Overview
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Un moderno Bob Cratchit, Hugo Contreras, vive en un hĆŗmedo departamento de una sola habitaciĆ³n y sabe que nunca dejarĆ” de pagar las cuentas mĆ©dicas de su difunta esposa ni sus propias deudas, acumuladas durante su juventud. Su Scrooge es Alexi RamĆrez, un avaricioso abogado de cobranza cubano-americano con un rostro familiar por sus anuncios en las paradas de autobĆŗs y un serio problema personal: un fantasma en el caserĆ³n de su familia.
Es bajo estas circunstancias que los dos hombres se conocen, ya que Hugo trabaja como babalawo, ayudando a los habitantes de Miami a limpiar sus hogares de malos espĆritus. Desde hace mucho ya no cree en lo paranormal, pero cuando Alexi, a quien Hugo abomina porque ha estado quitĆ”ndole su dinero durante aƱos, le promete perdonarle la deuda a cambio de sus servicios, no se puede negar. Dispuesto a salir de deudas y vengarse en nombre de su difunta esposa, Hugo harĆ” lo que ha hecho con decenas de clientes antes: usar trucos psicolĆ³gicos amateurs para convencer a Alexi de que los espĆritus ya se han ido y escapar libre de deudas antes de la prĆ³xima Navidad.
Por supuesto, la vida en el sistema capitalista corrupto nunca es tan simple, en especial cuando involucra sueƱos perturbadoramente vĆvidos de Navidades pasadas y presentes, infecciones de transmisiĆ³n sexual, catĆ”logos de decoraciĆ³n para el hogar y un mal antiguo que ha estado vigilando a Hugo desde su infancia en las minas de plata de Bolivia. La historia personal de Hugo āincluyendo un peligroso cruce a Estados Unidos de niƱo y las desgarradoras circunstancias de la muerte de su esposa Meli que lo atormentanā colisiona con los demonios de Alexi en un clĆmax (literalmente) explosivo que obliga a Hugo a decidir si quiere vivir como un hombre libre de deudas o condenarse a cubrir las deudas de sus seres queridos muertos.
Con un toque del humor satĆrico de El vendido, de Paul Beatty, la conciencia polĆtica de El tigre blanco, de Aravind Adiga, y el aire de mezcla de gĆ©neros de El Diablo en plata, de VĆctor LaValle, Un fantasma en el JardĆn Hialeah reimagina el clĆ”sico de Dickens para reflejar un nuevo siglo y la brillante exploraciĆ³n de la invisibilidad y la extrema influencia que tienen las deudas en las vidas de la gente en el siglo XXI.
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
A bracingly original, postcolonial riff on Charles Dickensās The Christmas Carol by award-winning debut author Raul Palma. Set in Raulās multiethnic and multicultural home city of Miami, the novel explores the problem of indebtednessāand specifically, the financial and psychic weight of moving through a world where the odds seem to always favor the rich and powerful.
A modern-day Bob Cratchit, living in a dank efficiency apartment, Hugo Contreras knows he will never stop paying for his late wifeās medical debts or for his own debt accumulated in his youth. His Scrooge is Alexi Ramirez, an avaricious Cuban American debt-collection attorney with a face familiar from his bus stop ads and a serious problem of his own: a haunting at his familyās McMansion.
Itās under these circumstances that the two men meet face to face, for Hugo works as a babalĆ”wo, helping people in Miami cleanse their homes of evil. Heās long since stopped believing in the supernatural himself, but when Alexi, whom Hugo despises for garnering his wages for years, promises to forgive Hugoās debts in exchange for his services, he canāt refuse. Intent on both escaping his debt and exacting revenge for his late wife, Hugo will do what heās done with dozens of clients before: use slight-of-hand and amateur psychology to convince Alexi the spirits have departed and escape debt-free before the coming Christmas holiday.
Of course, life in a corrupt capitalist system is never that simple, especially when it involves disturbingly vivid dreams of Christmases past and present, sexually transmitted infections, home dĆ©cor catalogues, and an ancient devil who has been keeping tabs on Hugo since his childhood in the Bolivian silver mines. Hugoās personal historyāincluding a fraught crossing to the United States as a boy and the wrenching, guilt-ridden circumstances of the death of his wife Meliācollide with Alexiās demons in a (literally) explosive climax that forces Hugo to decide whether he will live as a debt-free man, or consign himself to the debts of his lost loved ones.
With a touch of the satiric humor of Paul Beattyās The Sellout, the political consciousness of Aravind Adigaās The White Tiger, and the genre-bending flair of Victor LaValleās The Devil in Silver, A HAUNTING IN HIALEAH GARDENS reimagines Dickensās classic to reflect a new century and a brilliant exploration of the invisibility and extreme influence that debt has over the lives of people in the 21st century.
This book title, Un fantasma en Hialeah Gardens / A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens, ISBN: 9781644737521, by Raul Palma, published by PRH Grupo Editorial (November 28, 2023) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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