Details

ISBN-10: 0811219305
ISBN-13: 9780811219303
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publish Date: 09/28/2011
Dimensions: 6.90" L, 4.90" W, 0.50" H

Good Offices

Translator: Anna Milsom
Translator: Anne McLean

Paperback

Price: $13.95

Overview

Tancredo, a young hunchback, observes and participates in the rites at the Catholic church where he lives under the care of Father Almida. Also in residence are the sexton Celeste Machado, his goddaughter Sabina Cruz, and three widows known collectively as the Lilias, who do the cooking and cleaning and provide charity meals for the local poor and needy. One Thursday, Father Almida and the sexton must rush off to meet the parish’s principal benefactor, Don Justiniano. It will be the first time in forty years Father Almida has not said mass. Eventually they find a replacement: Father Matamoros, a drunkard with a beautiful voice whose sung mass is spellbinding to all. The Lilias prepare a sumptuous meal for Father Matamoros, who persuades them to drink with him. Over the course of the long night the women and Tancredo lose their inhibitions and confess their sins and stories to this strange priest, and in the process re- veal lives crippled by hypocrisy.

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Reviews
Rosero's colourful cast of characters will remain in your memory long after the final page is turned, particularly those whose outward appearance belies their inner turmoil...Just as The Armies depicted the chaos that erupts in a rural town besieged by violence, Good Offices focuses on a small, insular community, in order to highlight a wider malaise. Rosero's evocative prose is lucidly translated by Anne Mclean and Anna Milsom, and his darkly comic satire hits its mark with an unsettling ferocity.–Lucy Popescu "Latineos"
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Details

ISBN-10: 0811219305
ISBN-13: 9780811219303
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publish Date: 09/28/2011
Dimensions: 6.90" L, 4.90" W, 0.50" H
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