On the Edge by Rafael Chirbes
On the Edge opens with the discovery of a rotting corpse in the marshes on the outskirts of Olba, Spain — a town wracked by despair after the burst of the economic bubble, and a microcosm of a world of defeat, debt and corruption. Stuck in this town is Esteban — his small factory bankrupt, his investments stolen by a`friend’, and his unloved father, a mute invalid, entirely his personal burden. Much of the novel unfolds in Esteban’s raw and tormented monologues. But other voices resound from the wreckage and their words, sharp as knives, crowd their terse, hypnotic monologues of ruin, prostitution and loss. Chirbes alternates this choir of voices with a majestic third-person narration, injecting a profound and moving lyricism and offering the hope that a new vitality can emerge from the putrid swamps. On the Edge, even as it excoriates, pulsates with robust life, and its rhythmic, torrential style marks the novel as an indelible masterpiece.
"Utterly convincing in its psychological details, but also memorable for the beauty of its writing and rhythms" -- Colm Tóibín
"A dizzying survey of the last 90 years of Spanish history.. Margaret Jull Costa's incandescent translation carries along Esteban's turbulent torrent... When this book finally releases its grip, you may find your lapels sullied by grubby fingerprints you are in no rush to scrub out" -- Mara Faye Lethem * New York Times *
"Chirbes, one of Spain’s premier writers, is at his best when fully immersed, as he is in this novel. If Proust and an Old Testament prophet had collaborated to write about Spain’s recession, it might have been something like the writing here - agonized, dense, full of rage, and difficult to forget" * Publishers Weekly *
"On the Edge, Chirbes’s masterpiece, arrives as a message in a bottle among all the cans, rusting appliances, and tangled tackle. The fumes of the lagoon mix with the lingering sulfur of the Atocha railway-station bombing; the Spanish economy has all but collapsed. Who, or what, is to blame? Chirbes’s novel accuses everyone" -- Joshua Cohen * Harper's *
"A moving, densely detailed portrait of people without hope" * Kirkus Reviews *
"A dizzying survey of the last 90 years of Spanish history.. Margaret Jull Costa's incandescent translation carries along Esteban's turbulent torrent... When this book finally releases its grip, you may find your lapels sullied by grubby fingerprints you are in no rush to scrub out" -- Mara Faye Lethem * New York Times *
"Chirbes, one of Spain’s premier writers, is at his best when fully immersed, as he is in this novel. If Proust and an Old Testament prophet had collaborated to write about Spain’s recession, it might have been something like the writing here - agonized, dense, full of rage, and difficult to forget" * Publishers Weekly *
"On the Edge, Chirbes’s masterpiece, arrives as a message in a bottle among all the cans, rusting appliances, and tangled tackle. The fumes of the lagoon mix with the lingering sulfur of the Atocha railway-station bombing; the Spanish economy has all but collapsed. Who, or what, is to blame? Chirbes’s novel accuses everyone" -- Joshua Cohen * Harper's *
"A moving, densely detailed portrait of people without hope" * Kirkus Reviews *
Rafael Chirbes (1949–2015) wrote nine novels and received the National Prize for Literature and the Critics Prize for On the Edge. ABC named him 'the best writer of the twenty-first century in Spain'.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781846558481 |
| ISBN 10 | 1846558484 |
| Title | On the Edge |
| Author | Rafael Chirbes |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2016-07-07 |
| Number of pages | 432 |
| Prizes | Winner of Spanish National Prize for Literature 2014 (UK) |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |