In 2018, Nicaragua was shaken by a mass student uprising, in which tens of thousands of people took part. Inspired by this protest and its violent suppression by the police and paramilitary forces, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries, Sergio Ramírez masterfully constructs a political noir fiction centred on the downfall of the head of the secret services, Anastasio Prado, known as ‘Tongolele’.
Inspector Dolores Morales, whom Ramírez has introduced to us in his previous books, and her marginal partner Serafín are, on Tongo’s orders, sent into exile in neighbouring Honduras. A man known as Golden Cat offers to guide them back to Nicaragua, but halfway across the border he is murdered in cold blood. The inspector is called upon to solve the mystery of his murder.
Sergio Ramírez served as vice-president of his country between 1985 and 1990. He has been honoured for his work with the Dashiell Hammett International Prize, the José Donoso Prize, the Carlos Fuentes Prize, and the 2017 Cervantes Prize. He is a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French state and an honorary professor at several universities. On 15 February 2023, Daniel Ortega’s regime stripped him of his citizenship.
One of the best books of 2021 according to the newspaper El País.
- Pages: 416
- ISBN: 978-960-572-572-3
- Publication: 2023
- Date of publication: 20/03/2023
- Dimensions: 13.3 x 20.5 εκ.
- Categories: Literature, eBooks, Foreign Literature
"Το χιούμορ και οι διάλογοι των ηρώων είναι μια ωδή στο μαύρο χιούμορ και η πραγματικότητα περνά ξυστά σαν κομήτης από δίπλα ίσα που να σου γδάρει ή να σου φιλήσει το αυτί. Τα όπλα για να ξορκίσεις τους δαίμονες βρίσκονται στα πιο αναπάντεχα μέρη. Ο Τονγκολέλε μας χόρεψε για τα καλά."
– Μιχάλης Παπαγεωργίου, Νεολόγος
"Το εξαιρετικό αυτό πεζογράφημα εξετάζει ζητήματα όπως η εξουσία, η καταπίεση, η φιλοδοξία, η ηθική, ο φόβος, ο ανθρώπινος εξευτελισμός, το όνειρο, η ιδεολογική ουτοπία που διαψεύδεται και βέβαια ο πανίσχυρος λαϊκισμός."
– Μαρία Βρέντζου, Fractal"Το βιβλίο όμως, πέρα από το ιστορικό του υπόβαθρο, είναι ένα εξαιρετικό νουάρ που κρατά αμείωτο το ενδιαφέρον του αναγνώστη. […]Εξαιρετικές και οι γυναικείες φιγούρες που παίζουν σημαντικό ρόλο στην εξέλιξη της αφήγησης. Μα πάνω από όλους και όλες, η κυρίως ηρωίδα του είναι η Νικαράγουα. Οι μύθοι, η παλιά και πρόσφατη ιστορία της."
– Κυριακή Μπεϊόγλου, Εφημερίδα των ΣυντακτώνSergio Ramírez
Sergio Ramírez was born in 1942 in the community of Masatepe, in the municipal district of Masaya, Nicaragua. In 1963, he published his first book, entitled Cuentos, and the following year he graduated from law school. In 1964 he married and the couple emigrated to Costa Rica, where they remained until 1973. For the next two years they lived in Berlin on a DAAD scholarship, and then returned to Costa Rica until 1977. He played an active role in the resistance against the dictator Somoza and, following the triumph of the Sandinista revolution and their rise to power, and after holding various posts, he was elected vice-president of the country in 1984, alongside President Daniel Ortega. He became world-famous in 1998 when he won the Alfaguara Prize. He continues to write for numerous magazines and newspapers across the Spanish-speaking world and to publish his novels and essays. A democrat and reformist, he soon became persona non grata within the party. In 2017, he won the Cervantes Prize. In 2021, he was accused of money laundering and incitement to hatred, and an arrest warrant was issued for him; however, he managed to reach Spain, where he lives to this day as a Spanish citizen.
