Loteria (P.S.) - Softcover

Zambrano, Mario Alberto

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062268554 ISBN 13: 9780062268556

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2014

Synopsis

In Loterķa, the spellbinding literary debut by Mario Alberto Zambrano, a young girl tells the story of her family's tragic demise using a deck of cards of the eponymous Latin American game of chance.

With her older sister Estrella in the ICU and her father in jail, eleven-year-old Luz Castillo has been taken into the custody of the state. Alone in her room, she retreats behind a wall of silence, writing in her journal and shuffling through a deck of loterķa cards. Each of the cards' colorful images--mermaids, bottles, spiders, death, and stars--sparks a random memory.

Pieced together, these snapshots bring into focus the joy and pain of the young girl's life, and the events that led to her present situation. But just as the story becomes clear, a breathtaking twist changes everything.

Beautiful full-color images of loterķa cards are featured throughout this intricate and haunting novel.

About this title

Review:

"In a bold, deeply-felt debut Mario Alberto Zambrano brings us tragedy made powerful ... These are people who hold on to each other so hard it hurts. And this moving novel will hug you too, every bit as tight."--Josh Weil, author of The New Valley

"LOTERIA... is constructed as a beautiful, gripping, and lyrical set of riddles (asked and solved) about life--and--death matters in one family. Like the novels of Cortazar, its form is intricate and beautiful. "--Charles Baxter, author of Gryphon: New and Selected Stories and The Feast of Love

"It's a polished tome of prose unreeling the tale of plucky little Luz Maria Castillo in the game of chance called life... Loteria should delight and disturb any reader sensitive to the ways of children and how they think and, more importantly, how deeply they feel."--Dallas Morning News

"[Zambrano's] debut novel...is a polished tome of prose unreeling the tale of plucky little Luz Maria Castillo in the game of chance called life.... We peer like voyeurs, artfully led by Zambrano's pacing, dialogue and comically drawn characters."--Houston Chronicle

"Mario Alberto Zambrano performs a lyrical and formal sleight of hand conjuring a spiritually profound and deeply moving story. Loteria is about everything that matters. . . . This gorgeous, one-of-a-kind debut, marks the emergence of a singular and powerful new literary voice."--Amber Dermont, New York Times bestselling author of The Starboard Sea and Damage Control: Stories

"Zambrano's stellar debut is proof positive that good things come in small packages."--Booklist(starred review)

"His restraint from sentimentality, his mastery of well-made sentences and his rich imagination lift words off the page--like dancers in a ballet."--National Post (Canada)

"The broken tale and imaginative first-person narration lend weight to this curious novel. It's an impressive first step for an artist exploring a new medium."--Kirkus Reviews

"In this debut novel, a Mexican-American girl uses the game of Loteria to reveal her memories, which add up to a heartwenching tale of violence, love and a broken family."--Los Angeles Times, "Summer Reading"

"This is a smart and powerful tale, beautifully rendered by a sensitive artist."--Shelf Awareness

From the Back Cover:

Struggling to cope as her family falls apart, eleven-year-old Luz Marķa Castillo retreats into her beloved set of loterķa cards--a Mexican game featuring riddles and vibrant images. Each card represents a different memory, and as Luz shuffles through the deck, she weaves her recollections into a compelling story of love, loyalty, tragedy, and hope.

By turns affecting and inspiring, Loterķa is a powerful novel that heralds the arrival of an outstanding writer, one who reminds us of the importance of remembering even when we are trying to forget.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0062268554
• ISBN 13: 9780062268556
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304