isamerel's review against another edition
4.0
I really, really enjoyed this book. The stories, because they were so short, kept me very engaged and interested in the book. Furthermore, each story was like a puzzle to me, so I enjoyed trying to solve it and piece everything together. Aside from that, the deep, current issues the book touches on intrigued me, especially because many of them were based in Lima, Peru, and since I don't know too much about South America, it was nice to see a new perspective, hear new opinions, and just generally learn a bit more about the area. I recommend this book to anyone that likes to read (obviously) and wants a quick, engaging read that will make them more aware of issues and ways of life in other countries.
kellyelizabeth27's review against another edition
4.0
Daniel Alarcon's a rising voice in new fiction. He wrote this before Lost City Radio, and the stories show both his promise and how much he's grown as a writer since he wrote them. They are fascinating, beautifully descriptive, and occasionally a teeny bit sentimental or teetering right on the verge of cliche. A fantastic read while traveling in the Andes... keep your eye on this guy.
literaryfeline's review against another edition
3.0
http://www.literaryfeline.com/2010/03/from-archives-mini-reviews-from-2005.html
gabeisnotanangel's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful in their sparcity, there is a bareness to Alarcon's writing that is haunting. Some might consider them unemotional but I think that the bareness and raw aspect of the stories makes the physical and ideological violence of the scenes more pressing, more close. What some may see as distance, I would argue is a stripping down of language to convey the way that violence strips down one's humanness. Highly recommend.
grahamiam's review against another edition
4.0
I love reading books like this - preambles to other works that I've fallen in love with. Like Lipsky's Three Thousand Dollars and Debra Monroe's Source of Trouble, War by Candlelight is a portent of things to come. That's not to say the collection doesn't hold up on its own. After all, it includes lines like the following, which knocked me over:
"I should call Elie and tell her I'm dead."
--
"I'd be a good father," he said.
"For how long?" she asked.
However, it doesn't quite have the full-fledged voice or self-editing cuts that Lost City Radio does. In some spots, this collection sounds like Alarcón trying to sound like Hemingway. In others, the prose begs for less. An example: the opening lines to the last story in the collection, "A Strong Dead Man."
"Rafael's father started to die in March. By summer, it was nearly complete. It came upon him all at once, a summer storm brewed from a cloudless sky, and rendered him--in quick and cold fashion--a ghost, a negative image, weak and formless, a fourth cup from a single bag of tea."
Too much going on, which makes it lose any punch it has. The conflicting nature of "started to die"+"it was nearly complete" with "It came upon him all at once" only makes the string more difficult.
These problems were resolved in his first novel. Now, with his second one coming out soon, I'm looking forward to what further steps his craft has taken.
"I should call Elie and tell her I'm dead."
--
"I'd be a good father," he said.
"For how long?" she asked.
However, it doesn't quite have the full-fledged voice or self-editing cuts that Lost City Radio does. In some spots, this collection sounds like Alarcón trying to sound like Hemingway. In others, the prose begs for less. An example: the opening lines to the last story in the collection, "A Strong Dead Man."
"Rafael's father started to die in March. By summer, it was nearly complete. It came upon him all at once, a summer storm brewed from a cloudless sky, and rendered him--in quick and cold fashion--a ghost, a negative image, weak and formless, a fourth cup from a single bag of tea."
Too much going on, which makes it lose any punch it has. The conflicting nature of "started to die"+"it was nearly complete" with "It came upon him all at once" only makes the string more difficult.
These problems were resolved in his first novel. Now, with his second one coming out soon, I'm looking forward to what further steps his craft has taken.
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