“The Sound of Things Falling” by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Colombia)

Review

Members of our Summer Reading Group liked the differences in writing styles and themes of this year’s four shortlisted books finding most of the stories highly enjoyable.

“The Sound of Things Falling” is set in present-day Bogota and tells the story of a university professor who befriends a former drug smuggler. Readers found the story captivating and found it hard to put down. They particularly liked the parts set in the Sixties and Seventies about the drug smuggler’s earlier life. As the plot evolved, they found the narrator more and more irritating, and some readers were a bit disappointed by the ending.

Synopsis

No sooner does he get to know Ricardo Laverde in a seedy billiard hall in Bogotá than Antonio Yammara realises that the ex-pilot has a secret. Antonio’s fascination with his new friend’s life grows until the day Ricardo receives a mysterious, unmarked cassette… Read more

Nicola’s Summer Reading list 2014

“The Sound of Things Falling” by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Colombia)
“We Need New Names” by NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe)
“Questions of Travel” by Michelle de Kretser (Sri Lanka)
“Expo 58” by Jonathan Coe (U.K.) * 

* Best Summer Read
In italics, Nicola’s Coup de Cœur