Adulthood brings with it the pernicious illusion of control, perhaps even depends on it. I mean that mirage of dominion over our own life that allows us to feel like adults, for we associate maturity with autonomy, the sovereign right to determine what is going to happen to us next. Le cose che cadono sono le vite che precipitano, spariscono nel nulla, e fanno rumore, probabilmente un ronzio simile a quello delle api che Maya coltiva a La Dorada ( ero sola, ero rimasta sola, non c’era più nessuno tra me e la morte. Essere orfani è questo: non c’è nessuno davanti, si è prossimi in linea di successione. Il prossimo turno tocca a noi.) Del perché mi sia ritrovata a leggere un romanzo così intriso di morte ed ineluttabile destino, ancora non lo so. My heart in my throat, and the worry, the worry - the passion - brought me to this - albeit quite ridiculous, but not less valid at the time - epiphany when I wanted to yell that THIS WAS WHY I WANTED TO READ BOOKS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD (I did not. It was 4 in the morning. I am not an animal) My lassitude with US settings has never been so clear than then, when I wanted nothing more than learn again and again about another country, another history, even fictionalized.

a b c d Edmund White (August 1, 2013). "Requiem for the Living". The New York Times . Retrieved June 16, 2014.

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The Sound of Things Falling study guide contains a biography of Juan Gabriel Vásquez, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. a b "Juan Gabriel Vásquez Wins International Impac Dublin Literary Award". gnomes national news service . Retrieved June 16, 2014. The novel opens with an introduction to the narrator, a man named Antonio Yammara, in the 1990's in Bogotá. The drug wars of Colombia are wreaking havoc on the nation. From the opening paragraph of The Informers, I felt myself under the spell of a masterful writer. Juan Gabriel Vásquez has many gifts—intelligence, wit, energy, a deep vein of feeling—but he uses them so naturally that soon enough one forgets one’s amazement at his talents, and then the strange, beautiful sorcery of his tale takes hold.”— Nicole Krauss Added Palacio: “Taking Juan Gabriel’s book to the screen has been a persistent obsession. It can not be more Colombian. It can not be more brilliant. Only a privileged and talented mind like Roberto Bentivegna’s could set to the task of adapting this novel. I believe no one could grasp its essence better than him.”

Chilling...The past is a shadow-bound, elusive creature in [ The Informers]... When pursued it may flee, or, if cornered, it may unleash terrible truths." -- Los Angeles Times A fine and frightening study of how the past preys upon the present, and an absorbing revelation of a little-known wing of the theatre of the Nazi war." -- John BanvilleMa dal cielo, quello dell’innocenza, cade anche Ricardo Laverde, pilota di aerei che voleva compiere imprese eroiche come il nonno militare, e finisce invece per vent’anni in una prigione USA. Eventually, Maya and Antonio start a sexual friendship, and at the end of the novel, Aura leaves Antonio for good, taking the baby with her. Update this section! Reading Paulette Jiles' revenge western Chenneville, it's easy to remember she's a poet. She plays ... Da quel cielo d’innocenza cade anche Elaine Fritts, che di Ricardo s’innamorò e Ricardo sposò e a Ricardo diede una figlia: arrivata in Colombia giovanissima come volontaria dei Peace Corps finì col legarsi ai trafficanti, ai suoi stessi colleghi che per aiutare i contadini insegnavano la coltivazione della marijuana aprendo così la strada a Escobar ( convinti, come possono esserlo solo due nuovi amanti, che dire quel che si vuole sia come dire quel che si è.) Palacio is best known as one of Latin America’s foremost reality TV showrunners, having produced international editions of such beloved formats as MasterChef, Survivor and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, while creating original competition shows like Reto 4 Elementos in Mexico and Colombia. Her Pan-American production company, Alibi, is currently producing the fourth season of the latter series for Televisa. Additional credits include the comedic feature Tuya, mía… te la apuesto starring Adrian Uribe, two seasons of the Latin version of Design Star for Discovery, three seasons of Inseparables (Power Couple) for Televisa and Univision, and the upcoming El Ruido de las Cosas al Caer.

The prose is smooth, the setting and the realism that was Bogata in the 1970's. The history of a country destroyed by drugs, the way the people who lived through this period are forever effected is poignant The characters are original and well-rounded.No sooner does he get to know Ricardo Laverde than disaffected young Colombian lawyer Antonio Yammara realises that his new friend has a secret, or rather several secrets. Antonio’s fascination with the life of ex-pilot Ricardo Laverde begins by casual acquaintance in a seedy Bogotá billiard hall and grows until the day Ricardo receives a cassette tape in an unmarked envelope. Asking Antonio to find him somewhere private to play it, they go to a library. The first time he glances up from his seat in the next booth, Antonio sees tears running down Laverde’s cheeks; the next, the ex-pilot has gone.

This is what makes this book so good. We fall for the story, wonder about our narrator Yammara, and want a proper outcome. But life changes that. The Sound of Things Falling does so much at once: it’s a novel about how the U.S. dangerously influences Latin America, how the present never escapes the past, and how fragile our relationships--romantic and familial--can be. Literary magic of one of Latin America’s most talented novelists…a masterpiece.”— Booklist, STARRED This book won the Premio Alfaguara de novela 2011 and there is a reason why it won - it is a great read. The story is a beautiful, tragic and very disturbing tale that neatly unfolds the recent "drug war" in Columbia through the eyes of the main characters. Antonio is a young professor who befriends an older man Ricardo Laverde who enjoys playing billiards. When he is murdered, Antonia begins to discover Laverde's past and uncovers a family caught up in the violent drug world. Imagine a world where when you walk down the road you pay attention to where all the phone booths are because if there is a bombing, you need to call home (in those pre-cell phone days). Imagine a world where children visit a private zoo - owned by the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, who killed many people and even blew up planes to make his point. This book had so many revelations on Columbia (good and bad). What I like about Vasquez is he isn't preaching, and our hero truly shows his feelings the more he discovers. Vasquez σε μεταφέρει από τις πρώτες σελίδες στο κλίμα της Κολομβίας, στο μεγάλο υψόμετρο με την έλλειψη οξυγόνου και την αποπνικτική ατμόσφαιρα, ενώ η ιστορία εκτυλίσσεται με φόντο τον μόνιμα μουντό και γκρίζο ουρανό της Μπογκοτά. Μέσα από την αφήγηση της ζωής του πρωταγωνιστή φανερώνονται στον αναγνώστη σημαντικές στιγμές της κολομβιανής ιστορίας και παράλληλα μεταφέρεται ρεαλιστικά το σκηνικό και η επικρατούσα ατμόσφαιρα με τα αποτυπώματα του πολέμου και της τρομοκρατίας χαραγμένα στους δρόμους της χώρας. Ένα βιβλίο που συνενώνει σε μία μόνο στιγμή παρελθόν, παρόν και μέλλον...αναμνήσεις, γεγονότα και όνειρα.Quietly elegant… Vásquez is a resourceful storyteller. Scenes and dialogue shine with well-chosen details. His theme echoes compellingly through family parallels, ill-fated flights and even a recurring hippo motif. He shrugs off the long shadow of Gabriel Garcia Marquez with a gritty realism that has its own persuasive magic.”— Bloomberg News Haunting...Vasquez brilliantly and sensitively illuminates the intimate effects and whispers of life under siege, and the moral ambiguities that inform survival." - Cleveland Plain Dealer