Nothing human is alien to Ms. Indiana. Like France’s brilliant punk-realist Virginie Despentes, she sees through the costumes of class and ideology. Her characters are raggedly real [...] A wild and liberating book.” —Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
“Dominican writer Rita Indiana made a splash in 2018 with the unclassifiable Tentacle. Made in Saturn, the tale of a drug-addicted artist going clean, promises to be less baffling but equally hip.” —Suzi Feay, Financial Times
“A deeply nuanced, atmospheric, and graphic depiction of mental illness, drug addiction, and recovery.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Captures the Caribbean setting and complex political history with vibrant detail."—Book Riot
“Award-winning queer Dominican author Rita Indiana makes a blazing comeback to the rap game...Her critically acclaimed novels, such as Tentacle, thoroughly dissect the relationships between gender, class and race in Caribbean society...Her sixth novel, Made in Saturn, is due for release in 2020 via British publisher And Other Stories.” —Rolling Stone
“A powerful but quiet story about a young artist lost in the shuffle of politics and revolution; an artist who cannot be saved by his talent, who cannot find solace in the hedonism of drug use, and still must find a way to be a human being in a turbulent world. A vibrant, yet complex take on the "sad young literary man" story and another brilliant work by an author whose stature in world literature will only continue to grow.” —Josh Cook, Porter Square Books
"Rita Indiana’s voice is lyrical and transgressive, attractive and original. Siren songs, her books’ irresistible force captivates readers from their first lines and doesn’t let them go. Made in Saturn is a wonderful, absorbing read, and both classic and modern."—El Cultural
"Ovid told the story of the god Saturn who, for fear of being dethroned, ended up devouring his children. Many centuries later, Francisco de Goya painted the scene in one of his most emblematic works. And, now, Rita Indiana has borrowed, once again, the myth, to revisit it in fiction. In her latest novel, the deity appears to be the very revolution that aimed to bring freedom to Latin America and failed in the attempt, leaving multiple and abandoned children around her. Offspring like Argenis—protagonist of the story with which Indiana, one of the most talented voices of current Caribbean literature—portrays that lost generation that continues to struggle so as not to be devoured."—ABC
"Rita Indiana...is a voice with power and personality. She demonstrates it in her latest novel Made in Saturn, in which the children of all the revolutions that promised a free Latin America but ended in failure are embodied in Argenis, a character as real as he is magical." —UDL Libros
"Over time some authors turn into only an "expectation", something that could have been, little more. Rita Indiana, with Tentacle, already showed that she could fulfill the promises made in Papi. Would it be possible to go further? How far would her narrative power go? Made in Saturn is the answer to these questions, and it is not only a book that's new, like all of Indiana's works, but it is a book that is, in a strict sense, good. Very good. Modernist . . . as well as classic. A Duchampian Goya, we might say, if it wouldn't be scandalous to some. Perhaps it's better not to describe it, but to leave it in the hands of readers. This is the story of the children of the revolution, of many revolutions. [...] Argenis Luna, the protagonist of this novel, is both a mythological figure and a pariah on Earth. After living with him for ten pages we understand and love him. His contradictions are our own. He will live beside us forever." —El Pais
"Each of her novels is marked by a concept; each is part of something larger. Made in Saturn, for example, is positioned as complement to Tentacle, and the author has announced that there will be a new novel to complete the trilogy. What unites these books is the critique of power. It is a contemporary and rebellious art, ready to fight." —El Tiempo
"Compared to Tentacle, which drew on science fiction and were you could sense the influence of Lovecraft, Made in Saturn practises a kind of scathing hyperrealism in a Caribbean setting weighed down with corruption, ideological ruin and outrageous consumption." —Revista de Letras
"Through her stark portrait of the protagonist and her unmistakably Caribbean prose, Rita Indiana shows why she is one of the most attractive voices in Latin American literature today." —Sin Embargo
2019-12-29
Singer/songwriter Justin Townes Earle, a recovering drug addict, tells audiences that people ask the wrong question of those trying to get clean. Rather than asking why they use, they should ask why they hurt.
This sentiment runs through Indiana's fifth novel. In it, Argenis Luna has been sent to a Cuban drug detoxification clinic run by Dr. Bengoa. The arrangement took some string pulling from Argenis' father, a high-ranking bureaucrat in the Dominican Republic's ruling party, who called in a favor from the physician. The two had once been political comrades, forging a bond during a 1967 Latin American Solidarity Conference. At the time, both were filled with revolutionary fervor. Now, 37 years later, the men are middle-aged and weary. José Alfredo, the dad, has become rich and powerful, and Bengoa has become a hack physician, providing rich junkies with injections of Temgesic to wean them from heroin. José Alfredo, meanwhile, wants to help his 27-year-old son, a once-promising artist, get his life back on course. But it won't be easy. Argenis hates his negligent and philandering father and is filled with contempt for him. At the same time, he's grateful to be in Havana, especially after meeting comely Susana. Recovery, however, is never seamless, and as memories of childhood flood back, Argenis has to confront both the love and deprivation that marked his coming-of-age. Along the way, he is aided by people who include a Cuban drag performer, his aunt Niurka, his mom, Etelvina, and a former art professor. Still, despite their considerable assistance, Argenis remains haunted by the image of Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son. Will he, like the son in the painting, find rescue, or will he be consumed by an overbearing father?
A deeply nuanced, atmospheric, and graphic depiction of mental illness, drug addiction, and recovery.
