Weightless Books

Roy Kesey’s riveting debut novel tells the story of John Segovia, an American historian who teaches English at a small university in Piura, on the desert coast of Peru. The narrative moves between John’s obsessive search for his wife’s killer and his attempts to build a new life for himself and his infant daughter. The storms of El Niño—three months of savage rains, insect plagues and collapsed bridges—and the ghosts of history that stalk the sands of the Sechura Desert give this novel the sweep of an epic tale. Throughout, Pacazo explores and celebrates the many ways in which we construct the stories we tell of ourselves and those we love. It gives living form to anger and fear and desire, to courage and kindness and strength, and in so doing confirms Kesey as one of the most innovative and compelling American writers working today.

Posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 at 12:00 am.