LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE

Rodrigo Blanco Calderón has established himself as one of the great voices of Latin American literature with his debut novel The Night, and his short story collection Sacrifices.

Simpatía is a suspenseful novel with unexpected twists and turns about the agony of Venezuela and the collapse of Chavismo.

Simpatía is set in the Venezuela of Nicolas Maduro amid a mass exodus of the intellectual class who have been leaving their pets behind. Ulises Kan, the protagonist and a movie buff, receives a text message from his wife, Paulina, saying she is leaving the country (and him). Ulises is not heartbroken but liberated by Paulina's departure. Two other events end up disrupting his life even further: the return of Nadine, an unrequited love from the past, and the death of his father-in-law, General Martín Ayala. Thanks to Ayala's will, Ulises discovers that he has been entrusted with a mission -- to transform Los Argonautas, the great family home, into a shelter for abandoned dogs. If he manages to do it in time, he will inherit the luxurious apartment that he had shared with Paulina.

This novel centers on themes of family and orphanhood in order to address the abuse of power by a patrilineage of political figures in Latin America, from Simón Bolívar to Hugo Chávez. The untranslatable title, Simpatía, which means both sympathy and charm, ironically references the qualities these political figures share. In a morally bankrupt society, where all human ties seem to have dissolved, Ulises is like a stray dog picking up scraps of sympathy. Can you really know who you love? What is, in essence, a family? Are abandoned dogs proof of the existence or non-existence of God? Ulises unknowingly embodies these questions, as a pilgrim of affection in a post-love era.

• We started tracking this book on March 11, 2024.
• This book was £8.64 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 52 times in the past 382 days.
• The current price of this book is £8.50 last checked 3 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past 90 days is £8.45.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is £6.74.
• The lowest price to date was £6.74 last reached on October 11, 2024.
• This book has been £6.74 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was £8.83 last reached on February 12, 2025.
• This book has been £8.83 one time since we started tracking it.

• Literature & FictionWorld LiteratureUnited StatesHispanic American
• Literature & FictionGenre FictionPolitical

• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 229 Pages
• File Size: 21 KB