Signs Preceding the End of the World - General Discussion, No Spoilers (May 2017)

[Neil]

I re-read this yesterday. It is very short but with so many layers to it. Looking forward to the discussion starting.

[Hugh]

Neil wrote: "I re-read this yesterday. It is very short but with so many layers to it. Looking forward to the discussion starting." So am I!

[Jan]

I'm re-reading it myself. Looking forward to the discussion and investigating the "layers". I like the opening metaphor.

[Carol]

Ahem. Please talk amongst yourselves for another half day. Work has unexpectedly interfered with my reading and devotion to timely kicking off this discussion, but I'm as certain as one can be of anything (insert death and taxes reference) that tomorrow, during the US business day, I'll post an introductory summary with some interesting links, and open another thread for whole book discussion, including spoilers. Thanks for your patience.

[Julie]

Oh my memory stinks. I finished a week and a half ago and I had to read the book description to remind myself of what the book was!

[Dianne]

No it's not you Julie, this was a strange one!

[Neil]

And the advantage with this one is that, if you want, you can re-read the whole thing in 1-2 hours!

[Julie]

It would take me more than 2 hr. I read slowly and have concentration issues. Hopefully the discussion will jog my memory!

[Carol]

This month we are reading the second of Mexican writer Yuri Herrera's 3 novels. The first, Trabajos del reino, will be released in English in June 2017, as Kingdom Cons. (Hurry, US readers - there's a GR giveaway that ends today, May 3.) The third is The Transmigration of Bodies and Signs Preceding the End of the World. Lisa Dillman is the author of the English translation for each. Signs Preceding the End of the World won the 2016 Best Translated Book Award. It addresses many familiar themes, but how it addresses them - and in only 12 pages - is frequently referred to by reviewers as remarkable. Epic journey. End of the world. Death. Mexican crime lords and their colleagues. Immigration. Profiling. Nationalism (or nativism).

Here's a link to a 2016 interview with Herrera:
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/eight-...

Links to several reviews I found interesting follow:

http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...

http://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/...

https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...

In this thread, please hide spoilers, and share your initial thoughts and reaction to Signs Preceding the End of the World. As someone on page 20 or so . . . that sinkhole got my attention.

[Hugh]

Carol,

Did you mean to put that last comment in a new discussion topic or should we just rename this one to make it the general no spoilers thread?

[Jan]

Julie wrote: "It would take me more than 2 hr. I read slowly and have concentration issues. Hopefully the discussion will jog my memory!"

Oh Julie, am I with you on that! I read sections over and over.

[Carol]

Hugh wrote: "Carol,

Did you mean to put that last comment in a new discussion topic or should we just rename this one to make it the general no spoilers thread?"

I intended to put it here, assuming that "here" is renamed. I can't imagine that we need 3 discussion threads, so whatever the simplest technology solution is, I favor. (I also didn't want to lose these initial comments by setting up a folder under this that would have resulted in them being orphaned.

The short version is --whatever you think best.

[Carol]

Julie wrote: "It would take me more than 2 hr. I read slowly and have concentration issues. Hopefully the discussion will jog my memory!"

You're not alone. I read once, as slow as I need to.

[Hugh]

Carol wrote: "I intended to put it here, assuming that "here" is renamed"

I have renamed the topic for you, but I don't think I can transfer ownership to you or move your introduction to the top...

[Carol]

Hugh wrote: "Carol wrote: "I intended to put it here, assuming that "here" is renamed"

I have renamed the topic for you, but I don't think I can transfer ownership to you or move your introduction to the top..."

Thank you, Hugh!

[Whitney]

For future reference: rather than renaming the placeholder, simply start a new topic for the general discussion and then the mod will delete the placeholder. This way, we're left with some confusing posts as they were originally put in a thread with a different topic heading.