Simpata: A Novel,New

Rodrigo Blanco Caldern has established himself as one of the great voices of Latin American literature with his debut novel The Night, and his short story collection Sacrifices.Simpata is a suspenseful novel with unexpected twists and turns about the agony of Venezuela and the collapse of Chavismo.Simpata is set in the Venezuela of Nicolas Maduro amid a mass exodus of the intellectual class who have been leaving their pets behind. Ulises Kan, the protagonist and a movie buff, receives a text message from his wife, Paulina, saying she is leaving the country (and him). Ulises is not heartbroken but liberated by Paulina's departure. Two other events end up disrupting his life even further: the return of Nadine, an unrequited love from the past, and the death of his fatherinlaw, General Martn Ayala. Thanks to Ayalas will, Ulises discovers that he has been entrusted with a missionto transform Los Argonautas, the great family home, into a shelter for abandoned dogs. If he manages to do it in time, he will inherit the luxurious apartment that he had shared with Paulina.This novel centers on themes of family and orphanhood in order to address the abuse of power by a patrilineage of political figures in Latin America, from Simn Bolvar to Hugo Chvez. The untranslatable title, Simpata, which means both sympathy and charm, ironically references the qualities these political figures share. In a morally bankrupt society, where all human ties seem to have dissolved, Ulises is like a stray dog picking up scraps of sympathy. Can you really know who you love? What is, in essence, a family? Are abandoned dogs proof of the existence or nonexistence of God? Ulises unknowingly embodies these questions, as a pilgrim of affection in a postlove era.