Pig's Foot - Hardcover

Carlos Acosta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408833700 ISBN 13: 9781408833704

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2013

Synopsis

Oscar Mandinga, great-grandchild of the founders of a small hamlet of wooden shacks and red earth deep in the Cuban hinterland, is a sardonic teller of tales - some taller than others - of slavery, revolution, family secrets, love and identity, spanning four generations.

One day Oscar Mandinga wakes to find himself utterly alone in the world. As the sole descendant of his family line he is not sure what to do or where he should go, but in the midst of this uncertainty, he holds fast to what his grandfather always told him: 'No man knows who he is until he knows his past, the history of his country.'

As Oscar sets out to find his ancestral village of Pata de Puerco and the meaning of the magical pig's-foot amulet he has inherited, the search for his country's hidden history becomes entangled with his search for the truth about himself.

Ambitious in scope, yet intimate in tone, rippling with vitality and driven by passion, full of dark comedy, magical history and startling revelations, Pig's Foot is a dazzling evocation of Cuba's tumultuous history. It is a spellbinding accomplishment.

About this title

Review

As his terrific first novel shows, he also has a genius for telling a story. In the most colourful South American tradition, the events are often violent and tragic, but the prose is vivid, fast-moving and often dazzling, and he has a cynical eye for the awful comedy of everything ... The pace leaves you breathless (Kate Saunders, The Times)

If you haven't heard of Acosta, he's ballet's new Nureyev - but not only is he a dervish on the dancefloor, he's also a dazzling storyteller ... A tale that sizzles with atmosphere and a sense of place (Glamour)

Jumpy with incident and memorable characters such as Melecio, the child genius who extemporises poetry and designs the Bacardi building and logo, Kid Chocolate, the young boxer KO'd by Oscar's grandfather and the bestial El Mozambique. A little pressure cooker of a novel (Daily Express)

Heat, history and hooch ... Vivid storyteller and ambitious scope (Tatler)

The multitalented Acosta is set to win even more fans with his atmospheric first novel (Irish Mail on Sunday)

In Frank Wynne's skilful translation, Acosta's novel has an earthy charm that makes it more than a mere literary curiosity (Sunday Telegraph)

Impressive (Guardian)

A rich stew of magical realism ... All is related in exuberant, theatrical prose (Daily Mail)

Throughout Pig's Foot, Acosta remains in control of his narrative strands and large cast of characters. Subplots are introduced, pursued and resolved with an awareness of detail that seldom appears contrived. There is an ease about this book that will impress ... Like so many coloured plates in the air, Acosta keeps his narratives spinning furiously yet also cohesively. It is an exciting yarn, often hilarious. One of the many set pieces is a brilliant confrontation in the filthy shack of a vicious outcast ... Acosta is a natural storyteller, with an obvious love of theatre. This gusto is evident in the telling. His prose is simple and descriptive, and he loves exasperation as a medium and uses it to sustain the narrative pace. His characters scream, emote and battle with their feelings. The sex is symphonic, tempers flare and settle, and the dialogue is undercut by humour and a few confessional interludes. It seems unfair that instead of being assessed as another debut novel, Pig's Foot, with all its verve, will be treated as a celebrity foray into fiction by one of the world's finest ballet dancers ... There is no denying Acosta's achievement in creating a world that lives and breathes, one that is vibrantly expressed through Frank Wynne's translation from the original Spanish. It may not seem quite fair that Acosta, who danced Spartacus and so many other roles with such grace, power and majestic artistry, should now also write a lively, delightfully engaging novel, yet he has. Pig's Foot is as catchy as a piece of Cuban music, defers to Latin America's literary tradition and shimmers with a likable swagger all its own (Eileen Battersby, Irish Times)

For all its manifest debt to Latin American so-called "magic realists" (Marquez, Borges, Vargas Llosa), the novel stands triumphantly on its own. In pages of salty-sweet prose, it traces five generations of a black family through Cuba's tumultuous recent history ... A narrative by turns lewd and poetic ... The novel, very nicely translated by Frank Wynne, conjures the salt-eaten arcades and collapsing promenades of Havana wonderfully ... A host of sharply drawn characters (Spectator)

Book Description

Selected as one of The Waterstones Eleven, for the best fiction debuts of 2013, Pig's Foot is a dazzling novel of revolution, family secrets, love and identity across four generations

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1408833700
• ISBN 13: 9781408833704
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 333