3.5
You Dreamed of Empires
ByPublisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF 2024
A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR
"Short, strange, spiky and sublime.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times
“Funny, ghastly, eye-opening, marvelous.” —Wall Street Journal
From the visionary author of Sudden Death, a hallucinatory, revelatory colonial revenge story.
One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés enters the city of Tenochtitlan – today's Mexico City. Later that day, he will meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures.
Cortés is accompanied by his captains, his troops, his prized horses, and his two translators: Friar Aguilar, a taciturn friar, and Malinalli, an enslaved, strategic Nahua princess. After nearly bungling their entrance to the city, the Spaniards are greeted at a ceremonial welcome meal by the steely Aztec princess Atotoxtli, sister and wife of Moctezuma. As they await their meeting with the emperor – who is at a political and spiritual crossroads, and relies on hallucinogens to get by – Cortés and his entourage are ensconced in the labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés’s captains, Jazmín Caldera, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the place, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed into the city, and wonders at the chances of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire. And what if... they don't?
You Dreamed of Empires brings Tenochtitlan to life at its height, and reimagines its destiny. The incomparably original Álvaro Enrigue sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, a restitutive, fantastical counterattack, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.
A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR
"Short, strange, spiky and sublime.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times
“Funny, ghastly, eye-opening, marvelous.” —Wall Street Journal
From the visionary author of Sudden Death, a hallucinatory, revelatory colonial revenge story.
One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés enters the city of Tenochtitlan – today's Mexico City. Later that day, he will meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures.
Cortés is accompanied by his captains, his troops, his prized horses, and his two translators: Friar Aguilar, a taciturn friar, and Malinalli, an enslaved, strategic Nahua princess. After nearly bungling their entrance to the city, the Spaniards are greeted at a ceremonial welcome meal by the steely Aztec princess Atotoxtli, sister and wife of Moctezuma. As they await their meeting with the emperor – who is at a political and spiritual crossroads, and relies on hallucinogens to get by – Cortés and his entourage are ensconced in the labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés’s captains, Jazmín Caldera, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the place, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed into the city, and wonders at the chances of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire. And what if... they don't?
You Dreamed of Empires brings Tenochtitlan to life at its height, and reimagines its destiny. The incomparably original Álvaro Enrigue sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, a restitutive, fantastical counterattack, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities355 Reviews
3.5
Kaija
Created 2 days agoShare
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“Takes a second to get your bearings, but once you do you are absolutely transported to Mexico City of the past. I might be biased having visited, but now I am desperate to return and daydream about this rich history. I think this is starting to become my favorite writing style: witty and atmospheric, with seemingly scattered moments and perspectives until suddenly everything clicks into place and you can’t stop reading until the inevitable main event!! Highly recommend looking up the 3D portrait of Tenochtitlan as a reference while reading”
Savhatt
Created 3 days agoShare
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Marisol Mejia
Created 3 days agoShare
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“I am sort of speechless. First, I know this is translated, and that can mean some things get lost in translation. But at certain parts it is hard to follow, especially with all the names and multiples names for one person. I found the story line very interesting but still left feeling like wooaahh I don’t know what else to say. I do think it would have helped to read this with others, to discuss parts I was unclear about.”
Pablo Salazar
Created 4 days agoShare
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Ike
Created 5 days agoShare
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“This book is complex, and a little confusing with so many characters, but so good. It’s quite literally a fever dream, where you feel like everyone is constantly circling the drain. I really really enjoyed this one, the story is incredibly interesting, and I just have so many thoughts about it.”
About Álvaro Enrigue
Álvaro Enrigue is a Mexican writer whose most recent novel is Sudden Death. His work has appeared in The New York Times, the London Review of Books, El País, and n+1, among other publications. His books have been awarded the Herralde Prize, the Barcelona Prize, and the Poniatowska Prize. A former Fellow at the Cullman Center and at Princeton University, he teaches Latin American Literature at Hofstra University and lives with his family in New York City.
Natasha Wimmer’s translations include Álvaro Enrigue’s Sudden Death, Nona Fernández’s Space Invaders and The Twilight Zone, and Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives and 2666. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Natasha Wimmer’s translations include Álvaro Enrigue’s Sudden Death, Nona Fernández’s Space Invaders and The Twilight Zone, and Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives and 2666. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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