Roy Kesey's riveting debut novel tells the story of John Segovia, an American historian who teaches English at a small university in Piura, on the desert coast of Peru. The narrative moves between John's obsessive search for his wife's killer and his attempts to build a new life for himself and his infant daughter. The storms of El Niño and the ghosts of history that stalk the sands of the Sechura Desert give this novel the sweep of an epic tale. Throughout, Pacazo explores and celebrates the many ways in which we construct the stories we tell of ourselves and those we love. It gives living form to anger and fear and desire, to courage and kindness and strength, and in so doing confirms Roy Kesey as one of the most innovative and compelling American writers working today.
Pacazo
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Here, the story--the seamless commingling of past and present--and language play off each other to create (is it too plain a way to say it?) one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.
"(Kesey) is excellent on the country's past, which he superbly integrates into Segovia's stream of consciousness, jumping centuries within sentences and creating a web of subtle allusive links between the conquistadors and Incas, and the mix of foreigners and locals that populate the country today."
- David Annand, The Daily Telegraph
"(T)his is one hell of a novel, which quietly stakes out unusual territory with such ease that sometimes it's surprising to realize how deeply immersed one has become in the multiple pasts and the uncertain future of the narrator... (W)ise and sorrowful and joyful..."
- Philip Graham, Inside Higher Ed
"Pacazo (...) is so stunning sentence by sentence, its scenes and characters so intimately connected, they create a portrait of the end of the last millennium that's surprising in momentum and scale. And that scope may just be the novel's great achievement."
"A wholly immersive reading experience - both heart-rending and complex."
- Stuart Evers, The Sunday Telegraph
- Jena Salon, Books Editor, The Literary Review
"(Kesey) is excellent on the country's past, which he superbly integrates into Segovia's stream of consciousness, jumping centuries within sentences and creating a web of subtle allusive links between the conquistadors and Incas, and the mix of foreigners and locals that populate the country today."
- David Annand, The Daily Telegraph
"(T)his is one hell of a novel, which quietly stakes out unusual territory with such ease that sometimes it's surprising to realize how deeply immersed one has become in the multiple pasts and the uncertain future of the narrator... (W)ise and sorrowful and joyful..."
- Philip Graham, Inside Higher Ed
"Pacazo (...) is so stunning sentence by sentence, its scenes and characters so intimately connected, they create a portrait of the end of the last millennium that's surprising in momentum and scale. And that scope may just be the novel's great achievement."
- Christian TeBordo, Kenyon Review
"A wholly immersive reading experience - both heart-rending and complex."
- Stuart Evers, The Sunday Telegraph
"(A) shaggy-dog tale that eventually—boldly—invites comparison to its great progenitor, Don Quixote. By and large (Pacazo) earns its claim to the old knight's inheritance. (A) fresh and powerful reminder of what fiction can accomplish at full length."—John Domini, Bookforum
"We think that Kesey, already so respected for his short stories, is going to be known as a major novelist following the publication of this work."—Stephen Elliott, The Rumpus
Chosen as the January selection for The Rumpus Book Club
Chosen as the February selection for Newtonville Books First Edition Club
"We think that Kesey, already so respected for his short stories, is going to be known as a major novelist following the publication of this work."—Stephen Elliott, The Rumpus
Chosen as the January selection for The Rumpus Book Club
Chosen as the February selection for Newtonville Books First Edition Club
About the Author
Roy Kesey's books include his debut novel Pacazo, the award-winning novella Nothing in the World, two historical guidebooks, and an upcoming story collection called Any Deadly Thing. His first collection, All Over, made The L Magazine's recent "Best Books of the Decade" list. His short stories, essays, translations and poems have appeared in more than one hundred magazines, including McSweeney's, Subtropics, Ninth Letter and The Kenyon Review. Among other awards, his work has won two Pushcart Prize special mentions and the 2008 Missouri Review Editors' Prize in Fiction, and has appeared in several anthologies including Best American Short Stories, The Robert Olen Butler Prize Anthology and New Sudden Fiction. He is the recipient of a 2010 prose fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He currently lives in Maryland with his wife and children.
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More About the Author
Roy Kesey's latest book is a short story collection called Any Deadly Thing, published by Dzanc Books in February 2013. His previous book, the novel Pacazo, was the winner of Word Riot's 2012 Paula Anderson Book Award. His other books include the novella Nothing in the World, two historical guidebooks, and a short story collection called All Over, which made The L Magazine's "Best Books of the Decade" list. His short stories, essays, translations and poems have appeared in more than a hundred magazines and anthologies, including Best American Short Stories, The Robert Olen Butler Prize Anthology and New Sudden Fiction. He has won two Pushcart Prize Special Mentions, the Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize in Fiction, and a 2010 prose fellowship from the NEA. He currently lives in Maryland with his wife and children.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Gail Siegel
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This homage to Peru, love, history and the beautiful way inwhich non-sequitors capture the torrential streams of our consciousnesses is a must-read. Kesey is riveting, original and smart. The plot revolves around a murder, but encompasses everything from colonialization to botany, floods to academia. And Kesey delivers humor, flashes of brutality and tenderness along the way. It's a big book to read, and you will be glad, because you won't want it to end.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a long, heavy, page-turning novel to hole away with - on the couch during a storm, away at a cabin, in bed with a headcold. Join John Segovia, the protagonist, an unforgettably compelling character, flawed, funny, haunted, sassy on his unpredictable journey. The prose is often staged in fresh and unique ways: accepting that the reader is very bright, very intelligent and needs no explanation. The setting is generously revealed - you are immersed in Peru and will still be there for days after finishing the book. The pace, deliriously even and forceful. Highly recommend.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By pat salazar
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
From Piura to Arequipa, from anticuchos to guinea pig, from Nescafe to Halls cough drops, Kesey captures the culture of Peru in a fantastic page-turning postmodern novel that weaves the history of Peru from the Atahualpa to Fujimori into a narrative of the journey of his protagonist from rage to forgiveness. A lovely novel with a cast of endearing characters.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't want it to end
There's so much going on in Pacazo, and every moment is beautifully set in motion and controlled by Roy Kesey. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Jessica Handler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful language, beautiful story
This is the achingly beautiful story of John Segovia, an American living in Peru who is raising his daughter alone following the murder of his wife, which Segovia investigates. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Clifford Garstang
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big and Big-Hearted
Kesey has invented (at least I believe he has) a brand-new type of narration in Pacazo, one which works beautifully for his story. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Lost In a Book
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Incandescent Roller Coaster Ride
This is a beautiful, incandescent, brilliant roller coaster ride of a book. The characters are fully delineated, even the minor ones, and the reader feels he or she knows these... Read more
Published 16 months ago by James F. Morris
4.0 out of 5 stars
Off the beaten track in Peru
Life in Peru is difficult as this realistic novel projects. From Iguana annoyances to floods washing away your deepest love memories, this book gives a harsh look at life in a... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Doug Carroll
4.0 out of 5 stars
Long, but good
the book was 531 pages, but for some reason Goodreads had it listed as 400 pages. My main issue with this book was that I believe it should have been 400 pages. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Kristina
5.0 out of 5 stars
In A World Spinning All Too Fast To Notice Genius...
In A World Spinning All Too Fast To Notice Genius, Roy Kesey is just that as evidenced especially by his new novel, PACAZO. Read more
Published on March 8, 2011 by James Goertel
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Cut Above the Masses of Popular Literature
This novel is rich in language, content, and characters. I shared John Segovia's pain, and found myself pulling for him right to the last page. Read more
Published on February 19, 2011 by Gardener
