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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Archive of Unknown Universes
Reader Score
64%
64% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 5 reviews on
From the critically acclaimed author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, a piercing debut novel following two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war--a stunning exploration of the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love.
"Beautiful." --LA Times, A Must-Read Book for Summer
"Luminous." --People, A Best Book of July
Cambridge, 2018. Ana and Luis's relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including their mothers who both fled El Salvador during the war. In her search for answers, and against her best judgement, Ana uses The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives. What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been could fix what is.
Havana, 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army. The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism. When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.
Ruben Reyes Jr.'s debut novel is an epic, genre-bending journey through inverted worlds--one where war ends with a peace treaty, and one where it ends with a decisive victory by the Salvadoran government. What unfolds is a stunning story of displacement and belonging, of loss and love. It's both a daring imagining of what might have been and a powerful reckoning of our past.
Book Details
- Publisher: Mariner Books
- Publish Date: Jul 1st, 2025
- Pages: 288
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.17in - 6.37in - 1.06in - 0.89lb
- EAN: 9780063336315
- Categories: • Hispanic & Latino - Fantasy• Multiple Timelines• Literary
About the Author
Ruben Reyes Jr. is the son of two Salvadoran immigrants and the author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Harvard College, his writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Lightspeed Magazine, and other publications. Originally from Southern California, he now lives in Brooklyn.
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"A scintillating collection...Shot through with genuine pathos and astute social commentary...Reyes shifts effortlessly from absurdism to satire to sci-fi. These dynamic tales herald the arrival of a promising new talent." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) on There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven
"Haunting, tender, and profound...Tethered to historical fact and enlivened by speculative elements, Reyes' fiction brings into focus the troubling legacies that stalk so many Central American nations." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven
"An extraordinary debut of speculative fiction...the stories in this collection plumb a labyrinth of identity and duality explored through motifs like border crossings, citizens and immigrants, the imagined vs. the real, bisexuality, and the resurrection and destruction of family." -- Booklist (starred review) on There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven
"Ruben Reyes Jr. has announced himself here in impressive fashion. This wonderful debut collection displays a virtuosic fictional range, often in the realm of what some would call the speculative, but in any case the depth of emotion, the insight into the lives of immigrants, and the potency and warmth of the writing in each story will leave you saying, This is real. This is true. When you read There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, your mind will be sent in many thrilling directions, and it will be powerfully deepened." -- Jamel Brinkley, author of Witness and A Lucky Man, finalist for the National Book Award
"In this rich, lively and imaginative collection, Reyes presents the richness of the American Latine and immigrant experience, not as we are perceived, but as we know and recognize ourselves to be. In Reyes' hands, robots, alternative colonial histories, and dream sequences are more than storytelling devices. They are as real and vivid as the grief, abandoned love and homelands these characters are trying to reconcile with their American realities. These are stories to treasure and ponder, long after the last page has been turned." -- Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming