Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 5 reviews on
From the author of "A Silent Fury," available Summer 2020.
"Herrera is Mexico's greatest novelist."--Francisco Goldman
"Herrera's novels are like little lights in a vast darkness. I want to see whatever he shows me."--Stephen Sparks, Green Apple Books
"The Transmigration of Bodies goes straight for the soul."--John Powers, NPR Fresh Air
In the court of the King, everyone knows their place. But as the Artist wins hearts and egos with his ballads, uncomfortable truths emerge that shake the Kingdom to its core. Part surreal fable and part crime romance, this prize-winning novel from Yuri Herrera questions the price of keeping your integrity in a world ruled by patronage and power.
Born in Actopan, Mexico, in 1970, Yuri Herrera's English-language debut Signs Preceding the End of the World won the 2016 Best Translated Book Award. His follow-up The Transmigration of Bodies has built on the critical and popular success of its predecessor. He teaches at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Lisa Dillman is a US translator based in Atlanta, Georgia, where she translates Spanish, Catalan, and Latin American writers and teaches in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Emory University. She won the 2016 Best Translated Book Award for her translation of Yuri Herrera's Signs Preceding the End of the World.
Literary journal publishing poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews. Published by @HoughtonLib at @Harvard University.
Yuri Herrera's writing "hovers somewhere between myth, fairy tale, and contemporary drama." Read Gabriel Garcia Ochoa's review of KINGDOM CONS, translated into English by Lisa Dillman. https://t.co/ezoQWZTQ4X https://t.co/rBEECvrGdc
"Mesmerising & stunningly crafted, 5 stars!" Rebecca Choudhury, Waterstones Birmingham
"Razor sharp and inimitable - crafted in a way that resembles fable - Kingdom Cons is set in the wake of chaos around the border: the border between two particular countries, yes, but also between worlds, between possibilities, and between ways of seeing." John Ganiard, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor MI
"Yuri Herrera is a master of the literary arts. His ability to capture the mind's eye and weave an indelible image and story is uncanny. This, his third novel, might be his best yet. In Kingdom Cons, Herrera delivers a stunning example of how art can dissolve boundaries and speak truth to power." Matt Keliher, Subtext Books, St Paul, MN
"Kingdom Cons is revelatory. I think Yuri Herrera has created his own genre. The mix of high and low culture, the argot of the streets with the poetic narrative - it's something else. Mexico as a hallucination." Mark Haber, Brazos Bookstore, Houston, TX