JANUARY 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Frankie Corzo brings her velvety voice to this Argentinian story featuring a character who has visions of violence that has taken place against women. As a child, Eartheater discovers that her desire to consume earth is matched by an ability to magically see into the lives of others. After alarming her school by revealing her teacher’s grisly death, she's expelled, and she passes the time by numbing herself with video games. Corzo’s laconic inflection adds to the sense of Eartheater's detachment. But people who need her help leave earth in bottles on her doorstep, along with impassioned pleas to find their missing loved ones. When a police officer begs for her assistance, he breaks through Eartheater's emotional defenses, kindling a hint of passion in her and in Corzo's tone. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
One of the most outstanding Latin American short novels of the year.” — New York Times
“A powerful story whose narrator wields brutally honest observations on the intersections of class, poverty, and gender. Reyes’ debut is a strong addition to the growing body of Latin American crime fiction in the U.S. market. A stirring genre blend of fantasy and crime fiction that combines graceful prose and magic realism.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Reyes succeeds in making the feisty Eartheater and her visions both persuasive and affecting.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“In a voice that is terse, blunt, and biting, the narrator reckons with the impact of her visions on her health and relationships, as she witnesses more and more the ways fear and violence shape the experiences of the women in her community. Compelling and visceral, Reyes’ debut combines mystery and coming-of-age to evoke the stories of the victims of femicide.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A raw and vital literary debut, Eartheater takes an unwavering and visceral look at systems of power through the perspective of a young woman caught in the crosshairs.” — Shelf Awareness
"In Reyes' hands, this coming-of-age novel flowers into a meditation on death, and the earth all children will eat in the end." — New York Observer
“Dolores Reyes’s writing is visceral and urgent. It’s also connected to a powerful tradition of fantasy and crime, and it reflects on violence against women with enormous lucidity.” — Mariana Enriquez, author of Things We Lost in the Fire
"With its own shining light and singular voice, Eartheater follows in the footsteps of such essential authors as Juan Rulfo and Sara Gallardo.” — Selva Almada, author of The Wind That Lays Waste
“Dolores Reyes’s harsh and sensitive lyricism explodes in your hands.” — Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, author of The Adventures of China Iron
New York Times
One of the most outstanding Latin American short novels of the year.
New York Observer
"In Reyes' hands, this coming-of-age novel flowers into a meditation on death, and the earth all children will eat in the end."
Selva Almada
"With its own shining light and singular voice, Eartheater follows in the footsteps of such essential authors as Juan Rulfo and Sara Gallardo.
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Dolores Reyes’s harsh and sensitive lyricism explodes in your hands.
Mariana Enriquez
Dolores Reyes’s writing is visceral and urgent. It’s also connected to a powerful tradition of fantasy and crime, and it reflects on violence against women with enormous lucidity.
Booklist (starred review)
A powerful story whose narrator wields brutally honest observations on the intersections of class, poverty, and gender. Reyes’ debut is a strong addition to the growing body of Latin American crime fiction in the U.S. market. A stirring genre blend of fantasy and crime fiction that combines graceful prose and magic realism.”
Shelf Awareness
A raw and vital literary debut, Eartheater takes an unwavering and visceral look at systems of power through the perspective of a young woman caught in the crosshairs.
Library Journal
★ 10/01/2020
DEBUT When a girl from an Argentine slum eats the dirt in which her dead mother has been buried, she starts having visions of people missing or dead. Paramount among them is her teacher, Señorita Ana, gang-raped and murdered, who offers guidance while badgering her to track down her killers. The Eartheater, as the protagonist becomes known, is both shunned for her sometimes danger-inducing behavior—her sort-of boyfriend and the aunt who initially took responsibility for her and her brother quickly leave—and sought out by people desperate to locate loved ones, giving her dirt associated with them to eat. The missing are mostly women, as first-time Argentine novelist Reyes highlights the numerous awful incidents of femicide in Latin America. Among them is Maria, whose case gets the Eartheater involved with Ezequiel, a steady policeman she initially distrusts, and the book ends in a moment of heady vengeance. VERDICT The premise might initially be hard to swallow, but Reyes succeeds in making the feisty Eartheater and her visions both persuasive and affecting. Kudos to Sanches for effectively rendering Argentine slang.
JANUARY 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Frankie Corzo brings her velvety voice to this Argentinian story featuring a character who has visions of violence that has taken place against women. As a child, Eartheater discovers that her desire to consume earth is matched by an ability to magically see into the lives of others. After alarming her school by revealing her teacher’s grisly death, she's expelled, and she passes the time by numbing herself with video games. Corzo’s laconic inflection adds to the sense of Eartheater's detachment. But people who need her help leave earth in bottles on her doorstep, along with impassioned pleas to find their missing loved ones. When a police officer begs for her assistance, he breaks through Eartheater's emotional defenses, kindling a hint of passion in her and in Corzo's tone. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2020-09-02
In a violent Argentinian slum, a schoolgirl reckons with the clairvoyant experiences she has while eating earth: vivid visions of missing women and children.
When her mother dies, the unnamed narrator develops an unusual compulsion to eat dirt and discovers the truth of her mother's killing, in all its betrayal and brutality. The earth, she finds, bestows her with visions of other people—murdered or missing, dead or alive—an ability that earns her the admonishment of her aunt, who grows crueler as word of the girl's abilities spreads. When a young teacher disappears, the narrator eats earth from the schoolyard for answers, which are revealed in a drawing she makes depicting the teacher’s naked body, tied to posts outside a warehouse. The body is discovered in the precise location of the drawing, and, fed up with the humiliation her niece has brought upon their family, the aunt leaves the girl and her older brother, Walter, to raise themselves. As she tries to live with some semblance of normality—dropping out of school, playing video games and drinking beer with Walter and his friends, experiencing first love—the young woman struggles with her earth-eating habit, craving it yet repelled by what it shows her. Out of need, though, she accepts money from people whose loved ones have gone missing, including a stoic and aloof police officer, in whom she unexpectedly finds an ally and romantic companion. In a voice that is terse, blunt, and biting, the narrator reckons with the impact of her visions on her health and relationships, as she witnesses more and more the ways fear and violence shape the experiences of the women in her community.
Compelling and visceral, Reyes’ debut combines mystery and coming-of-age to evoke the stories of the victims of femicide.
