About the Book
"Of my generation I most admire Daniel Sada, whose writing project seems to me the most daring." -Roberto Bolano
This Rabelaisian tale of lust and longing in the drier precincts of postwar Mexico introduces one of Latin America's most admired writers to the English-speaking world.
Demetrio Sordo is an agronomist who passes his days in a dull but remunerative job at a ranch near Oaxaca. It is 1945, World War II has just ended, but those bloody events have had no impact on a country that is only on the cusp of industrializing. One day, more bored than usual, Demetrio visits a bordello in search of a libidinous solution to his malaise. There he begins an all-consuming and, all things considered, perfectly satisfying relationship with a prostitute named Mireya.
A letter from his mother interrupts Demetrio's debauched idyll: she asks him to return home to northern Mexico to accompany her to a wedding in a small town on the edge of the desert. Much to his mother's delight, he meets the beautiful and virginal Renata and quickly falls in love-a most proper kind of love.
Back in Oaxaca, Demetrio is torn, the poor cad. Naturally he tries to maintain both relationships, continuing to frolic with Mireya and beginning a chaste correspondence with Renata. But Mireya has problems of her own-boredom is not among them-and concocts a story that she hopes will help her escape from the bordello and compel Demetrio to marry her. Almost Never is a brilliant send-up of Latin American machismo that also evokes a Mexico on the verge of dramatic change.
About the Author :
Daniel Sada was born in Mexicali, Mexico, in 1953, and died on November 18, 2011, in Mexico City. Considered by many as the boldest and most innovative writer in Spanish of his generation, he has published eight volumes of short stories, nine novels, and at least three volumes of poetry. His works have been translated into English, German, French, Dutch, Finnish, Bulgarian, and Portuguese. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Herralde Prize for his novel Almost Never. Just hours before he died, he was awarded Mexico's most prestigious literary award, the National Prize for Arts and Sciences for Literature.
Review :
"Of my generation I most admire Daniel Sada, whose writing project seems to me the most daring." --Roberto Bolano Praise for "Almost Never" "Sada creates a fascinatingly eccentric cast of characters and manipulates them with skill." --"Publishers Weekly""" "Sada writes lustily and with comic brio about Demetrio's dilemma." --"Kirkus Reviews""" "Daniel Sada's works were a polyphonic parade of voices, a Mexican cacophony: shouts, laughter, violence, lewd curses, sweet whispers, song. Sada is to Juan Rulfo what Beckett was to Joyce, only inverted. Beckett's minimalism was his response to Joyce's unsurpassable maximalism. Sada's maximalism was his response to Rulfo's unsurpassable minimalism. The amazing, sexy, gritty, relentless "Almost Never", wonderfully translated by Katherine Silver, at last introduces English-language readers to the one contemporary Mexican writer regarded with reverence throughout the world." --Francisco Goldman"" "Sada will be a revelation for world literature." --Carlos Fuentes"[Daniel Sada is] a writer who is profoundly close to the essence of man." --Alvaro Mutis"Daniel Sada stands far above other Latin American writers of his generation. I am always in awe of his highly rigorous technique, the unparalleled density and beauty of his prose, and his steel-solid aesthetic sensibility. "Almost Never "is""a work of a literary genius." --Jose Manuel Prieto, author of "Rex""Sada sends up the sexual mores of the rural bourgeoisie, tongue very much in cheek, but with compassion for both Demetrio's mama's boy machismo and Renata's ambivalent puritanism. . . . The humanist scope of the novel shines through--just the right antidote to escape our own local solipsism." --"New Pages"
Praise for "Almost Never" "What is so daring here? It's not Sada's depiction of the Madonna-whore complex, nor his take on the delusions of a Mexican macho--although both make for delicious burlesque. What's new is the voice, and Sada's glorious style. . . . It's impossible not to be swept along by Sada's manic language, his Cervantean plot twists and his affection for the hero who shares his initials." --Rachel Nolan, "The New York Times Book Review," Editor's Choice "Daniel Sada will be remembered in Mexico as a literary titan of his time, one of the most innovative novelists in contemporary Latin American letters. His books stand in startling contrast to the persona: They are a whirling riot of color, a wild cacophony of voices, an extravagant display of pyrotechnical prose." --"The Washington Post"" ""The first English translation of Daniel Sada, "Almost Never," is a bright introduction of this Spanish star who brings humor and unmatched style to the ordinary." --"The Rumpus"" ""As in the plays of Lope de Vega, an intricate code of honor shapes ["Almost Never'"s] plot, and, as much as Luis de Gongora, Sada revels in the labyrinths of preposterously convoluted prose. . . . Demetrio's courtship of Renata is played out as Mexican kabuki that makes a mockery of Puritanism, machismo and marriage." --"The Dallas Morning News" "Sada creates a fascinatingly eccentric cast of characters and manipulates them with skill." --"Publishers Weekly""" "Sada writes lustily and with comic brio about Demetrio's dilemma." --"Kirkus Reviews"" "
Praise for "Almost Never"
What is so daring here? It's not Sada's depiction of the Madonna-whore complex, nor his take on the delusions of a Mexican macho--although both make for delicious burlesque. What's new is the voice, and Sada's glorious style. . . . It's impossible not to be swept along by Sada's manic language, his Cervantean plot twists and his affection for the hero who shares his initials. Rachel Nolan, The New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice
Daniel Sada will be remembered in Mexico as a literary titan of his time, one of the most innovative novelists in contemporary Latin American letters. His books stand in startling contrast to the persona: They are a whirling riot of color, a wild cacophony of voices, an extravagant display of pyrotechnical prose. The Washington Post
The first English translation of Daniel Sada, Almost Never, is a bright introduction of this Spanish star who brings humor and unmatched style to the ordinary. The Rumpus
As in the plays of Lope de Vega, an intricate code of honor shapes [Almost Never's] plot, and, as much as Luis de Gongora, Sada revels in the labyrinths of preposterously convoluted prose. . . . Demetrio's courtship of Renata is played out as Mexican kabuki that makes a mockery of Puritanism, machismo and marriage. The Dallas Morning News
Sada creates a fascinatingly eccentric cast of characters and manipulates them with skill. Publishers Weekly
Sada writes lustily and with comic brio about Demetrio's dilemma. Kirkus Reviews
"
What is so daring here? It's not Sada's depiction of the Madonna-whore complex, nor his take on the delusions of a Mexican macho--although both make for delicious burlesque. What's new is the voice, and Sada's glorious style. . . . It's impossible not to be swept along by Sada's manic language, his Cervantean plot twists and his affection for the hero who shares his initials. "Rachel Nolan, The New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice"
Daniel Sada will be remembered in Mexico as a literary titan of his time, one of the most innovative novelists in contemporary Latin American letters. His books stand in startling contrast to the persona: They are a whirling riot of color, a wild cacophony of voices, an extravagant display of pyrotechnical prose. "The Washington Post"
The first English translation of Daniel Sada, "Almost Never," is a bright introduction of this Spanish star who brings humor and unmatched style to the ordinary. "The Rumpus"
As in the plays of Lope de Vega, an intricate code of honor shapes ["Almost Never'"s] plot, and, as much as Luis de Gongora, Sada revels in the labyrinths of preposterously convoluted prose. . . . Demetrio's courtship of Renata is played out as Mexican kabuki that makes a mockery of Puritanism, machismo and marriage. "The Dallas Morning News"
Sada creates a fascinatingly eccentric cast of characters and manipulates them with skill. "Publishers Weekly"
Sada writes lustily and with comic brio about Demetrio's dilemma. "Kirkus Reviews""
