Travesia

Argentine writer Valenzuela is widely known for her award-winning novel Novela negra con argentinos (Black Novel, EDSU, 1991) and the short story collection Aqui pasan cosas raras (Strange Things Happen Here, Ediciones de la Flor, 1991). Just like her earlier work, this latest novel explores the experiences of Latin Americans living under dictatorships and in exile. Set largely in New York, the novel features Marcela, a middle-aged anthropologist who moves in circles with artists, academics, and professionals, most of them exiles from various countries. Marcela herself is an Argentine who has spent the last 20 years of her life traveling, distanced from the political turmoil of her country and from an ex-husband who funded her travel on the con- dition that she write him erotically charged letters about her exploits around the world. Through a series of coincidences, the letters fall into the hands of one of Marcela's friends in New York, and she must come to terms with her past. Valenzuela's narrative is playful, readable, and thoroughly experimental, and it leads the reader into a contemporary story of art, exile, and desire. Recommended for public and academic libraries and bookstores with large sections of Latin American literature.Laura Barbas Rhoden, Wofford Coll., Spartanburg, SC