emily’s Reviews > The Vortex > Status Update

‘José J. Tablada: ‘Rivera’s death was the jungle’s revenge—arrow poisoned with curare—flew across the continent—wound him in New York. The jungle does not forgive.’ But a novel only exists in its reading, in its readers: it is new readers—decade after decade—who breathe life into it. Rivera did not come out unscathed—we readers do not come out unscathed. Now—may the jungle forgive us. (Foreword/Juan Gabriel Vásquez)’