It is the negative image of an autobiographical novel: the story of what did not happen to me but could have … you could say I have the conflict in my blood.
- Carlos Gamerro
Carlos Gamerro is one of the best-known and most highly-regarded contemporary Argentine writers. Born in Buenos Aires in 1962, he has published six works of fiction, including the novels The Islands and An Open Secret (Pushkin Press, 2011). He adapted The Islands for a major theatrical production in 2011 and writes influential works of criticism. In addition Gamerro, who was brought up bilingually in English and Spanish, has translated Shakespeare, Auden, and Harold Bloom.
The Islands
Read more about The Islands in the book section.
More information
- Read an extract from the novel, as well as Carlos Gamerro’s hilarious and fantastical solution to this thorny issue here on Nowhereisland.
- The Islands was published in English after it was discussed at the And Other Stories Spanish-language reading group in spring 2010. Readers loved its rambunctious energy and speculative sci-fi imaginings, as well as its depiction of the Falklands War.
- Carlos Gamerro regularly visits the UK for readings. Sign up to our mailing list to find out more information.
- This title was sent out to And Other Stories subscribers ahead of publication. Find out about subscribing to upcoming titles here.
Praise for The Islands
- ‘Carlos Gamerro has written one of the most ambitious novels about the war.’ Jonathan Blitzer, The Nation
- ‘Gamerro picks history’s what-the-fuck moments, which when found in fiction are so strange as to knock the reader momentarily out of the imaginary world.’ Ben Bollig, The Guardian
- ‘Exhilarating, inventive and consistently absorbing.’ Stuart Evers, The Guardian
- ‘A bravura piece of writing, with a cinematic sweep, sustained drama, and pitch-perfect dialogue.’ Martin Schifino, The Independent
- ‘The reader is dragged headlong by Barnett’s athletic translation … a highly addictive comic voice, its peaks of hectic farce underlaid by a delicate, deadpan absurdism.’ Lorna Scott Fox, TLS
- ‘A weird and wonderful thriller … rife with surreal horror and rampant bad taste.’ Anthony Cummins, The Observer
- ‘A genre-bending book’ Anne McElvoy, BBC Radio 3, Night Waves
- ‘A generational, landmark novel’ Andrew Graham Yooll, BBC Radio 3, Feature: Malvinas Madness
- ‘A danger-laden, mind-bending and ultimately redemptive quest. [...] There are more ideas here than most writers would fit in 10 novels.’ Tom Bunstead, The Independent on Sunday
- ‘I urge you to find and read a copy of this important novel.’ Matthew Crockatt, Huffington Post UK
- ‘A complex and ambitious exploration of how history is memorialised’ Michael Sopp, The Literateur
- ‘A dark and uproarious novel’ Untitled Books
- ‘Gamerro’s balls-out novel is a delirious mash-up … [His] gross, bleakly funny, violence-saturated satire of a psychologically damaged society hung up on impossible myth relies on epic hyperbole, masterfully translated by Ian Barnett. There is enough invention here for four novels, but this multilayered nightmare vision is deftly rendered and devastating in its intensity.’ Siobhan Murphy, Metro [20 June 2012, not online]
Praise for An Open Secret (Pushkin Press, 2011) in UK press
- ‘Haunting and disturbing’ Lucy Popescu, The Independent
- ‘A literary thriller that has the makings of a classic’ The Economist
