A Latin American "Catcher in the Rye"--set amidst the political turmoil of the 1980s in Santiago, Chile. Living in an atmosphere of existential malaise caused by the wretched excess and moral decay he sees all around him, teenager Matias finds his basic trust in what is constant starting to come undone.
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A Latin American "Catcher in the Rye"--set amidst the political turmoil of the 1980s in Santiago, Chile. Living in an atmosphere of existential malaise caused by the wretched excess and moral decay he sees all around him, teenager Matias finds his basic trust in what is constant starting to come undone.
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New York. 1997. April 1997. St Martin's Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0312150598. Translated from the Spanish by Kristina Cordero. 309 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by RICK PRACHER. Jacket photograph courtesy of PHOTONICA. keywords: Literature Translated Chile Latin America. FROM THE PUBLISHER-It is Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 3, 1980, one week before a referendum is to take place that will decide whether dictator Augusto Pinochet's new constitution is to be accepted by the Chilean people. The tension in Santiago is omnipresent. The city (and the country in general) is totally split politically. The right-wing majority (rich businessmen, people connected to the government, poor people who've been bribed, etc. ) are all for Pinochet. The left~wing minority (poor people who have principles, university radicals, communist wanna-bes) hate him. The city is under military siege: curfews, disappearances, riots, and the like. Bad Vibes is one week in the life of an adolescent living through this chaos. Matias Vicuña is a seventeen-year-old rich kid who doesn't know what to think. Chilean politics are getting him down; so is life in general. His family is rich and well-connected, and he goes to a classy private school-even though he spends most of his time cutting class. He's got too much time on his hands, too much alcohol, too many drugs, and all the usual teenage trappings. His parents' marriage is rocky, his two sisters are spoiled, high-class mall rats, and there's some ugly family secret that unravels as the week goes by. To top it all off, the girl he's crazy about is a haughty, prudish, gorgeous bitch who'd rather spend time with someone else. He's dissatisfied. Mired in adolescent ennui, Matias has a fling with a hot carioca named Cassia on a school trip to Rio de Janeiro; snorts a bunch of coke (some of it his dad's); has clandestine meetings with Flora, his one left-wing schoolteacher; hangs out poolside with his Santiago surfer friends; and then has a semi-breakdown. Nearing the end of the week (and leading up to the referendum), he runs away from home and hides in a hotel. When he returns, his parents have divorced, his aunt has died of an overdose, and yes, the dictator's still in power. Matias's life has changed. ALBERTO FUGUET has published three critically acclaimed works in Chile, including Overdose (Sobredosis, 1994), a collection of short stories, and the novel Be Kind, Rewind (Por Favor, Robobinar. His first novel, BAD VIBES (Mala Ondo, Editorial Planeta, 1991), was published to critical acclaim in Chile and now serves as his introduction to American audiences. inventory #23619.
