num_pages: 402
description: "Lowry's masterpiece...has a claim to being regarded as one of the ten most consequential works of fiction produced in [the twentieth] century." — Los Angeles TimesGeoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. His debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. On the most fateful day of the consul's life—the Day of the Dead—his wife, Yvonne, arrives in Quauhnahuac, inspired by a vision of life together away from Mexico and the circumstances that have driven their relationship to the brink of collapse. She is determined to rescue Firmin and their failing marriage, but her mission is further complicated by the presence of Hugh, the consul's half brother, and Jacques, a childhood friend. The events of this one significant day unfold against an unforgettable backdrop of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.Under the Volcano remains one of literature's most powerful and lyrical statements on the human condition, and a brilliant portrayal of one man's constant struggle against the elemental forces that threaten to destroy him.
language: English
title: Under the Volcano
titlecomplete: Under the Volcano
characters: Jacques Laruelle, Yvonne Constable, Geoffrey Firmin, Hugh Firmin
genres: Classics, British Literature, Unfinished, English Literature, Novels, Historical Fiction, Literature, 20th Century, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 24475
places: Quauhnahuac, Mexico
publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics