

By 

Roberto Carlos Martinez (Author) (Woodbridge, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delirium: A Novel (Hardcover)

A great piece of literature. A master at her best. A female writer who understands not only human behavior but the effects of society on people and the power of memory. A great read for anyone looking for something different. This book is not only a representation of Colombia but a representation of Latin America.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong character has madness as reality, April 1, 2008

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delirium (Vintage International) (Paperback)

From the opening quote by Gore Vidal, attributed to the great Henry James, to the end of Delirium, we are forced to piece together a life that Aguilar-who is an unemployed literature professor that now sells dog food for a living-is immersed in by being married to Agustina, who is, quite literally, mad. While the narrative is initially spotty with the point of view moving between each of the married unit, you can follow with great ease since they have completely different inner and outer monologues.

The action takes place in Bogóta, Columbia, where there is an immediate disdain for Americans as Aguilar fills in town and family history. Anyone with a physical ailment-and money-can go to Houston to be cured, however may come back to Columbia more messed up than they left (a minor commentary on the States' health care conundrum). Out of the blue, Aunt Sofi shows up at Aguilar's flat to take care of Agustina, although he isn't sure who this aunt really is and why she is at his apartment. Sofi seems to be able to calm Agustina's obsessive-compulsive side, but also works with her in persistently cleaning and lining water buckets all over the flat. This is an interesting portrayal of a woman's madness as well as the heated political environment in Columbia, which is why Aguilar is no longer teaching, as the university shut down because of the political unrest.

Author Restrepo explores the reality of madness and how it affects every societal caste system, government and family. While some things are ambiguous, such as the reason for Agustina's breakdown, the novel is an interesting look at insanity.

This is translated eloquently and is an exceptionally written book that looks at the demons we all have to face, in one way or another, it just depends on whether we can survive them.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm Delirious; You're Delirious, January 14, 2012

By 

James W. Fonseca (Zanesville, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Delirium (Vintage International) (Paperback)

Delirium drops us into the high-end world of modern Bogota, Columbia. These particular folks are families who hang out in fitness centers and travel to the United States. One main character is an unemployed professor who has hooked up with the daughter of a prominent drug family. She is more than he can handle and even if she weren't crazy, he'd be out of his league. (I'm reminded of the modern Italian novel The Natural Disorder of Things: A Novel which has a similar set-up.)

One day she disappears for a week and then suddenly reappears in a hotel deranged and distraught. A good part of the tension in the story is what happened to her? Thus, the title, Delirium. But the title could equally apply to just about every other main character in the book: the woman's mother who ignores all the infidelities around her and refuses to acknowledge that her son is gay; the professor who thinks this relationship is going anywhere, and the various drug-dealer characters. There is lots of local color of modern urban Columbia but also reminisces and flashbacks of the family's rural origin in German immigrants. Restepo also wrote The Angel of Galilea a story of a saint-like character in a modern drug-ridden Columbia slum.