num_pages: 229
description: The well-intentioned protagonists of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara are caught -- to both disastrous and hilarious effect -- in the maelstrom of political and social upheaval surrounding them. In "Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," an ornithologist being held hostage in the Colombian rain forest finds that he respects his captors for their commitment to a cause, until he realizes that the Revolution looks a lot like big business. In "The Good Ones Are Already Taken," the wife of a Special Forces officer battles a Haitian voodoo goddess with whom her husband is carrying on a not-entirely-spiritual relationship. And in "The Lion's Mouth," a disillusioned aid worker makes a Faustian bargain to become a diamond smuggler for the greater good. With masterful pacing and a robust sense of the absurd, each story in Brief Encounters with Che Guevara is a self-contained adventure, steeped in the heady mix of tragedy and danger, excitement and hope, that characterizes countries in transition.
language: English
title: Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories
titlecomplete: Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories
genres: Literature, Collections, Literary Fiction, 21st Century, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Politics, Short Story Collection, Contemporary
ratings_count: 3132
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
publisher: Ecco