by Aura Xilonen (Author), Andrea Rosenberg (Translator)
The award-winning debut novel by young Mexican author Aura Xilonen, The Gringo Champion is a thrillingly inventive story about crossing borders that the Los Angeles Review of Books called one of the must-read books of 2017.
Liborio has to leave Mexico, a land that has taught him little more than a keen instinct for survival. He crosses the Rio Bravo, like so many others, to reach the promised land. And in a barrio like any other, in some gringo city, this illegal immigrant tells his story.
As Liborio narrates his memories we discover a childhood scarred by malnutrition and abandonment, an adolescence lived with a sense of having nothing to lose. In his new home, he finds a job at a bookstore. He falls in love with a woman so intensely that his fantasies of her verge on obsession. And, finally, he finds himself on a path that just might save him: he becomes a boxer.
This is a migrant's story of deracination, loneliness, fear, and finally, love told in a sparkling, innovative prose. It's
Million Dollar Baby meets
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and a story of migration and hope that is as topical as it is timeless.
Author Biography
Aura Xilonen is a novelist and filmmaker. She won the 2015 Mauricio Achar Prize for her first novel, The Gringo Champion.
Number of Pages: 320
Dimensions: 1.1 x 8.1 x 5.3 IN
Publication Date: January 17, 2017
