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Quesadillas: A Novel
190 pages; FSG Originals
This vibrant, comic novel by Mexican writer Juan Pablo Villalobos follows the story of young Orestes and his flat-broke family of eight living in Lagos de Moreno. "The worst thing wasn't being poor," he writes, "the worst thing was having no idea of things you can do with money." Such as, build rooms not just for sleeping in, but "for sewing in or for playing games."  The loud, savvy clan endures rebel outbreaks, currency devaluations, much wealthier neighbors—but always with wit and laughter, scrabbling past each other at the table and everywhere else.
— Leigh Newman