In a Town Called Mundomuerto [Hardcover]

Randall Silvis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2010

A lyrical story of bittersweet memories and the enduring power of love, this is the tale of an old man reciting the same story of Lucia Luna he has told hundreds of times to a young boy. The boy can now correct the old man's errors, omissions, and embellishments in the story of how this once beautiful girl became a bitter old woman, destroyed by the jealousy and superstition of her village.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This beautiful, melancholy novella from Silvis (Doubly Dead) unfolds as a timeless Central American seaside fable from the shifting memories of an old man with only a 15-year-old boy as his tireless audience. The man, called Grandfather Alberto, recalls his passion for Lucia Luna, who once (when she was 17 and he was two years younger) thrilled the village men with her melodious voice and seductive beauty. Now a mad vieja (old woman), Lucia had fended off male attention until a visiting stranger named Arcadio Martín seduced her at a dance and vanished after impregnating her. The fishing villagers blame Lucia when their luck takes an extraordinary downturn, believing Arcadio to be a "dolphin-man" or shape-shifting "angel of the sea," and his tryst with Lucia to be the source of the town's misfortune. After the mysterious death of a jealous widow who tagged Lucia a bruja (witch), Alberto remains her only defender. His subsequent journey leads to a heartbreaking revelation. A masterful storyteller, Silvis doesn't waste a word in this tale about "the tart nectar of memory's flower." (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Randall Silvis is a masterful storyteller."  —The New York Times Book Review, on The Luckiest Man in the World

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Omnidawn Publishing; Signed edition (August 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890650218
• ISBN-13: 978-1890650216
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,246,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Mundomuerto es Muy Bien!, April 17, 2010

By 

Lynners - See all my reviews

This review is from: In a Town Called Mundomuerto (Hardcover)

I disagree with Whemmer "billyjames". What makes Randall Silvis' writing so special is that unlike many other authors, he doesn't write the same storyline for the same genre over and over. Instead, Silvis is a masterful storyteller who is capable of writing for numerous genres with his lyrical language and magnificent storytelling. His writing is fresh, new, and different with each story he delivers. I enjoyed Mundomuerto because it is yet another example of how Silvis' storytelling captivates the reader and leaves him or her with a book they can't put down. It was no surprise to me why Mundomuerto was rated as one of the ten best books of the year by [...]! It's a wonderfully written story and I congratulate Silvis on another job well done!

1.0 out of 5 stars a real disappointment, June 28, 2009

By 

whemmer "billyjames" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In a Town Called Mundomuerto (Paperback)

After reading reading Silvis's two terrific Edgar Allen Poe thrillers, I was anticipating a great read. Oops! not Silvis's genre, I guess. The writing and the characters were flat. Real Writing 101 stuff.
Read the Edgar Allen Poe thrillers, then move on. That's my advice.