A Thousand Deaths Plus One [Hardcover]

Sergio Ramirez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0929701879 | ISBN-13: 978-0929701875 | Publication Date: April 28, 2009

In 1987, while on a state visit to Warsaw, the author happened upon an exhibition of remarkable works by a hitherto unknown Nicaraguan photographer, Juan Castellan, who plied his craft in Europe between roughly 1880 and 1940. This incredible discovery launches Ramirez on a consuming quest to reveal the forgotten artist's identity -- an obsession that eventually takes him from Nicaragua to Vienna to Mallorca, and leads him to sift through the evidentiary remains of a raffish entourage of European and Latin American madmen, nobles, adventurers, and poets. Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, Castellan tells his own side of the story, from his fantastic conception in Nicaragua, to an education in France courtesy of Napoleon III, to nights of debauchery in the company of his compatriot-in-exile Ruben Dario, to a final and unexpected residence in a Nazi concentration camp. A Thousand Deaths Plus One is a coruscating novel that recapitulates, in the biographical snapshots of an exceptionally ordinary man, the history of the exceptionally unfortunate, not to say “nonexistent,” country of Nicaragua.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nicaraguan author Sergio Ramirez's fragmented, multinarrated—and at times frustrating—novel recounts a quest to recover a mysterious photographer's past. In 1987 Warsaw, an unnamed narrator becomes obsessed with a photographer named Castellón when he stumbles upon an exhibit showing the same scenes before and during the Nazi occupation. He learns that Castellón was Nicaraguan and took the photos while traveling with the Nazis, who had murdered his daughter and son-in-law. From here, the book shifts to Castellón's own voice as the story moves back and forth in time, connecting Castellón to luminaries such as Chopin, George Sand, Turgenev and Flaubert. Although an intriguing look into Nicaraguan history—as well as Europe between 1870 and 1940—the constantly shifting narratives and occasionally stiff translation make this novel difficult to navigate. Still, those who stick with the literary puzzle are likely to come away with a new understanding of Nicaragua and its culture. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

A Thousand Deaths Plus One is an elaborate fiction that stakes itself firmly in the real. A fascinating set of stories and bits of history, it also neatly addresses the issue of capturing history and human fates, in photographs or in writing -- both documentary and fictional. Well worthwhile. --Complete Review.com

This dazzling novel allows English-speaking readers to discover what others have known for years: that Sergio Rami­rez is one of the world's most imaginative and gifted storytellers. Leaping across cultures, continents and centuries, populated by figures from Turgenev to Queen Victoria to a bird named Pericles, A Thousand Deaths Plus One pulls readers into a phantasmagorical world as vivid as any ever created by a Latin American writer --Stephen Kinzer

With this compulsive masterpiece, Sergio Rami­rez will enchant American readers as he has been delighting us in the Spanish-speaking world for many years. Through the quest for an elusive photographer, Rami­rez reveals and celebrates the history of Nicaragua, but indeed of the whole Western world in the last two centuries, and does so in ways that are as entertaining as they are profound, --Ariel Dorfman

This dazzling novel allows English-speaking readers to discover what others have known for years: that Sergio Rami­rez is one of the world's most imaginative and gifted storytellers. Leaping across cultures, continents and centuries, populated by figures from Turgenev to Queen Victoria to a bird named Pericles, A Thousand Deaths Plus One pulls readers into a phantasmagorical world as vivid as any ever created by a Latin American writer --Stephen Kinzer, author of Blood of Brothers

A Thousand Deaths Plus One is an elaborate fiction that stakes itself firmly in the real. A fascinating set of stories and bits of history, it also neatly addresses the issue of capturing history and human fates, in photographs or in writing -- both documentary and fictional. Well worthwhile. --Complete Review.com

This dazzling novel allows English-speaking readers to discover what others have known for years: that Sergio Rami­rez is one of the world's most imaginative and gifted storytellers. Leaping across cultures, continents and centuries, populated by figures from Turgenev to Queen Victoria to a bird named Pericles, A Thousand Deaths Plus One pulls readers into a phantasmagorical world as vivid as any ever created by a Latin American writer --Stephen Kinzer

A Thousand Deaths Plus One is an elaborate fiction that stakes itself firmly in the real. A fascinating set of stories and bits of history, it also neatly addresses the issue of capturing history and human fates, in photographs or in writing -- both documentary and fictional. Well worthwhile. --Complete Review.com

This dazzling novel allows English-speaking readers to discover what others have known for years: that Sergio Ramírez is one of the world's most imaginative and gifted storytellers. Leaping across cultures, continents and centuries, populated by figures from Turgenev to Queen Victoria to a bird named Pericles, A Thousand Deaths Plus One pulls readers into a phantasmagorical world as vivid as any ever created by a Latin American writer --Stephen Kinzer

A Thousand Deaths Plus One is an elaborate fiction that stakes itself firmly in the real. A fascinating set of stories and bits of history, it also neatly addresses the issue of capturing history and human fates, in photographs or in writing -- both documentary and fictional. Well worthwhile. --Complete Review.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: McPherson (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929701879
• ISBN-13: 978-0929701875
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,605,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.