Cancún
by Miguel Del Castillo
Companhia das Letras, 2019
168 pages
14×21 cm
Set between the Barra da Tijuca and the Mexican seaside of Cancún, this touching bildungsroman is a mix of rarely-found honesty and fundamental themes such as religion and fatherhood.
Right before entering his teenage years, Joel feels out of place among his school-mates and the kids of his neighborhood. It’s 1998 and the world seems everyday more threatening. He seeks refuge in a group of young kids from the Evangelical Church, while at the same time he starts having a hard time dealing with his dad, who just came back home after spending four mysterious years in Cancún.
Decades later, after his father’s death, far away from any religious affiliation and about to have a son of his own, Joel decides to reach the Mexican seaside, alone. While trying to follow his father’s steps, what had to be an easy trip turns into a complex situation, that helps us better understand what made Joel who he has become today.
With a clear and straight-forward prose, Miguel Del Castillo gives us the picture of a generation and a class forged into big isolated buildings, tax havens, in schools where violence is a daily issue and in the sparkling plastic feel of fast foods.
One of the most surprising novels of the new generation of Brazilian writers.
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«Miguel Del Castillo calmly brings the reader through a flawless narration, in which family is the comfortable, imperfect expression of life’s mysteries.»
Daniel Galera
Finalist of the Prêmio São Paulo 2020.
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Represented in collaboration with MTS Agência
Miguel Del Castillo is a writer, editor and translator. He is one of the curators of the Biblioteca de Fotografia do Instituto Moreira Salles. He was one of the publishers and editors of Cosac Naify, of the ZUM website and of the magazine Noz. In 2011 he was chosen by Granta magazine as one of the 20 best young Brazilian writers. His first book, the collection of short stories Restinga (Companhia das Letras, 2015) was aacquired for a movie adaptation. In 2018 he participated to a writers’ residency at the Swiss Fondation Jan Michalski, where he worked on his novel Cancún. The film rights of Cancún were acquired by the movie director Carolina Jabor.
* For any info about Miguel Del Castillo’s other publications please contact us at info@redondobooks.com *
