©2024 Fable Group Inc.
2.0 

American Delirium

By Betina González & Heather Cleary
American Delirium by Betina González & Heather Cleary digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

"One dizzying vortex, combining colonial history, generational delusions and psychedelic drug trips. . . . An eerily familiar vision of American madness and decay."
The New York Times Book Review

From award-winning novelist Argentine Betina González, American Delirium is a dizzying, luminous English-language debut about an American town overrun by a mysterious hallucinogen and the collision of three unexpected characters through the mayhem.


In a small Midwestern city, the deer population starts attacking people. So Beryl, a feisty senior and ex-hippie with a troubled past, decides to take matters into her own hands, training a squad of fellow retirees to hunt the animals down and to prove to society they’re capable of more than playing bingo.

At the same time, a group of protesters decides to abandon the “system” and live in the woods, leaving behind the demands of modern life—including their children. Nine-year-old Berenice never thought her mother would join the dropouts, but she’s been gone for several days, leaving only a few clues about her past for Berenice to piece together.

Vik, a taxidermist at the natural history museum and an immigrant from the Caribbean, is beginning to see the connections among the dropouts, the deer, and the discord. He’s not normally the type to speak up, but when he finds a woman living in his closet, he’s forced to get involved. Each of these engrossing characters holds a key to the city’s unraveling—despite living on the margins of society—and just as their lives start to spin out of control, they rescue one another in surprising ways.

Download the free Fable app

app book lists

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
app book recommendations

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
app book reviews

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
app comments

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities
app book lists

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
app book recommendations

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
app book reviews

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
app comments

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

21 Reviews

2.0
“I wasn't able to finish the book. I'm sure Betina González is an incredible author, but the amount of sex that was referenced (and often intimately described) was too much for me. If you're okay with that, then enjoy! I'm just writing this review so people who are a bit more sensitive to that kind of content can be warned beforehand.”
“Somewhere between a 3 and 4 stars, to be fair. I’ve been reading this book forever. I’m gonna guess that it’s better if you just get into quickly and read it in a quick span of time. It’s takes getting used to to figure out which narrative you’re moving to and thru (there are three), which previous events are relevant, and who’s who in each. But, ultimately, I’m rounding the rating up rather than down because I enjoyed the writing and the characters. Mostly. If you enjoy a bit of “ok, how does that fit” when you’re reading, this one’s for you.”
“A book about the attack of the deer with a taxidermist from a natural history museum! Totally up my alley... This on the other hand is meandering and druggy and just not the adventure that I thought it was going to be... Sigh... On a slew of DNF...”
“I thought this would be really interesting and funny but it was just disappointing, weird, and forgettable. There was so much that made zero sense. The ending was sort of okay??? eh”

About Betina González

Betina González is the bestselling author of several novels and short story collections, for which she has won several awards, including the prestigious Premio Tusquets. American Delirium is her first book to be published in English. González earned her MFA in bilingual creative writing at the University of Texas at El Paso and her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. She lives in Buenos Aires and teaches at the University of Buenos Aires and New York University Buenos Aires.

Heather Cleary translated César Rendueles’s Sociophobia and Sergio Chejfec’s The Planets and The Dark, among other novels and poetry collections. Her translations have been finalists for the National Translation Award and the Best Translated Book Award, and she holds a PhD in Latin American and Iberian cultures from Columbia University. She lives in New York and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

Start a Book Club

Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!

FAQ

Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Do you sell physical books too?

Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

Error Icon
Save to a list
0
/
30
0
/
100
Private List
Private lists are not visible to other Fable users on your public profile.
Notification Icon
Fable uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB