Overview
Finalista del Premio Nacional de Literatura 2022, organizado por la Fundación Nacional del Libro de Estados Unidos.
La autora de La fruta del borrachero nos entrega una deslumbrante historia caleidoscópica que recupera el legado místico de su familia.
A Ingrid Rojas Contreras la magia le corre por las venas. No era una niña fácil de sorprender: creció en medio de la violencia política de los años ochenta y noventa en Colombia, en una casa siempre atestada de gente que venía a que su madre le leyera el futuro. Su abuelo materno, Nono, era un curandero de renombre, dotado de lo que la familia llamaba “los secretos”: el poder de hablar con los muertos, predecir el futuro, tratar a los enfermos y mover las nubes. La madre de Ingrid, la primera mujer en heredar los secretos, era igualmente poderosa. Mami disfrutaba su habilidad de aparecer en dos lugares a la vez, y era capaz de expulsar al más terco de los espíritus usando apenas un vaso de agua.
Rojas Contreras solía creer que este legado pertenecía solo a su madre y a su abuelo, hasta que un día, en sus veinte y viviendo en Estados Unidos, sufrió una herida en la cabeza que le provocó amnesia. Mientras recuperaba la memoria, su familia le contó que esto había sucedido antes: décadas atrás Mami había tenido una caída que también le había provocado amnesia; y cuando se recuperó, descubrió que tenía acceso a los secretos.
En 2012, urgida por un sueño compartido con Mami y sus hermanas, y por la necesidad imperiosa de volver a aprender la historia familiar tras su pérdida de la memoria, Rojas Contreras decidió acompañar a su madre en un viaje a Colombia para exhumar los restos de Nono. Con la guía impredecible, testaruda y casi siempre divertida de Mami, rastrea sus orígenes indígenas y españoles, revelando la violenta historia colonial que, con el paso del tiempo, separaría a su familia mestiza en dos grupos: los que piensan que los secretos son un don y los que creen que son una maldición.
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
Longlisted by The National Book Foundation in the 2022 National Book Award.
From the author of the critically acclaimed Fruit of the Drunken Tree comes a dazzling, kaleidoscopic memoir about liberating herself from Western notions of fact and fiction to reclaim her family's other worldly legacy.
For Ingrid Rojas Contreras, magic runs in the family. Growing up in the Colombia of the 1980’s and 1990’s in a house where “what did you dream?”was asked in place of “how are you?” her world was laced with prophecy andviolence. Her maternal grandfather, Nono, was a renowned curandero, acommunity healer gifted with the ability to talk to the dead, tell the future, curethe sick, and move the clouds. As a young girl, Rojas Contreras eavesdroppedon her mother’s fortune-telling business from the stairs and waited eagerly forthe moments when Mami appeared in two places at once. She was accustomedto "letting the ghosts in."
So when Ingrid, now living in the U.S., suffered a head injury in her 20’s thatleft her with amnesia —an accident eerily similar to a fall that had put hermother in a coma at the age of 8, from which she woke with not just amnesia, but the ability to see ghosts— the family assumes “the secrets” have finally beenpassed down to the next generation. But as Ingrid recovers her memories, theydon't come with supernatural abilities. Rather, she is consumed by a powerfulurge to learn even more about her heritage than she knew before the accident. Spurred by a shared dream among Mami and her sisters, wherein Nonocommunicates that he is unable to rest peacefully in the afterlife, Ingrid joinsher mother on a journey home to Colombia to disinter her grandfather’sremains. With her mother as her unpredictable, stubborn and often hilariousguide, Ingrid traces her lineage back to her indigenous roots, uncovering theviolent and rigid colonial narrative that would eventually break her family intotwo camps: those who believe "the secrets" are a gift, and those who areconvinced they are a curse.
Interweaving family stories more enchanting than any novel, resurrected Colombian history, and her own deeply personal reckonings with the bounds ofreality, Rojas Contreras writes her way through the incomprehensible and intoher inheritance. The result is a luminous testament to the power of storytellingas a healing art and an invitation to embrace the extraordinary.
