Carlos Manuel Álvarez

An ambitious, panoptic novel about exile as both condition and state of being by a major young Cuban writer The characters in False War are ambivalent castaways living lives of deep estrangement from their home country, stranded in an existential no-man's land. Some of them want to leave and can't, others do leave but never quite get anywhere. In this multivoiced novel, employing a dazzling range of narrative styles from noir to autofiction, Carlos Manuel lvarez brings together the stories of many people from all walks of life through a series of interconnected daisy chains. From Havana to Mexico City to Miami, from New York to Paris to Berlin, whether toiling in a barber shop, roaring in Yankee Stadium, lost in the Louvre, intensely competing in a chess hall in Cuba, plotting a theft, or on a junket for migr dissidents in Berlin, these characters learn that while they may seem to be on the move, in reality they are paralyzed, immersed in a fake war waged with little real passion. The fractured narrative, filled with extraordinary portraits of ordinary people, reflects the disintegration that comes from being uprooted. At the same time it is full of tenderness, moments of joy and profound release. False War confirms Carlos Manuel lvarez as one of the indispensable voices of his generation in Latin American letters.

The characters in False War are castaways on dry land, stranded on no man’s land. Some of them want to leave Cuba and can’t, others left and never quite finished getting anywhere. They live in a sort of limbo, a perpetual impasse between reality and desire, past and future, country of origin and country of destination – awaiting a confirmation or, purely and simply, some respite. Something to keep reminding them that life is possible. What is the difference between an immigrant, someone living in exile, and a refugee? Doomed to chaos, anguish or tedium, the perennially displaced are beleaguered by a world that – in that simulation of advancement towards the illusion of a consumer society – reminds them that there is no place for them at every turn. In this choral novel, the characters appear to move between Cuba, the United States, Mexico, France or Germany with confidence, while in reality they all feel paralyzed, immersed in a fake war waged without any real passion or any authentic ideas. Structured with an atomized narration that brilliantly reflects the disintegration that comes with uprooting, full of tenderness, disenchantment and melancholy, False War is an extraordinary novel that confirms Carlos Manuel Álvarez as one of the indispensable voices of his generation.

A powerful, unsettling portrait of ordinary family life in Cuba, Carlos Manuel Álvarez’s debut novel The Fallen is a masterful portrayal of a society in free fall. Diego, the son, is disillusioned and bitter about the limited freedoms his country offers him. Mariana, the mother, is unwell and forced to relinquish her control over the home to her daughter, Maria, who has left school and is working as a chambermaid in one of the state-owned tourist hotels. The father, Armando, is a committed revolutionary who is sickened by the corruption he perceives all around him. In meticulously charting the disintegration of a family, The Fallen offers a poignant reflection on contemporary Cuba and the clash of the ardent idealism of the old guard with the jaded pragmatism of the young.

Teeming with life and compulsively readable, the pieces gathered in The Tribe aggregate into an extraordinary mosaic of Cuba today. Carlos Manuel lvarez, one of the most exciting young writers in Latin America, employs the cr nica form--a genre unique to Latin American writing that blends reportage, narrative nonfiction, and novelistic techniques--to illuminate a particularly turbulent period in Cuban history, from the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, to the death of Fidel Castro, to the convulsions of the San Isidro Movement. Unique, edgy, and stylishly written, The Tribe shows a society in flux, featuring athletes in exile, artists, nurses, underground musicians and household names, dissident poets, the hidden underclass at a landfill, migrants attempting to make their way across Central America, fugitives escaping the FBI, and dealers in the black market, as well as revelers and policemen in the noisy Havana night. It is a major work of reportage by one of Granta's Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists.

Teeming with life and compulsively readable, the pieces gathered together in The Tribe aggregate into an extraordinary mosaic of Cuba today. Carlos Manuel Álvarez, one of the most exciting young writers in Latin America, employs the crónica form – a genre unique to Latin American writing that blends reportage, narrative non-fiction, and novelistic forms – to illuminate a particularly turbulent period in Cuban history, from the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the US, to the death of Fidel Castro, to the convulsions of the San Isidro Movement. Unique, edgy and stylishly written, The Tribe shows a society in flux, featuring sportsmen in exile, artists, nurses, underground musicians and household names, dissident poets, the hidden underclass at a landfill, migrants attempting to make their way across Central America, fugitives escaping the FBI, dealers from the black market, as well as revelers and policemen in the noisy Havana night. It is a major work of reportage by one of Granta’s Best of Young Spanish-Language novelists.

A vibrant and meticulously constructed debut novel about familial and cultural breakdown A powerful, unsettling portrait of family life in Cuba, Carlos Manuel lvarez's first novel is a masterful portrayal of a society in free fall. Diego, the son, is disillusioned and bitter about the limited freedoms his country offers him as he endures compulsory military service. Mariana, the mother, is unwell, prone to mysterious seizures, and forced to relinquish control over the household to her daughter, Maria, who has left school and is working as a chambermaid in a state-owned tourist hotel. The father, Armando, is a committed revolutionary, a die-hard Fidelista who is sickened by the corruption he perceives all around him. As each member of the family narrates seemingly quotidian and overlapping events, they grow increasingly at odds for reasons that remain elusive to them--each of them holding and concealing their own secrets. In meticulously charting the disintegration of a single family, The Fallen offers a poignant reflection on contemporary Cuba and the clash of the ardent idealism of the old guard with the jaded pragmatism of the young. This is a startling and incisive debut by a radiant new voice in Latin American literature.

A powerful, unsettling portrait of ordinary family life in Cuba, Carlos Manuel Álvarez’s debut novel The Fallen is a masterful portrayal of a society in free fall. Diego, the son, is disillusioned and bitter about the limited freedoms his country offers him. Mariana, the mother, is unwell and forced to relinquish her control over the home to her daughter, Maria, who has left school and is working as a chambermaid in one of the state-owned tourist hotels. The father, Armando, is a committed revolutionary who is sickened by the corruption he perceives all around him. In meticulously charting the disintegration of a family, The Fallen offers a poignant reflection on contemporary Cuba and the clash of the ardent idealism of the old guard with the jaded pragmatism of the young.