Aphasia

“Antonio, the hero of this manic comic novel, is a Colombian database analyst in California, worried that his sister’s mental illness will upend his life.”—The New York Times

"Reading Aphasia bears similarities to the split reality of living on- and offline. It also echoes the deeper divide of existing between countries, establishing roots in a new place while tending to connections in an old one . . . [The book] dramatizes our growing ability to occupy multiple narratives at once—and proves that literature itself can do the same."—High Country News

"Mauro Javier Cárdenas's Aphasia batters at the limits of guilt, of masculinity, of love and promiscuity, of the American family and English syntax.”—Nicole Krauss, author To Be a Man and The History of Love

"Mauro Javier Cárdenas has knocked down the novel as we know it, and built a cathedral out of the debris. Aphasia is monumental, funny, potent, and fresh. It marks a new beginning.”—Carlos Fonseca, author Natural History

“Brainy and decadent, playful and outrageous, Aphasia marks the comeback of the Self in a spiraling trip into contemporary manhood and the Latin American spirit that will render you speechless.”—Pola Oloixarac, author of Mona

“The nonstop engine of Cárdenas’ prose [and] this quirky, playfully difficult novel will appeal to fans of Latin American fiction that navigates the bleeding edge of experimentation.”—Booklist

"Cárdenas undercuts the idea of a single, stable identity and suggests the self as a many-layered work in progress . . . Original, richly felt, deftly written. Highly recommended."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)