La autora de La fruta del borrachero nos entrega una deslumbrante historia caleidoscópica que recupera el legado místico de su familia.
A Ingrid Rojas Contreras la magia le corre por las venas. No era una niña fácil de sorprender: creció en medio de la violencia política de los años ochenta y noventa en Colombia, en una casa siempre atestada de gente que venía a que su madre le leyera el futuro. Su abuelo materno, Nono, era un curandero de renombre, dotado de lo que la familia llamaba “los secretos”: el poder de hablar con los muertos, predecir el futuro, tratar a los enfermos y mover las nubes. La madre de Ingrid, la primera mujer en heredar los secretos, era igualmente poderosa. Mami disfrutaba su habilidad de aparecer en dos lugares a la vez, y era capaz de expulsar al más terco de los espíritus usando apenas un vaso de agua.
Rojas Contreras solía creer que este legado pertenecía solo a su madre y a su abuelo, hasta que un día, en sus veinte y viviendo en Estados Unidos, sufrió una herida en la cabeza que le provocó amnesia. Mientras recuperaba la memoria, su familia le contó que esto había sucedido antes: décadas atrás Mami había tenido una caída que también le había provocado amnesia; y cuando se recuperó, descubrió que tenía acceso a los secretos.
En 2012, urgida por un sueño compartido con Mami y sus hermanas, y por la necesidad imperiosa de volver a aprender la historia familiar tras su pérdida de la memoria, Rojas Contreras decidió acompañar a su madre en un viaje a Colombia para exhumar los restos de Nono. Con la guía impredecible, testaruda y casi siempre divertida de Mami, rastrea sus orígenes indígenas y españoles, revelando la violenta historia colonial que, con el paso del tiempo, separaría a su familia mestiza en dos grupos: los que piensan que los secretos son un don y los que creen que son una maldición.
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
Longlisted by The National Book Foundation in the 2022 National Book Award.
From the author of the critically acclaimed Fruit of the Drunken Tree comes a dazzling, kaleidoscopic memoir about liberating herself from Western notions of fact and fiction to reclaim her family's other worldly legacy.
For Ingrid Rojas Contreras, magic runs in the family. Growing up in the Colombia of the 1980’s and 1990’s in a house where “what did you dream?”was asked in place of “how are you?” her world was laced with prophecy andviolence. Her maternal grandfather, Nono, was a renowned curandero, acommunity healer gifted with the ability to talk to the dead, tell the future, curethe sick, and move the clouds. As a young girl, Rojas Contreras eavesdroppedon her mother’s fortune-telling business from the stairs and waited eagerly forthe moments when Mami appeared in two places at once. She was accustomedto "letting the ghosts in."
So when Ingrid, now living in the U.S., suffered a head injury in her 20’s thatleft her with amnesia —an accident eerily similar to a fall that had put hermother in a coma at the age of 8, from which she woke with not just amnesia, but the ability to see ghosts— the family assumes “the secrets” have finally beenpassed down to the next generation. But as Ingrid recovers her memories, theydon't come with supernatural abilities. Rather, she is consumed by a powerfulurge to learn even more about her heritage than she knew before the accident. Spurred by a shared dream among Mami and her sisters, wherein Nonocommunicates that he is unable to rest peacefully in the afterlife, Ingrid joinsher mother on a journey home to Colombia to disinter her grandfather’sremains. With her mother as her unpredictable, stubborn and often hilariousguide, Ingrid traces her lineage back to her indigenous roots, uncovering theviolent and rigid colonial narrative that would eventually break her family intotwo camps: those who believe "the secrets" are a gift, and those who areconvinced they are a curse.
Interweaving family stories more enchanting than any novel, resurrected Colombian history, and her own deeply personal reckonings with the bounds ofreality, Rojas Contreras writes her way through the incomprehensible and intoher inheritance. The result is a luminous testament to the power of storytellingas a healing art and an invitation to embrace the extraordinary.
This book title, El hombre que movía las nubes / The Man Who Could Move Clouds, ISBN: 9781644735459, by Ingrid Rojas Contreras, published by PRH Grupo Editorial (July 12, 2022) 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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