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The Shape of the Ruins

The Shape of the Ruins

Author(s): Juan Gabriel Vásquez

Location(s): Colombia

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): 20th Century

Location

Content

It takes the form of personal and formal investigations into two political assassinations – the murders of Rafael Uribe Uribe in 1914, the man who inspired García Márquez’s General Buendia in One Hundred Years of Solitude, and of the charismatic Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the man who might have been Colombia’s J.F.K., gunned down on the brink of success in the presidential elections of 1948. Separated by more than 30 years, the two murders at first appear unconnected, but as the novel progresses Vásquez reveals how between them they contain the seeds of the violence that has bedevilled Colombia ever since. The Shape of the Ruins is Vásquez’s most ambitious, challenging and rewarding novel to date.

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Lead Review

Author: tripfiction

A blend of autobiography, historical narrative and criminal investigation, The Shape of the Ruins is a gripping tale of intrigue and conspiracy set in Colombia, of how the author finds himself lured into investigating...

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