Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Revolutionaries Try Again
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
13 posts | 5 read | 22 to read
Extravagant, absurd, and self-aware, "The Revolutionaries Try Again "plays out against the lost decade of Ecuador's austerity and the stymied idealism of three childhood friendsan expat, a bureaucrat, and a playwrightwho are as sure about the evils of dictatorship as they are unsure of everything else, including each other."Everyone thinks they're the chosen ones, Masha wrote on Antonio's manuscript. See "About Schmidt "with Jack Nicholson. Then she quoted from "Hope Against Hope "by Nadezhda Mandelstam, because she was sure Antonio hadn't read her yet: Can a man really be held accountable for his own actions? His behavior, even his character, is always in the merciless grip of the age, which squeezes out of him the drop of good or evil that it needs from him. In San Francisco, besides the accumulation of wealth, what does the age ask of your so called protagonist? No wonder he never returns to Ecuador."Mauro Javier Cardenas grew up in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and graduated with a degree in Economics from Stanford University. Excerpts from his first novel, "The Revolutionaries Try Again," have appeared in "Conjunctions," the "Antioch Review," "Guernica," "Witness," and "BOMB." His interviews and essays on/with Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Javier Marias, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Juan Villoro, and Antonio Lobo Antunes have appeared in "Music & Literature," "San Francisco Chronicle," "BOMB," and the "Quarterly Conversation.""
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
tokorowilliamwallace
post image

My sudden (very 'flimsy little') gritty realist mood reading taste for end-of-year hard-hitting reflection, as based off my last thrifting haul. Opaque cover belongs to Paolo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife. Who else feels dystopia is just right for end-of-the-year reflection or new-year conceptual possibilities? Is it just me and my current mood? What would add to this thematic?

Avanders Have you read —> 2y
tokorowilliamwallace @Avanders, you know it's interesting that when I look it up on thriftbooks, it recommends another Paolo Bacigalupi novel which sounds like dystopic fiction. What made you think of it to recommend, and which themes and aspects of it would you recommend so as to relate it here? 2y
Avanders It‘s not dystopia.. or, if it is, it‘s not directly so. It was actually your phrase “new-year conceptual possibilities” that triggered the thought. It‘s a cerebral, high-concept sort of “mystery” that I found fascinating… but I think it‘s one of those books that probably only hits when you‘re open to something uncomfortable and off the beaten path. And I suppose it feels a little dystopic to me given my country‘s current political climate.. 2y
See All 10 Comments
Avanders Though long story short.. your post just made me wonder if you‘d read it, or liked it ☺️ 2y
tokorowilliamwallace @Avanders, I've come across Mieville through the Verso London radical philosophy catalogue, I've not read any of his work yet---thanks for the rec. The way you describe and characterize is better than the synopses I read when I looked it up. With your thoughts, it does seem like something I might pick and want for this theme. It would be fun to see you post a stack or read from this prompt, too! Would you compare it to William Gibson? 2y
tokorowilliamwallace @Avanders, may I ask for some context of your country's political climate which remind of you of Mieville's themes? 2y
Avanders I‘ve never heard of that — Verso London etc. - sounds interesting! If you do end up reading the book, I‘ll definitely be curious to hear your opinion on it. As to whether I‘d compare it to Gibson— I haven‘t actually read him yet! But from what I understand about his works… no? I think he‘s more tech, right? More sci- than -fi? Also, when I referenced political climate.. I just meant the intense divide/perceived divide between the 2 sides (US :)) 2y
tokorowilliamwallace @Avanders, yeah I guess it just reminded me of the only William Gibson I've had experience with and have started (Idoru, which is very atmospheric so far), so maybe I just have an atypical impression of the author and his literary themes ? I do comprehend things intuitively and associatively....

I live in Florida, so we are kind of in our own little bubble, in the twilight zone, a state out of character for the U.S., as another referred to it as.
2y
tokorowilliamwallace @Avanders, check out www.versobooks.com if you are so inclined. We are connected on Goodreads, too, if you want to watch for my strange, scattered reading activity on there.

Although it did seem as if Maryland was kind of invisible, out of the picture of national conversation when I lived there recently for two years....

The political climate seems to be unsettling and neurotic everywhere now---Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, at the European border...
(edited) 2y
Avanders Huh I hadn‘t heard of Idoru, so I looked it up. It does sound interesting, but I‘d say that‘s still more scifi than City & City… which is speculative, but not scifi. Lol yes, I could see that Florida is its own bubble 😁 And Maryland does seem to be its own place in ways, too… 🤔 never really thought about it that way! Thanks for the link! I‘ll check it out. :) 2y
8 likes10 comments
blurb
ZachHerman
post image

Left me coffee mug unlatched in my backpack and destroyed three library books. #StableGenius

quote
ZachHerman
post image

"Sir, to tell you the truth, sir, this job would be temporary: I'm going to become the liberator of the Americas so I can only stay twenty to forty years tops."

blurb
BooksForYears
post image

What's the new black-and-white-and-red/read-all-over? These books!

OffTheBeatenShelf.com I'll be curious to hear what you think about Why I'm Not a Feminist. I'm all about some feminist lit, but the contrarian title makes me eye roll. 7y
BooksForYears @OffTheBeatenShelf.com I'm about a quarter of the way through...there's definitely some eye rolling going on, but she also makes thought-provoking points too. 7y
103 likes2 comments
blurb
Arbol
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
post image

So I wasn't going to spend any $$ at #wordstockpdx but there were vouchers!

11 likes1 stack add
review
Ineluctablequack
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
post image
Pickpick

I wrote this book. I spent 12 years writing it. It has received rave reviews from Harper's, San Francisco Chronicle, The Millions, Music & Literature, The Scofield, Booklist, Edmundo Paz Soldan even wrote about it in a major newspaper in Chile. Give it a shot? 🤓

review
Ineluctablequack
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
Pickpick

I wrote this book. I spent 12 years writing it. It has received rave reviews from Harper's, San Francisco Chronicle, The Millions, Music & Literature, The Scofield, Booklist, Edmundo Paz Soldan even wrote about it in a major newspaper in Chile. Give it a shot? 🤓

blurb
catieohjoy
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
post image

I haven't started this novel yet, but it's near the top of my TBR list—an experimental novel about a group of young men during a period of upheaval in Ecuadorian politics, set in the beautiful city of Guayaquil, Ecuador (my husband @Santiago 's hometown!). #booktober #setinSAmerica #bookssetinSAmerica

RealLifeReading Added! 7y
31 likes2 stack adds1 comment
review
Taylor
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
post image
Panpan

Incredible cover...huge disappointment. This book is all tricks, all form, and style--but no interesting narrative.

Cardenas seems like a very smart guy, but his artistry feels too much like an imitation. His imitation of dangerous writing!

I always finish a book I start, but this was a true test in stamina.

quote
Brianna
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
post image

I love CoffeeHouse Press! Can't wait to read this recent release.

blurb
coffeehousepress
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
post image

♦️One week away from THE REVOLUTIONARIES TRY AGAIN by Mauro Javier Cardenas!♦️

Theresa That cover is awesome! 8y
37 likes6 stack adds1 comment
review
mjseidlinger
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
post image
Pickpick

Always give revolutionaries a shot.

25 likes2 stack adds
blurb
shawnmooney
Revolutionaries Try Again | Mauro Javier Cardenas
post image

Hobbinol I stacked this book even though I probably won't read it any time soon. But I'm certainly very intrigued. 7y
shawnmooney @Hobbinol Great! And thank YOU for reminding me of this book, which I'd pretty near forgotten all about! 7y
7 likes3 stack adds3 comments